One shouldn't be surprised that the various projection systems love the Atlanta Braves. The Braves are deep in star power on both sides of the ball and are coming off back to back 100+ win seasons. When a team puts up those kinds of numbers, the data is going to portend good things happening in the future.
However, a couple of players on the Braves' roster are projected to have some nutty 2024 seasons even by those lofty standards. David Adler over at MLB.com recently put together a list of some of the most interesting projections across the league (in this case by Fangraphs) and both Ronald Acuna Jr. and Spencer Strider feature very prominently.
Ronald Acuna Jr. and Spencer Strider to be top players at their position in 2024
At this point, everyone is well-aware that the sky is Ronald Acuna Jr.'s limit in terms of what he can do. He created his own club last season when he became the first player ever with a 40/70 season and no one should be surprised if he makes history yet again in 2024. Even the projection systems, which tend to be a bit on the conservative side, think so. According to the projections Adler used, Ronald should be in line to possibly get the Triple Crown and is projected to be the most valuable player in baseball by WAR at 7.3.
Ronald isn't alone in being loved by the metrics. Strider seemingly got robbed of being a NL Cy Young finalist last year, but he should get more love in 2024 assuming his projections are true. Strider is projected to win pitching's Triple Crown with a 3.18 ERA, 15 wins, and 257 strikeouts. Leading the league in all three categories seems like a tall order with ERA probably being the biggest hurdle, but that Strider is thought that highly of speaks to his potential on the mound and it wouldn't be that weird if he beat these projections.
At the end of the day, games are played on the field and projections are mostly a fun mental exercise. However, if Acuna Jr. and Strider stay healthy this season, they could be primed for huge seasons in 2024.