Subscribe
Follow Us
The Atlanta Braves may have finally found themselves after a disastrous 0-7 start to the season. They're 13-8 since then and 8-2 in their last 10 games, as the team is slowly starting to resemble what we thought it could be in the spring.
On the mound, things have been rocky. Spencer Schwellenbach still has sparkling numbers but he is coming off of three straight uneven performances. Reigning Cy Young winner Chris Sale is finally showing signs of life behind Schwellenbach, but all told, Braves starters have only the 24th-best team ERA in the majors (4.48). Oh, and Spencer Strider is back on the IL.
Marcell Ozuna is leading the offense, batting .313 with a league-best .473 OBP, as of April 29. Catcher Sean Murphy has seven home runs and a .990 OPS to help him out, while Austin Riley is hitting .282 with six homers of his own.
That's the good news. The bad news is the Braves have gotten almost no offensive production from their outfield whatsoever. The team demoted Jared Kelenic in favor of Eddie Rosario on Tuesday, while Michael Harris II and Bryan De La Cruz have both been inconsistent at best. Alex Verdugo and Eli White have gotten the job done in limited duty, but neither has the track record to inspire much confidence going forward.
Thankfully, Ronald Acuna Jr. is on his way back and he will make a significant difference to the team's outfield pop. It's not unimaginable that he joins some combination of the above players to create a solid hitting outfield.
The Braves don't have the depth to overcome horrid start
There's a path to the Braves contending for the NL East crown and, by extension, making a deep playoff run. The problem is that the team's margin for error is minuscule and the Braves have already been ravaged by injuries.
The rotation will be okay IF Strider comes back healthy and forms a formidable front end of the Braves' rotation with Schwellenbach and Sale, assuming Sale continues his upward trajectory. The outfield will be fine IF Acuna finds his groove fast enough and some combination of White, Harris, De La Cruz and Verdugo holds up.
It goes further than that. The bullpen will be fine IF closer Raisal Iglesias regains his form and Enyel De Los Santos is closer to what he was in 2022 and 2023 with the Cleveland Guardians. Daysbel Hernandez will also need to stay dominant — something that is surely possible, but he has also never pitched more than 18 big league innings in a season.
Craig Kimbrel is on his way back and, if he is vintage Kimbrel, it would lengthen the bullpen significantly. Unfortunately for the Braves, his velocity has been down in his rehab appearances, so Atlanta is moving slowly with him, hoping he will build up arm strength.
Injuries, slumps and regular underperformance all happen in baseball. To every team. The great ones, however, have the depth to overcome that. If the Braves had, say, a fourth or fifth starter that was showing real promise, or had even average production from a third or fourth outfielder, it would go a long way toward preparing Atlanta for the still lengthy season to come.
When the trade deadline rolls around, the Braves might not need to make one big move (not that it would hurt). It will be the supplementary pieces they add that determines their real ceiling.
