The Atlanta Braves' lineup is a mess, and there are no easy fixes

New York Times

8 hours ago

ATLANTA — Having your team's leading home-run hitter, who's also one of its slowest runners, bat second normally would not make any sense.
But in the case of the Atlanta Braves and their mostly anemic and wholly disappointing offense, Matt Olson in the 2-hole is the best hope of preventing opponents from constantly pitching around superstar Ronald Acuña Jr.
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Olson was in the second spot in the lineup for the seventh game in a row Friday for a rain-delayed series opener against the Philadelphia Phillies, after Austin Riley did it for 52 games with uninspiring results and Alex Verdugo and others also stumbled there.
'It's challenging. You hit it right on the head,' Braves manager Brian Snitker said Friday afternoon, when asked about making a lineup with so many struggling pieces. 'We move guys around and hopefully give them different looks. And it's been challenging from the get-go. It's been hard.
'We haven't been able to get three or four guys going in one stretch. And that's what it's going to take for us to put something together. So, just kind of keep fighting the fight, and eventually we'll get the right mix and get 'er going.'
That's where things stand with Atlanta's offense, folks. They keep trying to go on a good run, saying the right things about how they believe it'll come. So far, it has not.
The Braves, who rank between 15th and 2oth in most offensive categories, have been worse lately, wasting numerous strong pitching performances and the opportunity to make up ground in the National League East and wild-card standings.
They remained eighth in the NL wild-card race with a 37-43 record and the NL's fifth-lowest winning percentage before facing the Phillies, who were a half-game behind the NL East-leading New York Mets entering Friday and 9 1/2 games ahead of the Braves.
Are the Braves feeling increased pressure at the season's halfway point, with their streak of eight consecutive playoff appearances in serious jeopardy?
'We got pressure in this game always, so it's just a matter of going out there and playing our game,' said Riley, who had one home run and a .669 OPS in his past 19 games, with 26 strikeouts in 78 at-bats. 'We obviously know that (facing a) division rival, it's very important. I think the main thing is just going out there and playing our game. We've been playing some good baseball here recently, so just try to try to build off of that.'
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Good baseball? They've pitched well, but the Braves' hitting has remained inconsistent. They had but three singles in the series finale Thursday of a four-game split at New York. After Mets starter Griffin Canning tore his Achilles in the third inning, three relievers shut out the Braves over the final 6 1/3 innings of a 4-0 loss.
That completed a 3-4 trip that began with a series loss at Miami.
The Braves entered Friday batting .229 in June, fourth-worst in the majors, with a .664 OPS that was better than only five teams, including the Pittsburgh Pirates and Washington Nationals in the NL.
Hitting Acuña anywhere other than leadoff isn't an option because: A.) It's where he loves to hit and has long thrived, and B.) There is no other legit leadoff option in this lineup.
For example, there were only 17 major leaguers with an OPS below .600 in 200 or more plate appearances before Friday, and three were Braves: Michael Harris II's .564 (fifth-lowest), Nick Allen's .567 (tied for seventh-lowest) and Verdugo's .598.
Not much better were Ozzie Albies (.618) and Eli White (.661), the other half of a punchless left-field platoon with Verdugo.
They'll have another 2-hole option Wednesday when left fielder Jurickson Profar returns from an 80-game PED suspension, barring any rainouts, which would push back his eligible date. But Profar, coming off a now-tainted career-best season with San Diego, will need to show he still has pop and can make pitchers pay for pitching around Acuña, or else Olson likely stays in the 2-hole.
Olson and Acuña have been the only Braves hitting consistently in June. Olson entered Friday with a 27-game on-base streak in which he batted .303 with 23 RBIs and a .927 OPS. Acuña had sizzled with a .369 average, nine homers and a 1.143 OPS in 31 games since returning from a year-long rehab following knee surgery.
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Rookie catcher Drake Baldwin — four homers, 11 RBIs and a .784 OPS in 18 June games before Friday —was the only other Brave with an OPS higher than .666 this month.
Olson said of Acuña, 'He has no doubt been a spark plug for us. But, yeah, we want to have as much traffic on the bases as we can, all the way through the lineup.'
Unlike the city they represent, the Braves have not had nearly enough traffic. A big part of that problem is decreased production from three players signed to long-term extensions a few years ago, players expected to be big performers annually: Riley, Albies and Harris.
Riley and Albies are 28 and should be in the prime of their careers, and Harris is 24 and should just be approaching his prime. Instead, they all are playing as if they're 10 years older.
Riley averaged 36 homers and 99 RBIs during 2021-2023 while hitting .286 with an .878 OPS and 135 OPS+. Since the beginning of 2024, he's hit .262 with a .769 OPS and 112 OPS+ and had 31 homers and 97 RBIs in 190 games.
Unlike last season, when slowed by injuries including an oblique strain, Riley has been healthy this season and had only 12 homers and a .107 OPS+ in 80 games before Friday, with 100 strikeouts that would shatter his career-high 172 strikeouts if he were to continue that pace.
Still, no other Braves hitters have seen declines as precipitous as Albies and Harris.
Albies, a three-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger Award winner, entered Friday with a .221 average, six homers and 28 RBIs to go with a .618 OPS that was 160 points below his .778 career OPS.
He lugged a 73 OPS+ into the Phillies series, which meant that Albies' offensive production was 27 percent lower than a baseline-average MLB player (100 OPS+). Just two years ago, he hit .280 with 33 homers, 109 RBIs and a 126 OPS+ as part of the Braves' record-setting 2023 offense.
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He's been so underwhelming lately, it no longer seems a given that the Braves will pick the $7 million option on Albies' contract for 2026, though the $4 million buyout could sway a decision to bring him back and hope he figures something out, if he hasn't between now and then.
Albies might want to try a lighter bat, since the multiple injuries the switch-hitting second baseman has sustained over the years, including wrist and elbow fractures, might have taken a toll. He swings one of the heaviest bats on the team despite being smaller than any Brave other than Allen.
Harris' situation is especially difficult, as he remains one of baseball's elite defensive center fielders, his latest home run-saving catch coming this week against the Mets. But his offense has been in steady decline since his NL Rookie of the Year season in 2022, when Harris hit .297 with 19 homers and an .853 OPS in 115 games.
That slipped to .293/18/.808 in 138 games in 2023, .264/16/.722 in 110 games in 2024 (when he missed two months with a hamstring strain), and this year's alarming .215/6/.564 in all 80 Braves games before Friday.
Not only has Harris' OPS+ plunged to 56 — it was 133 in his rookie season — but his .241 OBP was the lowest among MLB qualifiers before Friday.
Harris has reached this OBP nadir — at least he and the Braves hope it doesn't go lower — by swinging at far more pitches out of the strike zone than he did before, perhaps trying to get the ball in the air as he's been instructed by first-year hitting coach Tim Hyers, and which Harris did for a brief period recently.
Lately, he's reverted to grounding out repeatedly in big situations, striking out at the highest rate of his career, and walking at an extremely low rate, including an almost unfathomable zero walks in the past 33 games before Friday. Yes, no walks in 133 plate appearances since his two-walk game May 18 at Boston.
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In his past 12 games before Friday, Harris was 3-for-42 (.071) with 10 strikeouts and a .186 OPS.
Because Harris has fewer than five years of MLB service and has minor-league options, the Braves could send him to Triple A. They aren't ready to make that move, at least not yet, in part because they don't think they have a better option to play center, considering what Harris brings defensively.
Michael Harris II FULL EXTENSION! pic.twitter.com/ux1cCePIrt
— Talkin' Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) June 28, 2025
'Just expanding the strike zone probably too much,' Snitker said of Harris' woes. 'That's because guys want to hit. But you have to adjust. And it's not just him. I mean, Michael's not where he wants to be, but we got a few guys; I'm not gonna just single one guy out. He's such a talented guy. And as I said, God bless him. I mean, the kid, he never takes (his hitting struggles) to the field, and he can help you win a game defensively.
'He's not doing what he wants offensively. But, man, when he's playing defense, you'd think he was hitting .350. I got a lot of respect for him to be able to do that.'
Still, if Harris continues to struggle to the degree he has lately, might the Braves consider sending him down when Profar is activated next week and takes over in left field? They hope it doesn't come to that, but it's a move they might have to consider for the good of everyone involved.
(Top photo of Austin Riley: Todd Kirkland / Getty Images)