Braves starters are averaging 5 innings per start.
That ranks right in the middle: 15th in the sport (Dodgers are the best; Blue Jays the worst). However, it is much better than 2020 when Atlanta’s starters averaged only 4.2 innings and ranked 28th in baseball.
Things should improve if/when Max Fried and Mike Soroka both return as the Braves are still operating without two of their most potent weapons… so hold onto that thought.
So the pitching could end up taking care of itself… but what about the offense?
How to help the Atlanta Braves offense
This is the rub: here’s a team that…
- Had to backload (defer) money on Ozuna’s contract
- Could not bring itself to spend an extra million or two on a viable backup catcher
- Chose to issue only low-ball offers to other viable free agents they showed interest in
In other words… the cupboard is almost bare.
The problem may simply be that things aren’t clicking as well this season as they did even just last year… with essentially the same cast and crew involved.
Injuries have been a factor, sure, but when only 1 or maybe 1-and-a-half hitters are hitting well, that provides a lot of room for pitchers to work around them.
Numerous reports suggest that Anthopoulos is still holding back something around $5 million (+/-) for the purpose of trying to fill the right hole at the time of the Summer trade deadline. But that’s then and this is now.
The answer, then, is that the hitting improvements are going to have to come from within the organization right now, and until that does — particularly from Ozuna’s spot in the order and beyond — you can expect the Braves to continue to struggle getting runs on a consistent basis.
It’s not just one guy, either: Ozuna/Albies/Swanson/Riley/Pache have all been disappointing. That’s just too much to overcome right now.
You can expect that there will eventually be an improvement for 2 or 3 of these hitters, but it’s a big ask to expect all of them to suddenly blossom. Thus, we may have to wait until Summer.
So is there any good news to all of this?