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Atlanta Braves cover the bases: Reynaldo López promotes All-Star, prospect updates and more

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The Atlanta Braves have yet to hit their stride, as their 9-0 loss to the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday made clear. The Braves remain nine games above .500 but bear little resemblance to the ruthless winning machine of a year ago during the regular season. Are they about to heat up? We take the temperature in this week’s Braves Digest.

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This week’s topic is potential first-time All-Star candidates in the league. Some are slam dunks, almost guaranteed to be there when the best of the best gather in the Lone Star State next month. (Recording Tuesday morning)

Save: 34-22
Latest power ranking: T-5

First-time All-Star candidate: RHP Reynaldo Lopez

López, 30, has been assigned to a relief role in recent years and put up solid numbers for the White Sox and Angels. But he never lost confidence in his ability to start, a belief the Braves have indulged in since signing López to a three-year, $30 million contract last winter. For now, the bet looks good. López entered Sunday’s games leading the National League with a 1.73 ERA. Atlanta has been cautious about his usage, giving him extra rest while he initially readjusts. For a team missing Spencer Strider, López has filled some of the void. — Andy McCullough

Latest successes

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

1. Jim Bowden on the Braves’ deadline needs

On Monday, our former resident GM organized the 30 teams into levels of business deadlines: buyers, sellers, and those in between. He put the Braves among the buyers.

The Braves will try to overcome the losses of two of the sport’s best after ace Spencer Strider and reigning NL MVP Ronald Acuña Jr. suffered season-ending injuries. They have fallen behind the Phillies in the division, but sit atop the NL wild-card standings. To get back to the playoffs, they’ll need the trio of Ozzie Albies, Matt Olson and Austin Riley to move up the lineup and their starting pitchers to stay healthy and deliver. Remember, the Braves lost Acuña to season-ending ACL surgery three years ago and won the World Series, so it’s still possible.

The Braves will look to acquire a fourth type of outfielder to mix and match at the corners with Adam Duvall and Jarred Kelenic. They will also look to trade for a starting pitcher if Spencer Schwellenbach, AJ Smith-Shawver (IL), Ian Anderson (minors) and/or Hurston Waldrep (minors) cannot take the fifth spot by the end of July.

2. Keith Law ranks top 50 prospects after two months

The Braves landed a pitcher on the list released Monday.

No. 41: Hurston Waldrep, RHP
Preseason rankings: 80

Waldrep got bombed out in his first outing of the year, but since then he’s played with a 1.74 ERA and, more importantly, a reasonable walk rate of just over 8 percent. Atlanta has him throwing his slider a lot more often, so he’s not so reliant on his level 70 changeup, and he has success with it, especially against southpaws.

3. Jim Bowden makes his first All-Star picks

The 94th Midsummer Classic will be played at Globe Life Field on July 16. Which Braves deserve to go? Bowden has two Atlanta pitchers among his picks, placing Chris Sale and Reynaldo López among the reserves. He also lists a Braves hitter as a top candidate to start at DH:

Marcell Ozuna, Braves
(2.2 WAR, 17 HR, 53 RBI, 181 OPS+)

It’s not easy to choose between Shohei Ohtani and Ozuna for the DH starter, but based on their performances to date, I gave the edge to Ohtani due to his speed and ability to run on the basics. However, Ozuna leads the league in home runs, RBIs, slugging percentage and OPS and deserves serious consideration to start.

4. The book about Spencer Schwellenbach

Our scouting columnist Andrea Acapida shared her thoughts on the right-hander in this scouting diary ahead of Wednesday’s game:

Schwellenbach offers simple and reproducible delivery. He does a great job staying calm on the mound to execute consistently.

At the highest level, Schwellenbach offers a valuable combination of high hitting with above-average control. He has a five-pitch mix that allows him to face both hands effectively – the splits below show how strong he’s been against right-handed hitters and left-handed hitters, something not usually seen.

Career miners PIF K% BB%
Against RHH 2.69 29% 6%
Against LHH 2.81 20% 6%

He does a great job of getting ahead in the count, as evidenced by his career 71% first-pitch strikeout rate.

Let’s dive into his pitch mix:

  • Four-Seam (95-96 mph): Below average ride and run
  • Slider (86-88 mph): deepest, medium sweep (for a gyroscope)
  • Cutter (91-92 mph): Average cut and depth
  • Curveball (78-80 mph): Below average depth
  • Change (82-83 mph): small sample — flashed deeper

Viral moment of the week

Adam Duvall does the can-can.

baseball beat

Our beatwriter David O’Brien has picked out what you need to know.

1. Ronald Acuña Jr. remains positive ahead of next surgery

The Braves star said the well-wishes from the organization and fans made him emotional more than once.

“All this support makes me cry alone at home,” Acuña, 26, said through a translator in his first session with the media since his season-ending injury, “and the The reason this happens is because I feel like I’m the only one.” abandon the team. I feel like I’m the one letting everyone down. But I can’t do anything, just keep working hard, keep healing.

Acuna smiles.

“You know,” he continued, “the last time this happened (in 2021), the team won the World Series. That’s the goal.

2. Brian Snitker says now is not the time to come together as a team

The Braves manager compared the circumstances of 2022 to the way the Braves played during a 13-17 stretch before Friday to explain why he wasn’t going to have a team meeting like he did ago. at two years old.

“We’re not playing bad,” he said. “The pitch is really good. We play very good games defensively. I mean, we don’t hit, that’s all. There’s nothing I’m going to tell them (to change that). You know what, when you do that and (the team) does well, it’s just a coincidence. It’s not like a light goes out or anything like that.

Did you catch this?

Left fielder Jarred Kelenic revealed this week that the Braves adopted a new long-term mindset this year after listening to Strider’s comments. mental performance coach during spring training.

“He said we were getting ready for October, the playoffs. That we don’t want to play our best baseball right now. We’re a playoff team,” Kelenic said.


Recent game-changer Jarred Kelenic said the Braves are looking at the season with a long-term view. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Yes, the Braves would rather lead the MLB in virtually every major offensive category, as they did last season. But as veteran catcher Travis d’Arnaud and hitting coach Kevin Seitzer have said, they’d rather collapse early than late in the season. They would rather not see their bats go completely cold in the NL Division Series, as happened each of the last two years in playoff losses to the Phillies (.180 average, .594 OPS in 2022, .186/.519 in 2023).

This approach helped the Braves overcome some struggles at the plate early in the season.

“Whatever the numbers say, we have too many guys here who are way too talented,” Kelenic said. “We are a playoff team. And I think in October, with all these things that we’re going to go through this year, the waves and the things that we’re going to learn as a team, I think in October, we’ll play our best baseball. And that’s where it counts.

Photo of the week


Chris Sale, who spent six seasons with the Red Sox, waved to the Fenway Park crowd during the second inning Tuesday. (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

(Top photo by Reynaldo López: Patrick Gorski / USA Today)

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