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Atlanta Braves: Hit Streaks, the Shift, Austin Riley Blistering Breaking Balls

By Seth Carter

PHILADELPHIA, PA - AUGUST 28: Austin Riley #42 of the Atlanta Braves bats against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on August 28, 2020 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. All players are wearing #42 in honor of Jackie Robinson Day. The day honoring Jackie Robinson, traditionally held on April 15, was rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Phillies defeated the Braves 7-4. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA - AUGUST 28: Austin Riley #42 of the Atlanta Braves bats against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on August 28, 2020 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. All players are wearing #42 in honor of Jackie Robinson Day. The day honoring Jackie Robinson, traditionally held on April 15, was rescheduled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Phillies defeated the Braves 7-4. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /
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The Atlanta Braves put forth a valiant effort Friday night against the Phillies but came up short in extra-innings. We take a look at some of the offensive trends this game helped highlight.

The Atlanta Braves are now through the toughest part of their schedule and in first place in the NL East. Things are looking up and some very important hitters are on fire right now. Here are a few streaks and trends that are worth noting after last night’s game.

Atlanta Braves – Freddie Freeman vs. the Shift

I always enjoy watching certain hitters and how they handle the shift. In the first inning, the Phillies continued to try and employ the shift against Freddie Freeman. Freddie fought off a couple of tough pitches and shot a foul down the leftfield line, threatening to use the empty part of the field.

And then of course, later in the at-bat, he poked one through the virtually empty left side of the infield for a base hit.

Before I give you this stat, I have to preface it with some notes. Fangraphs keeps track of stats against the shift but they do not include strikeouts, walks, and homers. So essentially, this “average” is on balls in play against the shift.

Freeman is hitting .364 on such plays against the shift this season. Keep them coming!

Atlanta Braves – Line Drives and Hard Hits

Three Braves are inside the top 20 in line-drive percentage. Freddie Freeman leads the way with 32.6% of his batted balls becoming blistered frozen ropes. Travis d’Arnaud is next with 30.8% and Ronald Acuna Jr. rounds out the top three with 29.8 percent.

Five Atlanta Braves hitters have a hard-hit percentage over 46 percent. Freeman, Ozuna, d’Arnaud, and Acuna are all there, but the guy leading the way is Dansby Swanson with 48.3% of hit batted balls registering over 95 mph.

Atlanta Braves – Hit Streaks

Dansby had an 11-game hitting streak snapped in last night’s loss the  Phillies. During that hit streak, he posted a .417 average with a .667 slugging percentage.

Freddie Freeman brought his active hitting streak to 11 games last night with his single against the shift in the first and then by ripping a double in the fourth.

Atlanta Braves – Austin Riley Continues to Blister Breaking Balls

Austin Riley has hit safely in seven of his last eight games. During that span, he is hitting .357 with two homers, 10 hits, and just six strikeouts.

Riley has made great strides this season. It’s beginning to show up in the stats, but he has shown an ability to lay off of the breaking balls this season. After being utterly destroyed by breaking pitches last season, he came into 2020 with a focus on not getting beat by them.

The results are showing. Not only did Riley blast a curveball to the moon last night, but that was just a continuation of his season. After last night, Austin Riley is now hitting .357 with all five of his homers coming off of breaking balls.

I know he destroyed a curveball for his fifth homer last night, but let’s take a look at a different at-bat from last night’s game:

Zack Wheeler vs. Austin Riley Top of the Fifth Inning

Fastball in off the plate – Ball One (1-0)

Fastball in on the plate – Strike One (1-1)

Fastball in off the plate – Ball Two (2-1)

Fastball in just barely off the plate – Ball Three (3-1)

Fastball low and inside off the plate – Foul Ball (3-2)

Curveball low and away – Fouled Off (3-2)

Fastball inside – groundball to third base for a double play.

An unfortunate result but a fantastic at-bat for Riley. Wheeler pounded the fastball inside for the first five pitches, then showed Riley the curveball low and away on the outside corner. Last season, that was an eyes-closed swinging strike three. Last night, he fouled it off to stay alive. I continue to see very positive signs from the youngster.

In just 362 career at-bats, Riley already has 23 career homers. His current pace would have him at 38 homers over 600 at-bats.

How well is Riley seeing breaking balls this season?

Atlanta Braves – Ender Inciarte Hits First Homer of the Season

When Adam Duvall injured his ankle trying to beat out a ground ball in the fifth inning, Ender Inciarte entered the game and all 5’11, 159 pounds of him took Adam Morgan deep on a 1-0 curveball. It was his first homer of the season and hopefully the spark he needed to get his bat going!

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