Top 10 Atlanta Braves Players in July 2023
There's never a bad time to look back and see who the Atlanta Braves' best players were last month!
The Atlanta Braves went 13-10 in the month of July, finishing with a 67-37 record. After going 21-3 in the month of June, July might have seemed like a bit of a letdown. The Braves still finished the month with a winning record and had some solid individual performances. Today, we will shine a light on the top 10 players for the Braves in July of 2023.
10. Atlanta Braves Player in July: Raisel Iglesias
The Braves closer had a solid month of July. Raisel Iglesias pitched 9.0 innings and allowed just two earned runs. His FIP was even lower at 1.82. He struck out 11 batters while walking three, and allowing six hits.
Iglesias threw 73% of his pitches for strikes and held opponents to a .182 average, an OBP of just .250, and a .242 SLG. Opposing hitters had a sOPS+ of 36 against Raisel in July.
Raisel picked up seven saves on the month. Both of his earned runs for the month came in the thrilling 13-16 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on July 18th. Iglesias gave up three hits and got just one out in that game. Other than that, he didn't allow a single earned run.
His season ERA peaked on June 24th at 4.79. Since then, Iglesias has only allowed two earned runs in his last 17.0 innings. This has brought his season ERA down to 3.11.
The 33-year-old finished the month with a 0.3 fWAR.
9. Atlanta Braves Player in July: Joe Jimenez
Joe Jimenez came to the Braves this offseason via trade. The 2018 All-Star for the Detroit Tigers brought along 20 saves scattered over his six-year career. He has been an important piece for the bullpen's success in 2023.
Joe has been a key cog in a relief core that is ranked near the top of the league in several key statistics.
Also Read: 4 Reasons the Braves will Win the World Series (Jimenez is mentioned in here)
Jimenez currently holds a 2.72 ERA on the season with 54 strikeouts in 43.0 innings pitched.
In the month of July, Jimenez was worth 0.4 fWAR with a fantastic 0.82 ERA. He pitched 11.0 innings and struck out 15 hitters. Jimenez walked just two and allowed seven hits. Those numbers were good for a 0.82 WHIP on the month.
He allowed just one earned run in 10 July appearances. He earned three holds and suffered one loss in Milwaukee. Jimenez's ERA dropped from 3.38 to begin the month to 2.63 by the end. He walked just two batters in July.
8. Atlanta Braves Player in July: Sean Murphy
Like Jimenez before him on this list, Sean Murphy was part of an off-season trade that brought him to Atlanta. Granted, Murphy's deal garnered a few more headlines than Joe Jimenez's. As a part of a three-team deal, the Braves ended up parting ways with William Contreras, Manny Pina, Kyle Muller, Freddy Tarnok, Royber Salinas, and Justin Yeager.
Naturally, Murph is having a career year in his first season with the Braves. He currently has 64 RBI, just two shy of his career-best set last season for Oakland. His .922 OPS towers over his career .791 OPS.
July was Murph's least productive with the bat this season, but it was still good enough to register as our eighth-best player of the month. Sean Murphy hit .214 with three homers and 11 RBI in July.
After posting an OPS in the .900s in each of the first three months of the season, Murphy finished July with a .770 OPS. That was still seven percent better than the league average, but it was a considerable drop in production from Murphy on offense.
Nonetheless, his offensive output was better than average and his defensive prowess only added value to the equation. Despite the down month (by his standards) Murphy still finished as our eighth-best Braves player in the month of July.
By the way, he's tearing it up in August so far with 1.037 OPS through eight games.
7. Atlanta Braves Player in July: Michael Harris II
The 22-year-old defending Rookie of the Year has bounced back from a slow start to his sophomore season. After hitting .167 in May, Michael Harris II turned on the jets in June with a .372 average and road that momentum on into July.
Also Read: Why Braves Fans Need to be Excited About Michael Harris II
Harris finished July with a slash line of .290/.333/.461. He hit two homers, drove in six runs, ripped five doubles, a triple, and stole four bases. Both of his July homers came in one game on July 3rd against Cleveland.
His .794 OPS in the month of July was 14% better than league average during that time.
Harris finished the month with a 12-game hit streak in which he racked up 15 knocks and hit .375 with a .930 OPS.
Michael Harris is a premium defensive centerfielder, to go with his 20/20 bat. Below is a video of Harris II robbing Shohei Ohtani of his 40th homer on July 31st.
MICHAEL HARRIS II ROBS SHOHEI 😱
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) August 1, 2023
(via @Braves)pic.twitter.com/ErGgRox0c6
Keep in mind, Matt Olson has a one-homer advantage over Ohtani for the MLB lead. Good lookin' out! Thanks, Money Mike!
Harris was worth 0.6 fWAR in July.
6. Atlanta Braves Player in July: Orlando Arcia
After letting Dansby Swanson walk in free agency, the Braves anointed Orlando Arcia as their Opening Day shortstop. They also signed him to a three-year extension. Alex Anthopoulos knew something that most Braves fans didn't. Arcia earned the starting nod in the All-Star game, over Dansby.
Also Read: Comparing Dansby Swanson and Orlando Arcia So Far
In July, Arcia hit .288 with a .337 OBP and a .475 SLG. Arcia racked up 23 hits, four homers, 10 RBI, and three doubles on the month.
He had a phenomenal series against the Brewers between the 28th and the 30th. He hit .600, collecting five hits in the first two games, helping the Braves to a sweep.
His .812 OPS was good for 118 OPS+ in the month. On the season, Arcia is having the best of his career. He came to the Braves with a meager 72 OPS+ from his time with the Brewers. With the Braves (dating back to 2022), he's been exactly league average at 100. Arcia has a 106 OPS+ this year.
Also Read: Arcia Having Breakout Season in 2023
Factor in his plus defense, positive influence on the clubhouse, and affordable contract. Arcia checks a lot of boxes.
Arcia's 7 Outs Above Average (OAA) is tied for 29th-best in the league. Arcia is currently 18th in all of baseball in fielding runs saved (Def).
Arcia posted a 0.6 fWAR in July for the Braves.
5. Atlanta Braves Player in July: Ozzie Albies
We can't say enough about the season Albies is having. Unfortunately, he was just placed on the 10-Day IL with a hamstring injury. It doesn't appear that he will be gone long. So while we wait, we can reflect on his solid month of July.
Before we dive into the month's stats, I want to note that Ozzie is just two homers away from tying his career-best 30 homers set in 2021. He hit 30 homers that season in 156 games. He currently has 28 homers through 117 games played.
Ozzie continued to display his surprising power in July. He clobbered six homers across the month, which is impressive. However, he hit seven in April and seven again in June!
Albies' six homers were tied for third-most among second basemen in July. However, he was first in homers for second basemen standing 5'8" and under!
While he only hit .241 in July, he had a .337 on-base percentage and slugged an impressive .506. Albies finished second among second basemen with 18 RBI.
The 26-year-old scored 21 runs and was hit by four pitches in July. Albies has been very consistent this year, and July was no different. He started the month with a .259 average and finished with a .256 average. He began the month with a .811 OPS and finished with a .814.
We certainly look forward to getting Ozzie back in the everyday lineup and watching him cross the 30-homer threshold for the second time in his career!
Ozzie Albies was worth 0.7 fWAR in July.
4. Atlanta Braves Player in July: Austin Riley
Austin Riley finished seventh in MVP voting in 2021, sixth last season, and is on his way to another consideration in 2023.
In July, Riley finished tied for second in total homers with nine on the month. He drove in 21 runs while scoring 20.
He landed among league leaders with a .638 slugging percentage. Riley finished July with 14 extra-base hits and 27 total hits in 94 at-bats. He only walked five times, but why take a free pass when you are slugging like our big third baseman?
He batted .287 and finished the month with a 12-game hit streak. Riley absolutely lit the world on fire during that hot streak. The slugger had eight homers over 12 games to the end of July. He drove in 19 of his 21 runs during this 12-game streak. The man slugged .979 and had a 1.379 OPS.
The fireworks started for Riley with two homers and seven RBI in the already-referenced 13-16 loss to Arizona. That's a lot of damage to do on just three hits! Riley's reign continued as he created a streak within the streak by blasting homers in five straight games between Jul 18-Jul 22. Riley racked up 16 RBI over that five-game stretch. That's 21% of his RBIs in 4.2% of his games played.
Austin Riley had a 1.0 fWAR in July.
3. Atlanta Braves Player in July: Spencer Strider
Spencer Strider led all Braves' pitchers in fWAR for July by a wide margin. His 1.1 fWAR was 175% better than any other pitcher on the team. Strider is the only starting pitcher to make the list for July, which validates some of the concerns recently expressed in 5 Reasons Braves Won't Win World Series.
In July, Strider went 2-1 over five starts, pitching 31.1 innings. He posted a 3.73 ERA but he averaged 6.1 innings per start. While a 3.73 ERA is probably not going to win a Cy Young Award, it is still solid.
Strider continued his dominance via the swing and miss in July. He sat 53 hitters down on strikes over 31.1 IP. That's 15.2 strikeouts per nine.
His 1.1 WAR was third-best in all of baseball among pitchers. The 3.73 ERA might have had some bad luck involved as his FIP was 2.53 (2nd-best in July) and his BABIP was .365.
Strider led all pitchers in Major League Baseball in July with 53 strikeouts while walking just four. A pitcher with this kind of electric arm and control is truly something special.
How Crazy Are Some of Strider's July Stats?
How good was his K/9 in July? it was 78% better than the league average.
His K/BB ratio was 415% better than the league average!
His K% was 88% better than the league average.
He led all of baseball in each of these stats, by the way.
2. Atlanta Braves Player in July: Ronald Acuna Jr.
Ronald Acuna Jr. is having a monster season. He currently leads the league in OBP at .422 for the season. He is batting .335 with 27 homers and 55 steals.
Acuna has been a model of consistency this year. In fact, on a monthly basis, his OPS ranges from .918 (July) to 1.111 (June). Thus, making my point about being a model of consistency. We have Acuna as the Braves' second-best player in the month of July and it was his worst month of the season.
Acuna hit .326 for the month with a .423 OBP. He walked 14 times and struck out just 11. He finished July with a 13.5% walk rate and a 10.6% strikeout rate. After crushing 16 extra-base hits with nine homers in June, he had just seven extra-base hits in July.
For the second-consecutive month, Acuna Jr. stole 14 bases. It's worth noting again, he stole more bases than he had strikeouts. His 14 stolen bases were second only to CJ Abrams' 16 in July.
Acuna finished 29th in the league in July with 1.1 fWAR. Again, this was Acuna's worst month of the season, thus far. His worst month was still top-30 in WAR.
The only thing holding Acuna back from an even higher WAR in July was his lack of range on defense. He finished with a -1.5 Def rating, which is fielding runs saved with positional adjustments removed. It's not terrible, but it's still below average.
So kudos to Acuna for having his worst offensive month of the season and still finishing as the second-best Braves player for the month of July.
1. Atlanta Braves Player in July: Matt Olson
Matt Olson leads all of baseball in home runs and RBI. He has already set a career high with 43 dingers and has Andruw Jones' franchise record of 51 in his sights.
A month ago, it would have been laughable to argue Olson has a chance at snatching the MVP from Acuna Jr., but it's not so funny now.
July was Olson's best full month of the year and really helped alter the trajectory of his season for the better. The homers have been there all year. He hit eight in April, nine in May, 11 in June, and added eight more in July.
He actually drove in fewer runs in July (22) than he did in June (25). Of course, he did play in two fewer games in July due to the All-Star break. his 1.093 OPS was the highest of the year (so far). He slugged an impressive .675 for the month, good for the ninth-best mark in the league.
His eight dingers were right in line with what he's been doing all year and that number was good for the fifth-most in the game. He continued his patient ways at the plate and walked in 13.3% of his plate appearances. He also cut his strikeout rate down to 21.4%, which has been credited to the increase in his batting average.
Olson entered July with a .246 average and left with a .263. He brought his OPS up from .924 to .960. Olson finished July with 1.2 fWAR.
He finished the month by blasting four homers in his last four games with nine RBI and a .500 average. Olson has kept that momentum up in August. As good as July was, August has been even better! Let's hope Matt keeps it going.
Enjoy these Braves, folks! They are special.