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Covering the bases for the Atlanta Braves: Missing Spencer Strider, Travis D’Arnaud’s binge and more

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Hello Braves subscribers!

We’re excited to launch our new weekly segment, “Covering the Basics,” where we dive into all the latest and greatest happenings with your team. From big games, quizzes and best reads on your favorite team, you can view this as your behind-the-scenes look at our team beat reporter for all things Braves over the past week. Don’t hesitate to tell us in the comments if you like this story format.

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Power Rankings: The Atlanta Braves are #2

In this week’s Power Rankings, we went with our “Wish You Were Here” theme, highlighting an injured player who would make a difference.

Previous ranking: 1

Wish you were Here: Spencer Strider

Sometimes the most obvious answer is the right one. The Braves have demonstrated their ability to bounce back from the loss of franchise cornerstones. The team won the World Series in 2021 despite Ronald Acuña Jr.’s devastating knee injury. But the loss of Strider still hurts. He elevated the pitchers’ bat and took some of the pressure off the bullpen. Atlanta still has enough pitching depth and offensive firepower to win the division for the seventh straight season, but the Phillies will make it difficult for them. The same will be true for the absence of Strider. — Andy McCullough

The big league quiz

Latest successes

ICYMI, our national writers have given their thoughts on what they’re hearing and seeing

1. A reason for optimism (and pessimism)

Jim Bowden noted a reason why every club feels hopeful and a reason not to. Here’s what he said about the Braves:

Reason to be optimistic: The Braves have the best lineup in baseball one through nine, with athleticism, power and speed. They have a plus defender at every position and the depth to resist injuries across the diamond. Ronald Acuña Jr., the reigning National League MVP, has just one home run, Matt Olson hit .202, Austin Riley hit .226 and yet Atlanta still holds first place in the East. NL at the beginning of May.


Despite the slow starts of Matt Olson and other hitters, the Braves are doing very well. (Bill Streicher / USA Today)

Reason for pessimism: They lost their ace, Spencer Strider, the oddsmakers’ early favorite to win the NL Cy Young Award, to season-ending elbow surgery. While his absence shouldn’t keep the Braves out of the playoffs, it hurts their chances of defending their NL East title (they’ve won six in a row) — and, more importantly, their chances of winning another World Series.

2. The pitches they couldn’t master

Andy McCullough and Stephen Nesbitt spoke to a dozen stars about this terrain they couldn’t master. On the Braves panel were Spencer Strider and Charlie Morton:

Spencer Strider: Lead

The drive that makes Strider’s high-velocity four-seamer one of the best in the game is also why he wanted to throw down the field. He grew up understanding proper fastball movements. This is not the case. At Clemson, Strider would have a problem with a raised radiator and think: Shoot, I got away with one there.

For years he handled a lead, thinking it was the solution.

“Every time he moved,” Strider said, “I thought, it’s gone, now he’s here!”

But lead never had a consistent form or results. It wasn’t until seeing his Trackman data during his rehabilitation after 2019 Tommy John surgery, Strider said, that he discovered he was fighting his body’s natural inclination to backspin and rolling. He had no luck with his four-seamer; he swayed with all his might. “You can’t see riding on television,” he said. “Hitters can tell you it happens, but it’s a difficult concept to understand at 12 years old.”

Strider, who underwent season-ending elbow surgery in April, wouldn’t mind having one more sinker in his toolbox. But looking back, he says, it’s a good thing he didn’t abandon the four-seam machine before he understood why it worked.

Charlie Morton as Knuckleball

“I think everyone is capable — from a 5-year-old to an 87-year-old — to throw a pitch,” Morton said. “But is this correct?”

Morton is a thinker, but also a starter whose late-career development led him to two All-Star seasons and two World Series. His curveball is one of the best in the game. His sinker measures 18 inches with a strong drop. Its four seam is not hoppy but comes into play hard. There are many things that he could change. He could modify his cutter so that it moves more. He could lower his arm slot. It could throw a slider or a splitter. He could adopt Greinke’s father.

But Morton’s broader point is this: it’s hard to judge an argument by itself. It’s important to think about what a new pitch would add to the mix.

That’s why Morton wants a knuckleball. Everyone plays with knuckleballs while playing catch. It’s a delightfully strange speech that has saved some careers.

“What’s the harm in learning knuckleball?” »

Game of the week

Highlights have been hard to come by during the Braves’ 1-5 trip to the West Coast, but Orlando Arcia’s defensive gems have it squarely in the first Gold Glove conversation.

baseball beat

Our beatwriter David O’Brien has selected what you need to know

Slumped hitters

The strangest thing about the Braves’ strong start to the season is that the big boys are coming in small. Ronald Acuña Jr., Matt Olson and Austin Riley provide little thud these days, a disconcerting development considering the damage they inflicted last season. “We’re in a bit of a rut offensively, that’s all there is to it,” manager Brian Snitker said. “If we only do it once this year, we’ll be lucky.”


Brian Snitker isn’t panicking about the offense, but injuries in the bullpen are testing the Braves’ depth. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Bullpen depth takes a hit

The Braves had the good sense to stack their bullpen with power weapons during the offseason, but keeping their relievers intact is a struggle. Pierce Johnson (elbow inflammation) was on the injured list, as was left-hander Tyler Matzek (also elbow inflammation). “That’s why we have so many guys in the bullpen, for that reason,” Braves reliever AJ Minter said. “If we have a guy who is hanging on a little bit, who just needs a little break, we have guys to take his place.”

Did you catch this?


Travis d’Arnaud hit three homers on April 19 as part of a burst of power that put him in rare air. (Brett Davis / USA Today)

Jayson Stark’s “Weird and Wild” column paid tribute to the Braves’ backstop. Here’s his nugget on an improbable burst of power:

Travis d’Arnaud hit five home runs last year…after the All-Star break. But that was last year. Then this year, Sean Murphy was injured on opening day. And d’Arnaud became the Braves’ primary catcher. And then…it happened.

That’s five homers in eight at-bats. And it’s incredible. But that’s not the weird but true part. The weird but true part is who hasn’t hit five home runs in eight at-bats.

Receivers who never reached 5 HR in 8 AB
Johnny bench
Mike Piazza
Yogi Berra

The Atlanta Braves who never reached 5 HR in 8 AB
Chipper Jones
Dale Murphy
Freddie Freeman

Baseball. It’s incredible.

Viral moment of the week

OK, maybe it wasn’t Kardashian-level viral, but it’s a pretty solid visual gag among the coveted demographic.

(Top photo by Travis d’Arnaud: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

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