Thursday's Team: Atlanta Braves

Today is Thursday, and I switched from having a memorable moment to talk about a specific team. I will talk about the history of that team, and rank them on a scale from 1 to 10 on four things: Offense, Pitching, Potential, then an Overall Ranking.

Let’s start out with a team that used to dominate literally everything in the nineties, yet was only able to pull off one world series win (granted, they probably would have won in ’94). Let’s talk about the Atlanta Braves.

Atlanta is tied for the oldest team in baseball with the Cubs, both establishing in 1870. The Braves have been in Atlanta since 1966, and have played at Turner Field since 1997. They have won three World Series titles, the last one being in 1995. So far they have been 3 for 17 in the World Series, having a whopping 17.6% chance of winning. Currently the General Manager is Frank Wren, the President of Baseball Operations is John Schuerholz, and the Manager is Fredi Gonzalez (Bobby Cox used to be their longtime manager, but retired after having 21 seasons with the Braves, including 6 100+ win seasons).

Notable hall of famers that played for the Braves are Eddie Matthews, Phil Niekro, Warren Spahn, Kid Nichols, and of course, Hank Aaron. They had some of the best hitting and pitching in the 90’s, including having Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, and Tom Glavine. They also had hitters like Chipper Jones, one of the best hitters in team history, along with Andruw Jones and Andres Galaragga. The nineties was fantastic for them because they had prospects, hitting, and pitching. How does that compare to today?

Offense Ranking: 6

Justin Upton is doing very, very well on the team, don’t get me wrong. That was an amazing pickup by the team. Upton is leading the team in every main offensive category, including WAR. Take him out of the picture, however, and the Braves have literally nothing to work with on offense. They have a couple of good utilities like Blake Dewitt and Reed Johnson, but also have B.J. Upton who cannot hit a ball for his life this year. The Braves have hit 61 home runs this year, but 46% of those homers come from two people: Justin Upton and Evan Gattis (watch out for Gattis, he’s a rookie). Relying on two guys to support half of your power is going to hurt.

They got off to a fantastic start because Upton was hitting .400, and others were contributing great talent to the club. However, if Upton gets hurt, they could literally be screwed. He has the highest batting average at .275. When you have a team batting average of .245, which is 22^nd in the major leagues, Upton batting .275 is golden. But they need more.

Pitching Ranking: 9

They might just have the best pitching roster in the game right now. They have the 5^th best ERA, 2^nd best Whip, and have 28 quality starts. They have Tim Hudson, Paul Maholm, Mike Minor, Kris Medlen, and Julio Teheran in their rotation. Medlen and Minor are tearing it up right now, and Maholm has their most wins with 6. Hudson needs to step up more, but still is providing quality starts.

But here’s where nobody gives the Braves enough credit. They have possibly the best relieving core in the world right now. I don’t care what you say about Aroldis Chapman, Craig Kimbrel is a better closer. He is like Eric Gagne, having a high K/9 ratio and a low walk ratio. In fact, last year, his stats were better than Gagne’s which is why I had him as the Cy Young winner for last year.  He is the best person that a team can have at a closing position. Then you have Eric O’Flaherty, Cory Gearrin, and Jonny Venters to help set up, who are all solid pitchers. The only problem that they are dealing with now is injuries, but once they recover from that, things can get real good for this relieving core once again.

Potential Ranking: 8

Guys like Jason Heyward, Freddie Freeman, and Evan Gattis show that they have potential in the upcoming years. Out of their 17 starters and relievers, only 4 are over 30. They have a great blend of veterans and young talents to take them far. Christian Bethancourt, Aaron Northcraft, and Tyler Pastornicky can be big factors for them in the years to come as well.

Overall: 8

I had the Braves winning the wild card and the play in wild card game, but as of now they look like the favorite in the East. They started out hot, going 12-1, but are now 10 games over .500 at 28-18. This will be a team that might just go back to its 90’s routine: Have incredible talent that can carry them for years to come.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you just found out more about the Atlanta Braves. Check out my post tomorrow on Who’s Hot and Who’s Not.

-Evan Boyd

“Skip Caray was my favorite announcer as I grew up listening to the Braves on TBS and on the radio. One night, listening to a game that was headed into extra-innings, the broadcast was just breaking away to commercial when Skip said, 'Free baseball in Atlanta!' One of the best lines I’ve ever heard.”

-Tucker Elliot