The Major League Baseball All-Star Break is this week as players and teams prepare for the second half of the season beginning this weekend. After a solid first half, the Atlanta Braves are in good position to return to the playoffs this season after winning the 2021 World Series title, the franchise’s first since 1995.
Atlanta (56-38) is securely in position to earn the National League’s top wildcard spot (three WC spots per league) come playoff time, and the Braves are still right behind the division leading New York Mets in the NL East standings with 12 games against their rivals in the second half.
There has been plenty to like about this Braves team so far.
They did not lose three games in a row at any point during the season’s first half, and they haven’t lost back-to-back games since early June. The team’s June record was 21-6 and July’s 11-5 mark is another promising start to a month. Having six players at the All-Star Game in Los Angeles was the most for a Braves team since 2010.
Shortstop Dansby Swanson and third baseman Austin Riley are each top-10 NL MVP candidates while outfielder Michael Harris II (the youngest player in baseball at age 21) should be considered the frontrunner for NL Rookie of the Year honors. Both of the Braves’ catchers were All-Star selections and first baseman Matt Olson started showing signs of heating up at the plate over the last week of the first half.
Still, for all the good the Braves have done so far, key questions remain for Manager Brian Snitker’s club. They are questions which will need answering over the final 68 games of the regular season.
How will injured players perform once they return to the team in July/August?
Three injured players are likely to return to the Braves in the second half: Ozzie Albies, Mike Soroka and Kirby Yates. How these players fit in, and more importantly how they play once they return, will go a long way in deciding the Braves’ 2022 fate.
Albies is targeting a “mid- to late-August, or worst case beginning of September” return after going to the injured list on June 13 with a fractured left foot that he had surgery on a few days later. Yates, 35, was signed by the team this off-season after the 2019 All-Star closer underwent Tommy John surgery in March of 2021. Like Soroka, Yates has not pitched in several seasons but he could be a major lift to the bullpen which sorely needs another right-handed arm (or three). Yates began his rehab assignment last weekend and could return by early August while Soroka, once the organization’s most prized pitching prospect, began throwing bullpen sessions on June 11.
Will General Manager Alex Anthopoulos make any trades ahead of the August 2 MLB Trade Deadline?
The Braves can still afford to take on roughly $10 million in salary this year and still stay under their desired payroll threshold. That’s a lot of wiggle room for Anthopoulos to make small tweaks to the Atlanta bullpen and bench, two aspects of the team that could use upgrades. Cubs closer David Robertson and Reds starter Luis Castillo are two names rumored to be on the trading block, and both or either could be nice fits in Atlanta.
What is Spencer Strider’s role coming down the stretch?
A question that has been on everyone’s mind this month, this is a vital component to what the team may look like come playoff time. Here’s the issue: Strider has been really, really good through 10 big league starts (all this season). The rookie flame-thrower posted a 4-3 record with a 3.03 ERA across 74 innings of work, but the 23-year-old Clemson product is approaching unprecedented territory in terms of his workload.
He has never thrown more than 94 innings (2021) in a season in his brief pro career, and he is on pace to surpass that mark by early August. How the Braves decide to manage his innings (or not) down the stretch will be key in determining his availability come season’s end.
SPORTS NOTES
This week in Atlanta Braves history … On July 20, 1976, legendary outfielder Hank Aaron hit his 755th and final home run against the California Angels. On July 22, 1997, Greg Maddux needed just 76 total pitches to throw a complete game against his former team, the Chicago Cubs. Maddux threw just 13 balls in the game, and reached a two-ball count just twice.
Last Sunday, University of Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson released a statement announcing that he would no longer be going by the nickname “AR-15.” The rising redshirt sophomore said the decision was due to a rise in gun violence across the country. “I have decided to no longer use the nickname ‘AR-15’ and the current apparel line logo, which features a scope reticle, as part of my branding,” he said via Twitter. “While a nickname is only a nickname and ‘AR-15’ was simply a representation of my initials combined with my jersey number, it is important to me that my name and brand are no longer associated with the assault rifle that has been used in mass shootings, which I do not condone in any way or form.”
FOLLOW Travis Jaudon on Twitter/Instagram @JaudonSports. Email him at [email protected]. Listen to him on Hot Grits Podcast, Savannah’s No. 1 sports podcast, with new episodes released each Tuesday.
