Atlanta Braves: let’s give credit to the little man

The Atlanta Braves have a wealth of talent that is undeniable. Former MVP’s and players who not long ago were cant-miss prospects.

They have all turned out and performed well for the Atlanta Braves this year, but let’s give some love to the players who have went behind the scenes and contributed in big time ways for the club as we look to win another NL East Title.

Matt Joyce has probably been the biggest contributor of these names that we are about to talk about.

He has had to come in and start many of these late season games due to injuries of other players. Every night he starts, it seems like he gets at least 1 hit and he very well may have earned a spot on the postseason roster.

In fact, as a starting player, he was carrying an astounding OPS of 1.067 prior to last night’s game.

Joyce was a late roster addition via the San Francisco Giants. Another great pickup by the Braves front office and he has more than held his weight on this team.

Keeping with the hitting, how big was that grand slam off the bat of Rafael Ortega against the Dodgers a few weeks ago?

Just when it looked like we were about to lose another series against L.A., his home run was the difference and it could be argued that was the spark this team needed for it’s current run.

How about Adeiny Hechavarria and the timely hits and great defense he brought over in August while we waited on Dansby Swanson to return to health?

The shortstop defense was killing us as a team and he was brought on to shore that up. Not only did he do that, he also gave us some big time hits.

Of course, when discussing things like this, you have to throw some love Charlie Culberson’s way.

His bat hasn’t been as big as years’ past but just think about that throw he made to save the Marlins game the day before the All-Star break. Not too mention, his bat hasn’t been needed near as much in late innings this season.

Mound ‘Presents’

Jerry Blevins has come in and got some big time outs in some high leverage situations. He has even converted a couple of save opportunities. Also, for the first month or so after being acquired from the Mariners, Anthony Swarzak pitched darn well and was used in high leverage situations.

It hasn’t been all positive for Swarzak the last month or so, but he gave the Braves a little stability at the back end of the pen when it needed it in a bad way.

Much like Blevins, Josh Tomlin hasn’t been used as much as some of the other bullpen pieces but he has stayed on all year, and how many times has he been the long man called upon to save the bullpen for the next few nights? You cant look at someone like Tomlin and let the numbers tell the story.

Lastly, Luke Jackson has been hated, loved, ridiculed, and loathed in Braves country this year. He was public enemy #1 after his terrible opening day showing. He rebounded and was pitching outstanding and was eventually the teams closer for a bit. Since then he has been put down to a smaller role, but he is still pitching decent.

The point with Jackson being:  he was the one closing out those games in the Summer.  Yes sometimes it wasn’t pretty, but he got the job done more times than not.

So as we get closer to hopefully clinching a division crown again, let’s not forget the guys on the back end of the roster who played a tremendous part in getting us there while the ‘regulars’ were on the mend.