A nightmare season for the Atlanta Braves reached a new low point on Monday as the team lost a 1-0 heartbreaker to the lowly Cincinnati Reds. The loss dropped them to the outside looking in when looking at the NL postseason race. In other words, it’s uncharted territory for a Braves organization that has a streak of six straight postseason appearances on the line.
The reason Atlanta is where they are obviously has a lot to do with injuries, but it also has to do with an underperforming lineup. The Braves, a team that led the majors in just about every offensive category last season, enter Tuesday’s action ranking tied for 18th in runs scored. None of the teams below them are in a playoff spot.
Their offensive struggles reached new heights on Monday when Nick Martinez at one point retired 17 in a row and delivered seven scoreless innings. The Braves managed just two hits (both singles) and one walk all night.
There’s plenty of blame to go around. Injuries have hampered them undoubtedly, but those are not enough of an excuse for Braves legend and Baseball Hall of Famer who ripped them to shreds on the Casa De Klub podcast.
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Chipper Jones puts entire Braves organization on blast for underperforming offense
“Having worked with Alex Anthopoulos, they want slug and they want guys who get on base at a high clip. They don’t promote enough, I think, the getting on base part. In order to score runs, you’ve gotta get those guys on base.”
Jones worked in the Braves organization not too long after retiring, serving as a hitting consultant. This made a ton of sense given the fact that he’s a Hall of Famer, but from the sound of things, Alex Anthopoulos and Jones have different priorities when it comes to hitting.
Jones values those who get on base at a high clip and can help string hits together while Anthopoulos, like most other executives in the game, prioritizes the home run ball. The Braves led the majors last season with 947 runs scored and 307 home runs. This season, they’re 18th with 610 runs scored and 5th with 182 home runs.
While there’s obviously a ton of value to come from a year in which the team hits 307 home runs, Jones, understandably, had his doubts of whether their elite offense to that magnitude would last.
“In a year like that, everything’s great. When the market corrects, like it is this year, you have to do other things. Until recently, the last week or 10 days, the market has corrected and they have struggled. It’s hard to watch.”
Everything was perfect last season according to Jones, but it’s unreasonable to expect that to continue. He cites the injuries as a major factor, but in a year in which things aren’t going perfectly, Jones is saying that the Braves need to do something else. They’ve hit a bunch of home runs this season, ranking fifth in the majors, but the fact that they’re 18th in runs scored should raise alarm bells.
Jones is right in that the Braves should be looking to get on base more. Getting a table setter like Michael Harris II back should help once he gets going, but getting guys on in front of the big boppers like Marcell Ozuna and Matt Olson had to be more of a priority than it was. The only player Atlanta brought in was Jorge Soler, a slugging outfielder who doesn’t get on base much. Soler has 17 home runs this season but is hitting .229 with a .327 OBP while primarily hitting at the top of the lineup in Atlanta. That’s not going to cut it.
Most years, when the majority of the team is healthy, the Braves are fine to proceed how they did in 2023. When virtually the entire team with the exception of Ozuna and Olson are out, though, something approach-wise does have to change. Maybe try and focus on stringing some hits together instead of playing hero-ball like they did on Monday night. With how poorly things have gone offensively, it can’t hurt.
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