Atlanta Braves Mega Thread

[GSUeagles14]

pache and waters are both raking right now. completely possible the both get bumped to gwinnett in a couple months, maybe even get a cup of coffee in september. Ender is still on a relly team friendly deal so could see him being dealt in the offseason ad getting an actual return for him.

[WizardHawk]

Looks like Culberson might be our best option for relief pitcher. lol.

 

[WizardHawk]

On 5/1/2019 at 8:22 PM, GSUeagles14 said:

pache and waters are both raking right now. completely possible the both get bumped to gwinnett in a couple months, maybe even get a cup of coffee in september. Ender is still on a relly team friendly deal so could see him being dealt in the offseason ad getting an actual return for him.

I know some aren't sold on Austin Riley, but seems to me he's making a pretty solid case for himself as well.  

[WizardHawk]

Atlanta has called up Austin Riley. I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do.

[WizardHawk]

It was time, but this still sucks. Given the number of times he went under the knife was always impressed he could do anything with a baseball. Will always be a fan of JV.

[dante9876]

We are an average bullpen away from being a really good team in my opinion. I knew Jackson was going get hit sooner or later. I mean he has done well, but no way he wasnt going to get exhausted. 

[WizardHawk]

I'm firmly on board the Austin Riley Bandwagon. Needs to square up the K rate some, but couldn't ask for a better start. 

Edited May 24, 2019 by WizardHawk

[GSUeagles14]

On 5/23/2019 at 8:32 PM, WizardHawk said:

I'm firmly on board the Austin Riley Bandwagon. Needs to square up the K rate some, but couldn't ask for a better start. 

hes been impressive for sure and the power is legit but a lot of it is surface stats right now. Hes not walking, k rate is 5-7% too high, and hes getting lucky. All of that has a huge asterisk as its only been 40 PAs but once things start to normalize it could get ugly. Hes also only 22 and this is his first stint in atlanta so theres a lot to like and build on.

 

@dante9876 already said it but uf our pen wasnt awful to start and below average now that this team would be pretty scary. Guys are playing well but no ones really above their head outside of swansons power. On top of that ozzie, donaldson and acuna all could be playing better although none are really playing poorly.

[GSUeagles14]

@devils1854 whats your thoughts on demeritte murdering the baseball at gwinnett? once upon a time he was maybe a super utility type, can he still be that or is he just benefiting from a juiced up ball?

[devils1854]

39 minutes ago, GSUeagles14 said:

@devils1854 whats your thoughts on demeritte murdering the baseball at gwinnett? once upon a time he was maybe a super utility type, can he still be that or is he just benefiting from a juiced up ball?

I dont know to be honest.

The juiced ball is having a huge effect on AAA. You can just look at the Stripers. Duvall-15, Riley-15, Demeritte-10, Jackson-10, Ortega-10, Blanco-7. Or at the rest of AAA. Matt Skole-13, Josh Van Meter-13 in a less hitter friendly environment in the IL. Or Kevin Cron-21, Yordan Alvarez-19, and Yasmany Tomas-16 in the PCL.

BB%
2018-11.5
2019-9.5

K
2018-28.3
2019-26.0

BABIP
2018-.284
2019-.375

LD%
2018-19.9
2019-27.4

GB%
2018-36.7
2019-29.2

Pull%
2018-39.6
2019-33.6

Center%
2018-31.7
2019-30.8

Oppo%
2018-28.7
2019-35.5

Walks are slightly down. Strike outs are slightly down. BABIP is up a huge amount, and his line drives jumped big time. That suggests that either he is almost the same player and is lucky right now, or his eye at the plate is still the same and he has just become a much better hitter.

On the other hand, you can see he is less pull heavy and is learning to use the whole field.

Its probably somewhere in the middle. He has probably become a better player, but the new ball has become a huge help. You really cant be sure since the big swing and miss is still part of his game.

[devils1854]

1 hour ago, GSUeagles14 said:

hes been impressive for sure and the power is legit but a lot of it is surface stats right now. Hes not walking, k rate is 5-7% too high, and hes getting lucky. All of that has a huge asterisk as its only been 40 PAs but once things start to normalize it could get ugly. Hes also only 22 and this is his first stint in atlanta so theres a lot to like and build on.

 

This.

35.7% K and 2.4% BB. It could get ugly once his hot streak normalizes and pitchers get a book on him. He has been good at making adjustments at every step of his career, so we will have to see.

[WizardHawk]

LOL...ok Riley reeaally going to have to work on the K rate. Has to be creeping up on 40% now.

[WizardHawk]

Austin Riley 

 

[WizardHawk]

Less than ideal.

[devils1854]

I dont love Keuchel, especially since his GB rate went down 13% last year, and he is almost 100% dependent on ground balls to get outs, but he is better than Gausman and Folty, and I'd would much rather have him in a playoff series than Teheran as this moment.

Im guessing Gausman will go to the pen, and he could be very effective with his two pitches and just needing to be good for one inning. We've seen that work out for other two pitch pitchers so far this year in Newk and Touki, so hopefully he adds depth as well.

Id expect at least one or two more trades. We need to make room on the 40 man, like the Sims/Wisler for Duvall trade last year. I can definitely see us trading Allard and/or Wilson for another reliever. Any guy from the Giants(Dyson, Smith, Watson) woulnt cost much, and they would be in the last year of their contracts. I could also see us offloading Duvall for a lower level lottery guy since our system needs guys in A ball and lower badly. Might even see us capitalizing on the hot streak of a guy like Demeritte for prospects.