It’s time for the Braves to start hitting the mark. And the ball
This ground-rule double by Freddie Freeman drove in Jordan Schafer in the seventh. (AP photo)
Enough with this we’re-better-than-we’ve-played stuff. It’s time for the Braves to play better. They’re getting healthy. (Well, except for Tommy Hanson.) The schedule between here and the All-Star break isn’t oppressive. If there’s an upward move in this club — and surely there is — this would seem the moment.
The Braves have positioned themselves to make the playoffs — they’re tied for the wild-card lead — despite playing nearly half a season with one hand tied behind their backs. This was built to be a good-hit, good-pitch team. It has become a great-pitch, seldom-hit assemblage. It shouldn’t have happened, but it has.
It’s time for it to stop happening. It’s time for the guys who are paid to hit to … you know, hit. It’s time to see if this club can indeed give the regal Phillies a run for the National League East.
Said Chipper Jones, who missed the weekend series against Texas with a strained adductor muscle: “The offense is going to have to get better, one way or another, if we’re going to hold off the teams who will get hot the second half.”
Does “one way or another” mean that, if the sluggish status quo holds, the Braves will require a big bat by way of trade? Said Jones: “I think the pieces are here already. We just need more cohesive production.”
The Braves beat Texas 4-2 Sunday, but it was the accustomed struggle. They mustered seven hits, six of them singles. They were essentially gifted two runs by Rangers catcher Yorvit Torrealba, who tipped Jordan Schafer’s bat and thereby allowed the Brave to reach on interference and who ran into first baseman Michael Young to allow Alex Gonzalez’s pop to fall 10 feet in front of the plate.
It was a good victory in the sense that it was, coming as it did after a week in which the Braves had lost five of six, needed. Less good was how hard the Braves’ pitchers — they used six — had to work for it. But that has been the story of these first 73 games: Great pitching has propped up a team that has a batting average of .238.
Toward that end: Fredi Gonzalez and his staff must realize this team might never be the homer-bashing crew they thought they’d have. Chipper isn’t going to hit 30 homers. Dan Uggla would have to get as hot as he has been cold to reach that number. It’s time for the Braves to stop waiting for the home runs that haven’t yet come and starting to work harder with the singles that do.
And here we come to a reason for guarded optimism: Jordan Schafer is only hitting .226 in 23 games since being summoned from Gwinnett, but it has been an effective .226. He has eight of the team’s 21 stolen bases, and he showed Sunday that he grasps the concept of batting leadoff in a way no other Brave does.
First at-bat: Schafer induced Alexi Ogando to throw 10 pitches on a hot day. “He’s given us a big lift,” Jones said. “I’m thinking he himself saw 30 pitches today — that’s big.”
Said Schafer: “I’m just trying to do my job. I’m taking pitches so the guys behind me can see everything he throws. If I swing at the first pitch, I’m not doing my job.”
Said Fredi Gonzalez: “He makes stuff happen. He creates great hitting situations for the guys around him.”
Those hitters have yet to take full advantage, but the Braves are better suited to play small-ball with Schafer playing center field and leading off than by stacking a bunch of free swingers end to end. Nate McLouth, who returned from the disabled list Sunday and played left (and made a nice sliding catch), is probably best suited to being a fourth outfielder. Stick with Schafer in center until/unless he proves he can’t do it.
Jones is correct in saying there are enough hitters on this roster to score enough runs, but some of those hitters — Uggla, to name the most obvious — might have to change their approach. Freddie Freeman, who had three hits Sunday, might need to remain higher in the lineup even after Jones and Martin Prado return. (Freeman is third among Braves in RBIs.)
Said Jones: “I just don’t feel we’ve played consistently enough to get to the top of the East.” And they haven’t. But they could — provided the hitters hit.
By Mark Bradley
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107 comments Add your comment
Train Wreck Bystander
June 20th, 2011
1:08 am
I’ll put on the Captain Obvious cape too…
It’s not time… it’s WAY PAST TIME (if I knew how to make boldface posts in WordPress, I’d have done that instead of all caps).
It’s heartening to see Schafer and his small-ball approach. You don’t have to swing for the fences to help the team.
FACTS
June 20th, 2011
1:18 am
Mark this has 2 B 1 of the dumbest articles of all time …..the Braves needs 2 start hitting, c’mon Mark U can do better than that!!!!
WarmerBenches
June 20th, 2011
1:38 am
benchwarmer- “Jason Heyward is a bust it seems” are you insane? Heyward is far, far from a bust.. He’s barely old enough to drink. Sure Buster Posey beat him out for ROY, but Posey is older and about 2 years more mature than Heyward. Heyward will mature into one of the best players the game will see in the next 10-20 years, its a well known fact just be patient and let him grow as a young star instead of trying to beat him down with words. I had a good feeling about Pujols and Ichiro and that was the last time I had a strong feeling about anyone til Heyward came along.. Why are ATL fans so hard on the ‘kid? He’s got a basic skill set that nobody and I mean nobody since Pujols ever displayed and he was called up to play in the MLB at age 20. He’s still getting his feet wet, and sometimes he suprises like that 2 run single earlier today. Once in awhile he’ll disappoint like when he’ll bobble a ball or make a bad throw, but thats why its called Learning the Game and he’s doing a dang fine job so far if you ask me. As hard as it may be for you to imagine, he’s doing alot more now than you ever did at age 21 and he’ll be fine in Atlanta or wherever else he may play during his long career. He’s had a bit of bad luck and a couple minor injuries but its time for him to shine now.. watch him.
Brother John
June 20th, 2011
3:22 am
I’m watching. This team needs a major shake up whether it be a new manager, a block buster trade, or whatever. This status quo equals mediocrity. Wren has got, for better or for worse, to shake this team up. Get something, anything done here. Roll the dice. Maybe you’ll be a winner.
HATinGA
June 20th, 2011
5:03 am
All the people on here who keep saying Chipper needs to retire, he has been along with BM the only offence the braves have had this year, without him in the lineup there 7games below .500.
Lil' Barry Bailout
June 20th, 2011
6:40 am
The Braves will not contend for the division with the Phillies. The Phillies have a big-boy offense.
Lil' Barry Bailout
June 20th, 2011
6:43 am
WarmerBenches: [Heyward's] had a bit of bad luck and a couple minor injuries
——————
Young players who are injured as often as Heyward don’t have10-20 year careers.
GT71
June 20th, 2011
6:44 am
Come on, guys. Bradley writes this kinda fish-wrapper filler most of the time. In the case of the Braves, we got a hack writing about a bunch of journeymen hackers. Bradley has trouble with words; the Braves have trouble with pitching.
Evens out.
And remember that the AJC is considered the worst paper in any city in America of its size.
You guys are expecting too much – they are delivering what they have. I’ll dance with what brung me, but I’ll leave early.
MitchC
June 20th, 2011
7:19 am
I had said at the beginning of the season that I didnt think the Braves have enough to win the East. They realistically dont. The pitching staff in Philly might be as good as Maddux, Glavine, and Smoltz in their prime, not to mention that they can have a pretty good lineup as well.
The wild card, however, is another story. There is no reason we cant challenge for, and win.. that. As we know, Uggla has been a huge disappointment.. but.. hopefully he can get hot at some point.
There’s still more than half a season left. This team can still win 90 plus games and the Wild Card. They do have to start hitting more.. to continue to stay with the other wild card contenders over the long haul.
sportzfan
June 20th, 2011
7:26 am
The college world series is in full swing and prime time on ESPN, butr not one word mentioned in the AJC…..what’s up?
slidezz
June 20th, 2011
7:30 am
Venters is the man but he’s not superman…………way too many innings not enough days off
John3:3
June 20th, 2011
7:34 am
If they can get healthy, the Braves will make a run.
Atticus
June 20th, 2011
7:52 am
Mark, good article. The only problem is they don’t have a superstar in terms of a big time hitter. Prado and Mac are really good hitters and all stars but they don’t compare with the big-time hitters on other teams over the duration of the season. Take each playoff contender… Reds (Votto & Bruce), Phillies (Ryan Howard and Chase Utley), Cards (Pujols, Berkman and Holliday), Dodgers (Kemp and Ethier), Rocks (Cargo and Tulowitski), Brewers (Braun and FIelder)…they all have big time hitters that either drive in 120+ runs and/or hit .320. The Braves have neither. Prado is close but you can’t put him in the category with the above. Chipper was that hitter a few years ago but we should’ve moved on from him and used his and Lowe’s salary to go after Holliday, Braun or Zimmerman, not Uggla or Adam Dunn. Hewyward could be that guy 2 or 3 years from now but not yet.
The Braves have a bunch of very mediocre hitters and that is why they don’t score runs, and yes Schafer has been pretty good but over time a .220 hitter isn’t enough and you will realize that.
Glenn
June 20th, 2011
7:54 am
Can anyone say Don Baylor; Hitting Coach?
Furman Bitcher
June 20th, 2011
7:59 am
Sorry Atticus I will take Prado over Utley but you are right we dont have a true “Banger”
Furman Bitcher
June 20th, 2011
8:02 am
I agree we need to change hitting coaches. Other teams have already but we are usually slower tto react
bvillebaron
June 20th, 2011
8:16 am
There’s no reason why Schafer has to be the only guy on the team to not swing at bad pitches and make the pitcher work. The team did that successfully last year. Too many others are getting themselves out due to their lack of patience.
Grantland Rice
June 20th, 2011
8:36 am
Sure wasn’t expecting 8 errors this weekend either.
NickGranite
June 20th, 2011
8:39 am
If the team is healthy we’ll be good. Shafer, Prado, Chipper, McCann, Freeman, Heyward, Uggla, Gonzo. All we can hope in the 7 and 8 holes is they pop one once in awhile because any higher in the line-up just doesn’t work. Uggla is a disaster and Gonzo too streaky. Sometimes Gonzo can carry you for a game or two but more often than not he’s a rally killer. I realize there are a lot of lefties in a row in this line-up but we have to string our best hitters together back to back and hope we can get some runs. As for Shafer, 19 runs scored in his 23 games including two yesterday with no hits. Low batting avg so far but the kid has a talent for the basepaths and getting home.
All I'm Saying Is....
June 20th, 2011
8:41 am
Braves need to start hitting. By the way, it’s hot in Atlanta in the summer. The leaves turn brown in the late fall. During winter in Atlanta, the temperature drops to below 40 degrees often. Tomorrow, the sun will rise. Today, the sun will set. Night typically follows day, in case you missed it. I have nothing more obvious to share at this time. I would give you some insight and actual original reporting but I have this blogging requirement that forces me to type when I should actually think.
LET’S GO BRAVES!
The Alpha Male
June 20th, 2011
8:44 am
Glad to see Jordan Shafer grow up and become a legit big leaguer…. the sky’s the limit for the kid now that his head’s on straight.
Atticus
June 20th, 2011
8:50 am
Hitting coaches are irrelevant. As far as Utley, I might agree with you since his injury but Prado isn’t ever going to hit .330 with 20+ HRs and 100 RBIs. He had 100 RBIs 4 straight years. I love Prado though so it’s splitting hairs but yes, we need a banger and not one that is hitting .172
Tom B.
June 20th, 2011
9:10 am
as much as i hate mark Cuban, he needs to buy the Braves, drop these idiots who are running the club (manager, hitting coach,etc) , tell Chipper to get off his — and play or get traded, and spend money for some players who are willing to play, and a manager with some fire.
jerry
June 20th, 2011
9:15 am
1 (number of World Series won) ÷ 45 (number of years in Atlanta) = 0.022 x 100 = 2.22% (odds of doing it again). Wake up.
Sonny Clusters
June 20th, 2011
9:16 am
We have a theory that the Braves may have gotten the wrong Uggla. Instead of Dan Uggla, they may have gotten Vern Uggla, a Popeye movie double. We can’t see Dan Uggla batting .175 but we’re pretty sure that’s what Vern Uggla would bat if he got the chance.
Atticus
June 20th, 2011
9:28 am
Also keep in mind given the salary constraints, this team is built for 2 years from now. Lowe and Chipper will be gone. Hanson, Jurjjens, Beachy, Medlen, Minor, Teheren, Venters, Kimbrell etc…will be in their prime, Freeman and Heyward will have a few years under their belt. Prado at 3rd, Mac still in his prime. Then they use Lowe, Chipper and Huddy salary money to get a big time LF and either develop a CF and SS. You have to hope Uggla rebounds because we are stuck with him regardless and he is still young.
Jack G.
June 20th, 2011
9:29 am
Fredi’s problem, is he is trying to be like Bobby. You have to be like yourself, not like Someone else.
Cronyism holds true with coaches. Our hitting coach was apparently hired because he was an old buddy who needed a job. He is not a hitting coach. Some say that a hitting coach can only do so much and cant help these guys in a slump. If this is true, why have a hitting coach.
Bag-o Bats
June 20th, 2011
9:34 am
Way too many “IFs”! If Hayward was Hank, he’d give a damn and start hitting the ball. If Freddi Freeman was Freddie McGriff, he’d be an all star first baseman and hit way more consistentantly than he has been. If Uggla would attempt to make some changes at the plate as have been prescribed, he would begin ripping the ball. If Schafer (and it goes on and on and on). If Freddie Gonzalas (and on and on and on). If we could remove all of these “IFs” we’d all be managing a major league team somewhere and winning every game. These guys are paid very well to do the job they’ve trained for throughout the years and they just don’t seem to get it. They need to man up, play the game the way it’s supposed to be played rather than continue carrying a chip on their shoulder for whatever reason and become the team players they are paid to be. News at 11:00……………………………………….
Bernard
June 20th, 2011
9:50 am
Now is the time for all “good” ballplayers to come to the aid of their team….PPPPPPLEASE!!!!!!
old timer
June 20th, 2011
9:50 am
The Braves are not as good as the Phils this year, but they are plenty good enough to get the wild card again, and then anything can happen. If Chipper was as good as he used to be, this team would be as good as Philly. But he is at the age where you expect the decline we are seeing. Schaffer isn’t even hitting all that well yet and he is still valuable in the lineup and in center. He has to stay out there when Prado comes back. McLouth can fill in when Chipper rests and he can spell the outfielders and pinch hit and pinch run. That will improve the bench, which really needs improving. The starting pitching is excellent and the bullpen is awesome.
bruce mac
June 20th, 2011
9:56 am
MB, you do realize this is a home run hitting team. Even with all the ineffectiveness they are third in Homeruns in NL. The timing of these homeruns is not great but they are still coming and will continue to come. We can only hope they start coming with runners on base.
Mark Bradley
June 20th, 2011
10:12 am
I do realize this team was built to hit home runs. But that’s about all it hits.
Bill
June 20th, 2011
10:16 am
GT71..mark is not a homer for the ajc and Braves…he tells it like it is. Better than others……..
Coach (2011 Fredi G. a go!)
June 20th, 2011
10:18 am
Well here we are, seventy-three games into it and fast approaching the half way mark.
And I for one am sick to my stomach, disgusted and finally fed up with Dan Uggla. His antics in the batters box have worn my patience down to a frazzle. Dude is nothing but a dead pull hitter who tries to yank every single pitch he see’s right between short stop and third base.
To illustrate why he’s batting a measly .177 in 73 games played, well here it is:
Uggla has 48 hits total, 26 have been to left field, 19 more to center field and just 3 to right. Yep, you read it right. THREE HITS to right field in 73 games. THREE and if you were wondering about those nine dingers……. seven have gone over the left field wall and two to center field. ZERO bombs to right.
Uggla has his head up his butt, period. He’s killing our offense and somebody needs to yank the lunkhead out behind the barn and give him the what for. I’ll nominate Chipper for the task because watching a six year ML veteran as he uses just one third of the diamond to swing at is inexcusable. The boy needs an attitude adjustment lest he kills the rest of this season.
Dan Uggla
June 20th, 2011
10:30 am
You guys can complain about me all you want, but you try hitting a 95 mph fastball when you are in my position. I have found that it is hard to see a baseball when you have your head up your butt.
Don Poyner
June 20th, 2011
10:35 am
Outfield production of .240/226 (McLouth and Schaffer) and .216 Heyward will not get the job done.
On so many teams – when young players come up or when young players are acquired from other teams, the continue to improve – improve significantly as hitters at the major leage level. With the Braves, this does not seem to be true – in fact just the opposite.
dean
June 20th, 2011
10:36 am
11 days left in June. Will the Braves swoon, break even, or get their act together?
9-7 so far. They should be 11-8 after Toronto leaves. You would hope they would be 13-9 after leaving SD. Then up to Seattle, who is 2 over .500 and just this weekend only allow the Phillies 7 runs over 3 games, including a shutout yesterday. (They are 2nd in AL team pitching and dead last in team batting.)
My prediction for the month: 14-11 Not exactly a June Swoon, but nothing spectacular either.
Have a Great Day.
Frank Wren
June 20th, 2011
10:40 am
Braves fans: What do you guys think about the Uggla trade now? — I know you weren’t real happy with how K.K. worked out, but you should feel better knowing that we have him under development now in Mississippi. Minor has been struggling, should I bring K.K. back now?
J.S. wrote in my last perfomance evaluation that I have a knack for signing disasters (I wonder if he meant that as a compliment?)
Robert
June 20th, 2011
10:42 am
“Said Chipper Jones, who missed the weekend series against Texas with a strained adductor muscle: “The offense is going to have to get better, one way or another”
I guess guys are just gonna have to start playing even when they are not 100 percent.
Right Chipper?
Kinda like you got on Heyward about?
CLARENCE
June 20th, 2011
10:48 am
I am at the unemployment commission office. I told my boss I couldn’t do my job cause of a strained oblique and needed to go on the DL.
Robert
June 20th, 2011
10:53 am
“All the people on here who keep saying Chipper needs to retire, he has been along with BM the only offence the braves have had this year, without him in the lineup there 7games below .500.”
Actually – without him in the lineup they have been 6-4
Ted M
June 20th, 2011
10:54 am
Uggla needs to start focusing on OBP.
So how’s Prado doing? What kind of treatments is he receiving? Is he losing weight?
Bill
June 20th, 2011
10:55 am
Clarence u would be one of the 53% getting free tax payers money for not working, so please work hurt. I can’t stand anymore taxes.
Skeezix
June 20th, 2011
11:03 am
Mark: You are so right in your analysis. Went to the coast on vacation so I missed the Mutts and Rangers series and I’m glad I did. I enjoy our pitchers who work their butts off for this team, but have found it tedious watching weak/futile at bats game after game for weeks on end, especially the struggles of Uggla…… It was a nice break.
And, have I said lately how much I hate losing to the Mutts?
Blackberry Cobbler
June 20th, 2011
11:14 am
Chipper’s meger stats and his tendency to spend injured time on the bench are 2 reasons why the team is no better than it is. Chipper should just shut up and play better himself.
Anjelica
June 20th, 2011
11:31 am
Why do you want the Braves to start hitting you, Mr. Bradley?
Have you been bad?
If not, would you like to be?
Realist
June 20th, 2011
11:31 am
And this is what it has come to. We have to praise a CF hitting .226 for hitting “an effective .226.” Schafer is the 25th or 26th best CF in baseball right now. If that is really worth praising, this team is in trouble.
Kentavo
June 20th, 2011
11:38 am
Well, it’s obvious, but if Uggla was even hitting .250 then things would be rolling much smoother.
I’m usually a glass-half empty kind of guy, but it is amazing that the Braves are still very much in this thing (Wild Card) considering Prado is on the shelf, Chip is hurt again, the entire OF went on the DL, EOF is hurt, Hanson and Beachy DL’d, and Hudson and Lowe ineffective. So…if everybody can come back healthy, Uggla gets his head out of his azz, and….
I don’t see any blockbuster deals, but we know Wren is going to make trades – look at his track record – he will not sit on his hands.
I’m echoing someone else on here’s sentiment, but if we went out and got a couple of versatile “professional” contact/type hitter types, it would do wonder as we wouldn’t have to rely on the Youngs, Hicks, Hernandezes, Mathers of the world – I’m thinking how we did in ‘95 with Mike Devereaux and Luis Polonia – those guys really were the difference.
Joycee Banicheck
June 20th, 2011
11:39 am
Bag-o-bats, dumb post all around.
McGriff hit .247 in his rookie season, Feeman is at .271
Uggla has probably been trying too many different things, and he has been ripping the ball, just right at guys when he isn’t popping up a mile high.
MattNAustin
June 20th, 2011
11:44 am
I think we should wait til we have our entire team on the field (you know about 2 weeks). That will give us the first part of July to see if we can make some improvements, and if not, we gotta get some help or continue to suffer mediocrity. I agree that the Braves are set to win in a couple of years, but there is no reason why we can’t win now also.
I think a lineup (once Prado returns) such as:
Schafer – CF
Prado – LF
Heyward – RF
Chipper – 3B
McCann – C
Uggla – 2B
Freeman – 1B
Gonzales – SS
could be a pretty potent line-up. It gives us the allows us to not have 2 or 3 lefties batting consecutively, and you have Prado and Schafer at the top who have good at bats (plus having your top 2 batter who will bat the most causing the starter to have to throw a ton of pitches is smart baseball for obvious reasons), then Heyward hitting in front of Chipper would give J-Hey some protection. McCann hits after Chipper because he’s clutch with runners on, and then you have Freeman (who if he can continue to improve) will provide some protection for Uggla which will hopefully allow him to get some better pitches (don’t know if he’ll actually see them the way he pulls off and away from everything, but the pitches should be there), and then we have a #8 hitter who most of the time will give you what you expect from the #8 spot, and sometimes he will win a few games, which from the #8 spot, that is good news.
Just my thoughts, I’m anxious to hear what everyone thinks.