Braves takeaways: Olson, Sale make All-Star team, Holmes gets no support from anemic offense

New York Times

6 hours ago

ATLANTA – A few hours after Kevin Seitzer was fired as Atlanta Braves hitting coach on Oct. 10, he told The Athletic, 'It was the hardest season of my life, because guys were trying so hard and couldn't get going, and I couldn't get them to (not press). If they can find somebody to get these guys to not try so hard, that needs to be the guy they hire.
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'You can talk about mechanics until the cows come home, but this was all between the ears.'
Two weeks later, the Braves named Tim Hyers as Seitzer's replacement. So far, the move has been a complete misfire.
Hyers, 53, was hitting coach of World Series championship teams with Boston in 2018 and Texas in 2023, but the Braves are mired in their worst offensive season since 2016, two years before they began their streaks of six consecutive NL East titles and seven postseason appearances.
The division-title run ended last season, and the postseason streak is now in peril for the Braves, who lost 2-1 Sunday to complete a sweep by the Baltimore Orioles at Truist Park, It was the ninth loss in 11 games for the Braves and sixth time they scored one or no runs in that stretch, and it dropped them to 11 games under .500, their most below break-even since the 2017 team finished 72-90.
They also slipped to 11-22 in one-run games, the most such losses in the majors.
The Braves have 27 runs in their past 11 games. Seven of those were in one inning Wednesday against the Los Angeles Angels on a grand slam from Matt Olson and three-run homer from Sean Murphy, who homered again in the ninth inning Sunday to avoid a fourth shutout in 10 games.
This team doesn't score much outside of home runs. It's an even worse situational hitting team than in 2024, when poor results in those areas, along with extended slumps by multiple players, were reasons the Braves decided to dump Seitzer after 10 mostly successful seasons and a World Series title in 2021.
That included a 2023 season when the Braves tied an MLB record with 307 homers and became the first team to slug .500 or better (.501). But after last season, they decided to go in a new direction and to stress situational hitting, patience and hitting for more contact rather than focusing so much on power.
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The hitting coach changed, but the direction didn't.
The Braves' lineup has performed far below its perceived talent level, and stats in various clutch-hitting categories would suggest it's still, as Seitzer said, between their ears. At least the Braves hope so, since a couple of their worst-performing hitters are Michael Harris II, who is signed through 2030 with two team options beyond that, and Ozzie Albies, who has two $7 million team options left on his contract including a $4 million buyout for next year's.
Olson and injured ace Chris Sale were selected to the NL All-Star team Sunday, when position-player reserves and pitchers were named.
They'll join teammate Ronald Acuña Jr., named a starter Wednesday for the July 15 All-Star Game in Atlanta at the Braves' home ballpark. It's Acuña's fifth All-Star berth, all by fan voting, and the ninth for Sale, who made seven consecutive AL All-Star teams in 2012-2018 and was an All-Star and Cy Young Award winner last year in his first season with the Braves.
It's Olson's third All-Star berth and second with Atlanta, after he made it along with seven other Braves in 2023.
This one is especially sweet for the three Braves with the game is in Atlanta, and particularly for Atlanta-area native Olson, who played at Parkview High School.
'Yeah, pretty cool,' Olson said. 'Being from Atlanta and playing for the Braves, obviously it's a special one.'
Atlanta's own Matt Olson will play in the All-Star Game at @TruistPark! 🤩 pic.twitter.com/dhZTRq4c1o
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) July 6, 2025
Olson was 6 when he attended the 2000 All-Star Game Home Run Derby in Atlanta at Turner Field.
'It's one of those full-circle things for sure,' he said. 'It's always special, but like Sale was saying, in the city where you grow up, being a kid, kind of hoping one day that you'd be able to do that. Being able to be there is special.'
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Sale is on the injured list with a fractured rib cage and won't pitch again until at least late August, but was nonetheless thrilled by the honor for a second year in a row.
'I enjoy the festivities, and being able to be a part of an All-Star Game at your home stadium makes it a little bit more special,' Sale said. 'I was obviously especially excited for Matt, growing up here, having a lot family here, being able, you know, take his son on the field and get some pictures and stuff like that.'
Sale and Olson started slowly this season, then went on tears to earn their spots on the All-Star team.
After posting a 6.17 ERA in his first five starts, Sale was 5-2 with a 1.23 ERA in his past 10 starts. Olson hit .237 with 12 homers and a .788 OPS in his first 61 games, then .347 with 15 extra-base hits, 26 RBIs and a 1.045 OPS in his past 27 games before Sunday. He's also the top-rated defensive first baseman in MLB this season.
'We haven't had the best first half, obviously, and a lot of times teams that do what we're doing have one representative because they have to,' Snitker said. 'We have three that deserved it, so I think that's pretty good.'
Grant Holmes keeps turning in strong starts for the Braves, and they keep providing terrible run support for him. The right-hander pitched six innings of two-run ball with four hits allowed Sunday, and the Braves failed to score while he was in the game and left him with another hard-luck loss.
Holmes has a 2.36 ERA in his past six starts, and the Braves are 1-5 in those.
'It's tough,' Holmes said. 'You go out there and you expect to win, and sometimes it doesn't go your way. That's baseball, and we're going to go to Sacramento and hopefully get some W's there. You literally never know what's going to happen in baseball, and unfortunately we've come on the wrong side of it.'
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The Braves scored one or no runs in six of his past seven starts – not one or none while he was in the games, one or none period. He's 4-8 with a 3.44 ERA this season, including 2-7 with a 3.04 ERA in his past 13 starts.
'There's always one of them guys,' Snitker said of hard-luck starters. 'He's done a great job. Pitching around traffic. It's almost like he does better with guys on base. He did everything he could to keep the game manageable for us.'
The Braves have four starting pitchers on the 60-day IL, with co-aces Sale and Spencer Schwellenbach (elbow fracture) both transferred from the 15-day IL last week. Schwellenbach is out until at least early September and possibly for the rest of the season.
After Holmes and Spencer Strider, it's a precipitous dropoff in the rotation to Bryce Elder and 20-year-old prospect Didier Fuentes, both of whom would be back in the minors if the Braves weren't besieged by injuries. They don't currently have a fifth starter and instead went with a bullpen game Saturday.
For the series against the Athletics that begins Tuesday, the Braves will start Fuentes (0-2, 9.00 ERA), Elder (2-6, 5.92) and Strider (3-7, 3.93). If they don't make a trade soon, they'll dip down into the minors to fill the fifth-starter vacancy rather than do bullpen games each time that turn comes around.
Designated hitter Marcell Ozuna and Acuña were out of the lineup Sunday, Ozuna for just the fourth time this season – he missed the April 14-16 series at Toronto to have his injured hip checked out — and Acuña for the second time since being activated from the IL on May 23.
Orioles starter Trevor Rogers was not disappointed: Acuña is a team-best 6-for-14 with three doubles, a homer and three walks against the former Miami Marlins lefty.
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Ozuna is the only other current Brave with a homer off Rogers, who was 0-7 with a 5.57 ERA in nine career starts against the Braves before Sunday, when he limited them to four hits and two walks in 6 2/3 scoreless innings.
Ozuna says his hip is OK now, but he's slumping like he hadn't slumped in more than two years. In his past 30 games, the veteran has hit.159 (18-for-113) with one homer, 32 strikeouts and a .475 OPS, diminishing his trade value if the Braves had any intention of moving him before the July 31 deadline.
In his past 30 games, Ozuna has hit just .159 (18-for-113) with one homer, 32 strikeouts and a .475 OPS. Don't know if the #Braves could trade him for anything even if they wanted to.
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) July 6, 2025
Snitker said he wanted to give Ozuna, Acuña and slumping center fielder Harris a mental break.
Jurickson Profar led off and the Braves had both catchers, Drake Baldwin and Murphy, in the lineup for just the third time, Murphy behind the plate and Baldwin at DH.
Harris and Acuña entered as pinch-hitters – Harris in the seventh, Acuña the eighth — and each grounded out, then stayed in. Harris batted again in the ninth and grounded out with a runner on to end the game, dropping his OBP to .235 and OPS to .552, lowest in both categories among all MLB qualifiers.
Harris is 7-for-67 (.107) in his past 20 games and hasn't drawn a walk in 153 plate appearances.