Much has been made of Ronald Acuña Jr.'s struggles with four-seam fastballs with the Atlanta Braves in 2026, and for good reason. In 383 plate appearances this season as of September 4, Acuña Jr. is hitting just .148 against heaters with an xBA of .194 that seems to indicate that his issues are not just bad luck. Thankfully, Acuña Jr. has shown signs recently that he is improving against four-seamers, but that isn't the end of the Braves' problems with the pitch.
Most fans would agree that the Braves' offense has been largely disappointing this season. Sure, there have been bright spots, and the trio of Matt Olson, Michael Harris II, and Drake Baldwin have largely performed well, but there have been several Braves hitters that have regressed badly in 2026 or, at best, have been maddeningly inconsistent.
While there have been many reasons why Atlanta's bats have struggled this season, one glaring problem has been that much of their lineup has struggled against the same four-seamers that have been giving Acuña Jr. fits.
The Braves' lineup has REALLY struggled against four-seam fastballs, and that is a big problem ahead of the playoffs
Now, not all of the news is bad here. For example, Baldwin has actually been really good against four-seamers with a 10 Run Value against them while hitting .322 and slugging .529. Harris II isn't quite as good, but is still hitting .305 with a .526 slugging percentage against this particular type of heater. After that, well...the news is not nearly as good.
If you are looking at the Braves' lineup regulars, you will find six hitters with negative run values (which is just a measure of how many net runs a player has "created" against a different pitch) against four-seam fastball this season. Some are only somewhat bad, but still potentially defensible, like Ozzie Albies (-1), Lane Thomas (-3), and Mike Yastrzemski (-4). However, Acuña Jr. isn't even the worst on the Braves at -7, as both Austin Riley and Mauricio Dubon are tied for the worst by run value at a depressing -9 against four-seamers. Once you think about how many plate appearances these guys have gotten this season, you can understand the issue and concerns.
The biggest issue here is that with the playoffs on the horizon, the Braves' challenge when it comes to four-seamers is only going to get worse. The Brewers have Jacob Misiorowski, who unsurprisingly has the second-best four-seam fastball in baseball by run value at 23. Old friend Kevin Gausman, who is now with the Cubs, has a heater that comes in at 13 Run Value. The bright spot here is that the Phillies don't really have a starter with an overpowering four-seamer, but that is the exception to the rule in this loaded field of National League playoff contenders.
In short, the Braves are largely bad against four-seam fastballs, and there is no way for them to avoid them. The only thing they can do is make some adjustments and quickly. Otherwise, we could be in line for some more disappointing offensive performances.
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