Atlanta Braves: 4 discouraging signs from the Braves' four game losing streak
By Eric Cole
The last four games for the Atlanta Braves have not been fun as they currently on a four game skid. What has been particularly painful has been that the Braves have had their chances in all of these games to turn them into wins, but a variety of factors have made things not go the Braves way.
At the end of the day, this is a long season and every team is going to have their rough patches. Plus, the Braves have been playing against some really good teams. Sometimes you just get beat. However, here are some of the more discouraging signs from the Braves' current losing streak.
Vaughn Grissom's defense at shortstop
Coming out of spring training, the Braves surprised a lot of people with the decision to make Orlando Arcia their starting shortstop and send Vaughn Grissom (and Braden Shewmake) back to the minor leagues out of camp. However, the Braves looked vindicated for their decision as Arcia was playing well in the field and contributing consistently in the lineup.
However, an injury to Arcia forced the Braves' hand and they brought Vaughn back to the big leagues. At the plate, Vaughn has been completely fine, but his work at shortstop has been...a bit less fine as he has three errors and had a rough series in the field against Houston over the weekend. It is unclear if Grissom can stick at shortstop long-term, but the Braves need him to be more consistent over there at shortstop in the near-term. One thing to note here, Braden Shewmake has been hitting really well over the last week or so for Gwinnett and there isn't any concern about him defensively.
Matt Olson has cooled off
Matt Olson was arguably the best hitter in all of spring training this year and he started the season just as hot as he was hitting tape measure home runs and seemed primed for a huge season.
However, his last four games have been rough as he has just one hit in his 17 plate appearances during that stretch. While Olson certainly was a bit streaky during his first season with the Braves in 2022, one feels as though he will snap out of this funk fairly soon. Unfortunately, this slump couldn't have come at a worse time for the Braves.