Atlanta Braves first half report card

It has been a historic first half for the Atlanta Braves to say the least. If fans were to draw up how they wanted the first 89 games to go, I’m not sure they could have produced something this fun to watch. There’s been thrilling finishes, dominating wins, magical pitching performances, and a LOT OF HOME RUNS.

All of that equals up to a 60-29 record (best in MLB) and 8.5 game lead in the division over Miami. Because we have officially reached the All-Star break, a fun exercise to practice is handing out some grades for each category on the team.

As you can imagine the best record leads to some pretty high feedback. If this was a midterm exam, you would think the Braves have been studying since the syllabus was handed out. So, without further hesitation let’s jump into our grades.

Hitting: A+

Does anyone in the world have better job than Kevin Seitzer? Getting to work with these Braves hitters’ has to be one of the more rewarding experiences as far as a career is concerned. There just isn’t much to complain about with this lineup.

The lineup features 7 regulars that play every game, a better than average platoon in left field, and the best 1-2 catching duo the league has to offer. The LOWEST slugging percentage from the usual lineup is .424 (both MH2 and Arcia). By comparison that .424 mark would be good for second best among qualified hitters on the Oakland A’s.

They have 11 hitters with a wRC+ over league average (100). They have the NL MVP front-runner and a guy who would finish top five in voting if the season ended today. Just to give an idea of how dominant this offense has been, let’s take a look at some statistics.

• 121 wRC+ (1st in NL)

• .356 wOBA & .222 ISO (1st in MLB)

• .492 SLG & .831 OPS (1st in MLB)

• 45.9% Hard Hit percentage & 12.1% Barrel percentage (1st in MLB)

• 169 HRs (1st in MLB)

Just ludacris stuff from the Atlanta offense. They hit the ball hard, they can steal bases, they have depth, and most importantly they score a ton of runs. Leading in all these categories leaves me no choice but to give them the highest grade possible.

Starting Pitching: B+

The starting pitching for the Braves has yielded a mixed bag of statistics in 2023. But when you take into consideration that their ace, Max Fried and projected number three starter Kyle Wright has made just five starts each, it’s much easier to look past some of the poor numbers.

That being said the emergence of Bryce Elder and consistency of Strider and Morton has been more than enough to win the Braves a lot of games. Elder and Strider have been so good that they both earned their first All-Star selection.

The final two spots of the rotation has seen a plethora of guys attempt to hold down the fort with Fried’s and Wright’s injuries. This inlcudes: Dylan Dodd, Jared Shuster, Kolby Allard, Michael Soroka, and AJ Smith-Shawver. Below are some rankings for a rotation that has seen 13 different pitchers make a start (3 of which were bullpen games).

• 3.77 ERA (7th in MLB)

• 4.16 FIP (8th in MLB)

• 4.17 SIERA (10th in MLB)

• 107 Barrels allowed (T5th in MLB)

• 486 Ks (T6th in MLB)

• 6.5 fWAR (T11 in MLB)

All in all very solid work for 2/5 of the rotation being basically patchwork all year. The return of the 2022 Cy Young runner-up will provide a major boost to this group. I give a high grade for the first half, while expecting an improved performance once they get some big time reinforcements in the second half.

Bullpen: A

If one thing has been clear in the Alex Anthopoulos era it’s that he cares about building a deep bullpen. He leaves no stone unturned and isn’t afraid to pour in money and prospects for good bullpen arms.

This season is much like previous years where AA is reaping the benefits of his investment in a sound bullpen. It features each type of arm you could desire: guys who locate, guys with devastating secondary stuff, guys with velocity, guys who can go multiple innings, and most importantly weapons you can trust late in the game. The Braves lean on it for good reason and when you look at the numbers it’s easy to see why.

• 3.9 fWAR (2nd in MLB)

• 3.56 FIP (1st in MLB)

• 3.43 ERA (3rd in MLB)

• 2.92 BB/9 (2nd in MLB)

• 1.18 WHIP (2nd in MLB)

• 3.52 SIERA (3rd in MLB)

Just a great collection of rankings for the Braves bullpen. That has to take into account of the numerous injury stints for almost everyone in the bullpen. Granted not many have been extremely long stints, but it’s still a testament to not only the depth at the major league level, but the depth at Triple-A Gwinnett as well.

Defense: C

This has easily been the weakest part of the 2023 Braves. At the same time it was bad really early, and has been much improved over the last month. In late May I wrote about the Braves defense and dug into a lot of numbers that ranked at the bottom of the league.

To their credit since late May, they have been much improved. Catcher and Center Field have ranked among the best all year (thanks to Murphy and Harris II), but the other positions have seen a climb thanks to Orlando Arcia’s health and a better month from Austin Riley.

The defensive statistics took a big hit in Arcia’s absence as Vaughn Grissom had six errors and a -5 OAA in just 19 games played. Austin Riley started poorly but since the start of June he has a positive OAA.

Currently, the numbers aren’t the best, but after such a poor start we are trending in the right direction. Atlanta’s season defensive rankings are as followed:

• -1.4 fWAR (17th in MLB)

• -4 RAA (19th in MLB)

• -6 OAA (19th in MLB)

• -16.9 UZR (29th in MLB)

• 54 Errors (7th most in MLB)

The defense hasn’t been exactly costing them games so it’s hard to be too negative. We know that the team works extremely hard with Ron Washington and all of the coaches, so the turn around that’s already begun is very likely to continue. Still this is a first half report card, and the defense has statistically been the worst part of the team, therefore it warrants the only real blemish on an otherwise honor roll worthy showing.

Front Office: A+

A 60 win first half doesn’t happen by accident. The steps to this level of success begins long before opening day. That’s where Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos enters the fold. Building a winning baseball team starts as soon as the final out of the World Series is recorded.

The Braves were great last season, but that doesn’t mean they would be rolling out the same squad that won them 101 games in 2022. They had questions in free agency, holes in the roster to fill, and AA wasted no time.

His first big move was trading for an elite player that was available even though the Braves were very successful at his position in 2022. AA got Oakland’s best player for the second straight offseason, and immediately signed him to an extension. All Sean Murphy has done is put up career high offensive numbers and rank 4th in all of baseball in fWAR (3.9).

Everyone questioned the reasoning to not pay Dansby Swanson, and enter spring training with Vaughn Grissom the frontrunner for the shortstop job. Instead is was Orlando Arcia who won the job and received an extension that was a fraction of Dansby’s payday from the Cubs. Fast forward a few months and Orlando Arcia is set to start in his first All-Star game.

It has become wizardry. Fans from other teams’ across the league display more envy than a bitter ex-girlfriend. Braves fans call for his statue to be built outside Truist with every extension he hands out. He put together one of the best trade deadlines ever in 2021, with each acquisition playing a vital role in a World Series Championship. It’s been more of the same this year, and Braves fans hope they’re living in the Anthopolous era for as long as they can.