5 Atlanta Braves to blame for Mays’ poorest performance

The Atlanta Braves have one of the most talented MLB teams in the entire league. Their roster is loaded with All-Stars and that has led to plenty of regular season success over the past few seasons. Their success also includes a World Series victory a few seasons ago.

But May 2024 has hardly been mediocre in Atlanta. In fact, through 20 games, Atlanta is 9-11. They lost series to the Pirates, Dodgers and Padres, with the Dodgers and Padres series resulting in the Atlanta sweep.

In this kind of struggle, the fault must lie somewhere. In fact, the fault in this situation lies with many players on the roster, including some of the team’s biggest superstars.

It’s hard to mention the Atlanta Braves without mentioning Ronald Acuña Jr. in the same breath. Like Acuña, so do the Braves. When the Braves won 100 games, Acuña was put front and center as the reason. Likewise, when the Braves lost 11 of 20 games, Acuña had to take some of the blame.

During the month of May, Acuña slashed .247/.322/.407 with a mediocre OPS of .730. For a lot of guys, those numbers would be fine, but for Acuña, they’re far from it. Last season, Acuña had a completion rate over 40% and held an OPS over 1.000. He stole 73 bases, but in May he only stole three.

His struggles have been quite evident, with his huge production missing from the lineup. It will be difficult for Atlanta to overcome the difficulties with Acuña also in free fall.

As the Braves win and lose with Acuña, they do the same with their first baseman, Matt Olson. Olson has been putrid all season for Atlanta, hitting under .220 for most of the season.

Olson, who once threatened to hit 50 home runs in a campaign, has just seven bombs a year, four of which come in May. By comparison, Yankees slugger Aaron Judge has four homers in his last four games.

The Braves desperately need Olson to get out of this slump. Four homers and a double in an entire calendar month won’t be enough for a former MVP candidate. The Braves won’t have as much success as they’d like if Olson holds a .724 OPS, as he did in May.

During the month of May, Ozzie Albies was not only one of the worst hitters in the Braves lineup, but he was also one of the worst skilled hitters in the game. During May 83 at bats, the infielder is slashing .193/.261/.253.

Albies’ struggles aren’t limited to just one offensive aspect. He doesn’t hit for average or power. He doesn’t reach base and when he does, he doesn’t steal a base. Albies has just one stolen base and three extra-base hits on the month.

Ozzie Albies has been one of the worst hitters on the Braves roster this month. He still has incredible talent and the Braves need him to come out of this slump as soon as possible.

So far, the Braves’ starting rotation has been the most impressive aspect of their entire team. Well, their top four starters did. Bryce Elder, on the other hand, struggled.

Elder’s May was so horrible over three starts that he was sent back to Triple-A after his third start. In three starts, Elder pitched 11.2 innings, allowing 23 hits, four home runs and 15 earned runs. The Braves went 0-3 in those three games, with Elder taking the loss in two of the games.

This is quite a surprising turn of events for a pitcher who was selected to the All-Star team a season ago. At just 25 years old, Elder has the time and ability to figure things out, but his struggles certainly didn’t help the Braves during their mediocre May.

While there are a ton of Braves to blame for this terrible month, Orlando Arcia may be having the worst month of all. On April 27, Arcia was near .310. Since then, the All-Star shortstop is 15-for-88, including 15-for-77 in May.

On the month, Arcia slashed .195/.213/.377 with two walks and 17 strikeouts. He drove in eight runs and lowered his season OPS to .667.

Atlanta will need some of these star players to turn their season around after a horrible May. It’s hard to imagine Atlanta continuing to struggle like this, but with the way the Phillies are playing, Philadelphia could run away with the division if Atlanta isn’t careful.