Atlanta Braves – contenders or pretenders
By Fred Owens
Yesterday Alan told us that the sites making projections are starting to believe in the Atlanta Braves. That begs the question are the Braves contenders or pretenders?
The Atlanta Braves started the season hot and haven’t cooled off. The roster is relatively stable and prospects are coming. but is it strong enough to challenge for a division title?
As the roster stands today, they’re pretenders.
Atlanta Braves overview
The Atlanta Braves are the surprise team of the league so far. They’ve played the hardest schedule to date, playing the Nationals dead even, beat the Phillies six times in nine games and the Mets five times in six games.
Against the two out of market challengers the Braves met so far, they took the Rockies series two games to one and played the Cubs dead even (should be up three to one, yes I’m still mad about MLB Replay ineptitude) with two games to go.
This is a resilient team that never stops playing hard, runs the bases aggressively and makes most plays defensively. That said, there are issues that can’t be ignored.
Good to play everyday
The Atlanta Braves have a solid core of really good players around a superstar, face of the franchise player in Freddie Freeman. The catching duo of Kurt Suzuki and Tyler Flowers isn’t awe inspiring but are once again performing better than I expected. Flowers DL stint could mean he doesn’t wear down as quickly and Suzuki is still mashing; go ax bat go.
Ozzie Albies legend grows with every game. He’s not yet in Jose Altuve territory at the plate, but he’s headed that way and he’s a far superior defender.
Ender Inciarte remains a top five center fielder in the game and continues to get on base wherever he hits on the lineup. Once on base, he drives pitchers crazy. They know he’s going to steal and haven’t been able to stop him consistently so far.
Hold up your hand if you had Nick Markakis with:
- a .337/.406/.524/.931 line,
- 155 wRC+,
- a .400 wOBA and
- second in the NL batting title race.
Okay put your hands down, you’re lying. Whether it’s a walk year bump or a new and improved old Markakis, the man’s playing at a very high level; the eye test says his defense is even better.