Atlanta Braves Spring Training By the Numbers

Spring Training Numbers are Frightfully Misleading, But These Will Still Tell Stories

All data refers to major league Spring games played prior to Monday, March 7, 2016.

2.167

Freddie Freeman‘s OPS (On-base percentage plus slugging).

4 official at-bats, plus 2 walks.  1 homer, 1 double.  The other AB’s resulted in strikeouts, but that’s still 4 trips on base (or around the bases) in six tries.  That bodes well for his wrist.

1

It took us all the way until July 1st of 2015 before Nick Markakis hit a home run for the Atlanta Braves.  Instead, he turned that lost power into a lot of hits – 181 of them, including 38 doubles, which approached his career high of 191 hits from way back in 2007.  But here in the very first week of Spring 2016, the nearly-beardless Markakis has already launched his first Florida dinger.

39

The total hits this week from an interesting group of 8 players:

• Ozhaino Albies – 6
• Hector Olivera – 6
• Emilio Bonifacio – 5
• Ender Inciarte – 5
• Mallex Smith – 5
• Erick Aybar – 4
• Daniel Castro – 4
• Jeff Francoeur – 4

Of these, only Olivera and Castro were on the major league club at any point last year.  Olivera is looking very good thus far, including use of the entire field.  Castro probably has zero shot at making the team, but is still announcing his presence.

Ozzy has been freakishly consistent and is certainly generating a lot of discussions.  Mallex had four of those hits in one glorious game – two triples in one inning, a homer and double.

Bonifacio is fighting for a job, and his effort is remarkable given that he arrived in Florida mere days after his newborn son had a liver transplant.

Ender Inciarte?  So far been all as advertised – and more.

Jeff Francoeur wants to make this team so bad that he’s no only hitting (.308) but also willing to take a walk.

.571, .000

That’s Gordon Beckham‘s on-base percentage (5th best for the Braves) and batting average, respectively.  You get that with no hits and 4 walks in 7 trips to the plate.  He also has no strikeouts yet.

Zero

Adonis Garcia‘s errors in six fielding chances.

Twelve

The number of earned runs allowed by a promising group of starting pitchers, namely Aaron Blair, Sean Newcomb, and Lucas Sims… all in 4.2 innings of work.  You could also throw in 2 more from Casey Kelly in 2 innings of work.

Walks derailed Newcomb and Sims (seven total).  Blair sailed through one inning, but then got hammered in the next.  But it’s way early and they were up to help spell the ‘real’ starters.

Chris Ellis also got a chance, and managed to escape damage despite 2 walks in 2 innings.  It’s the walks that will need to be monitored for all of these pitchers going forward.

45.00

This number represents what Ryan Weber‘s ERA would have been if not for an error that led to five unearned runs.  Ouch.  Not a real good start if you want a chance to make the rotation… or the bullpen.

Ugly Impressions

• Ian Krol – 16.20 ERA, but the 2 walks in 1.2 innings are the numbers of bigger concern.
• Mauricio Cabrera.  Good news?  No walks.  Bad news?  Hitters sitting on fastballs in the zone.  13.50 ERA in 2 innings.
• Kyle Kendrick.  5 hits and 3 total runs allowed in 2 innings.

Much Better Impressions

• Arodys Vizcaino – 1 inning, 3 strikeouts.  ‘Nuff said.
• Jhoulys Chacin – 2 innings, 2 strikeouts.
• Bud Norris – 2 innings, all zeros on the board.
• Tyrell Jenkins – 1.1 innings, 2 strikeouts.  Will likely earn himself an earlier game appearance against better competition soon.
• Matt Marksberry – 2 innings, 2 K.  Alexi Ogando, Andrew Thurman, both Alex Torres and Carlos Torres, John Gant, Ryan Kelly, Chris Withrow, Ron Wooten, Matt Younginer, Daniel Winkler, Hector Cervenka, and Jose Ramirez… all solid outings.

1.0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0

David Carpenter‘s line for his lone appearance before being released on Saturday.  Sure hope we don’t end up regretting that one, though it does appear that he was behind many others in the race for bullpen slots.

71, 32, 44

Combined Runs scored, walks accepted, and strikeouts for the team.  Of note:

• Nate Freiman, Rio Ruiz, and Matt Tuiasosopo have combined for 13 of those strikeouts.  They also have 7 of the walks.
• Of those actually competing for a Spring job, only Bonifacio has as many as 3 Ks… and he’s hitting .500.
• Ah, but Nick Swisher also has 3 strikeouts.  But that’s discussed next.

Swisher/Bourn Watch

I had anticipated that Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn would get a lot of Spring ABs to give them a chance to showcase themselves – hopefully leading to a trade.  So far it’s a slow go, with Bourn doing better of the pair:

• Bourn:  .333 (2 for 6, RBI, 2BB, 2K)
• Swisher:  .125 (1 for 8, BB, 3K)

Next: But is there too much Spring Scrutiny?

More to the point, Swisher and his knees are said to be better, though he’s been limited to DH and 1B roles.  Nothing in the outfield.