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New York Times
06-07-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Braves takeaways: Olson, Sale make All-Star team, Holmes gets no support from anemic offense
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. Advertisement '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. Advertisement 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! 🤩 — 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.' Advertisement 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.' Advertisement 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. Advertisement 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.
New York Times
24-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Ronald Acuña Jr. blasts 467-foot homer on first pitch after nearly a year away
ATLANTA — Near the end of batting practice Friday afternoon, Atlanta Braves hitting coach Tim Hyers was asked about Ronald Acuña Jr., preparing for his first game in nearly a year since knee surgery. 'What are the Vegas odds,' Hyers said, 'that he swings at the first pitch?' Not only did Acuña swing at the first pitch, he pulverized it, turning a 93 mph Nick Pivetta fastball over the middle of the plate into a resounding 467-foot line-drive home run that announced as loudly as humanly possible that Acuña was back. In at 93 mph, out at 115.5. Braves manager Brian Snitker turned to bench coach Walt Weiss and said, 'Did you think he wasn't going to hit a homer on the first pitch?' The first big-league pitch he's seen in a nearly a year… LA BESTIA IS BACK! — Atlanta Braves (@Braves) May 23, 2025 Acuña said he had envisioned hitting a first-pitch homer, since so many pitchers try to throw a fastball to get ahead in the count, even against him. 'I'm super happy, obviously,' he said through a translator. 'I had a feeling, but I think you can't allow yourself to get caught up in the moment and you can't anticipate it happening before it happens. Personally, it felt good to be back out there and things went well. But ultimately the team didn't get the win, so that's all that matters.' Advertisement Yes, if you bet on the first-pitch swing, or even a leadoff homer by the man who now has 35 in his career, you won. But if you bet on the Braves beating the San Diego Padres, you lost. In large part because Braves closer Raisel Iglesias gave up a tie-breaking homer to Manny Machado in the top of the ninth and pinch runner Eli White made a costly mistake in the bottom of the inning, one that left a sellout crowd — and Braves teammates and coaches — wondering what the heck happened. The Padres' 2-1 win snapped their six-game losing streak and extended San Diego's winning streak against the Braves to seven, including a two-game sweep of their October Wild Card Series and a four-game sweep of this year's season-opening series. White felt terrible about his mistake on a night the Braves had so much else to be pleased about, but lost their third straight to slip to 24-26. With one out and White pinch running for Alex Verdugo after a leadoff single and a fielder's choice that advanced the runner, Ozzie Albies singled to center and White took off for third. But then, after nearly reaching the base, he misinterpreted third-base coach Matt Tuiasosopo's hands-up sign, thinking the coach was telling him to turn back. Tuiasosopo was down the third-base line, and the sign was for White to hold up at third base. Center fielder Jackson Merrill fielded the single on the hop and fired to cutoff man Luis Arraez between the mound and second base. Arraez, surprised to see White inexplicably racing back toward second, threw to shortstop Xander Bogaerts for the easy tag and second out, erasing the potential tying run that should've been at third with Michael Harris II coming up and surging Drake Baldwin ready to pinch hit. 'I thought I got a good read on it, turned my head and started running before the ball hit the ground, obviously, and just got confused for whatever reason when I saw Tui throw his hands up,' White said. 'It was just a terrible mistake in a big situation.' Advertisement Snitker said, '(Tuiasosopo) is down the line, and if a third-base coach is down the line, that's a sign that the runner needs to come around the bag and pick him up. … You can't make mistakes in games like that. When they're close games against good teams. We (also) did it to ourselves the other day. We've just got to get to where when we're not scoring, we can't make outs on the bases.' White thought the ball was caught and that Tuiasosopo was telling him to get back to second. 'I got an early jump. I saw it go over the second baseman's head, and I thought it was low, which ended up being a good read,' White said. 'I just didn't trust it. And for whatever reason, I just got confused. And I mean, I've had that play happen a thousand times in my career and never, never done that. It's just a terrible, costly mistake right there.' Minutes earlier, Machado homered off Iglesias to break a 1-1 tie. He was 0-for-7 with four strikeouts in his career against Iglesias before Friday. But this Iglesias is not the same as before, at least not the slider he continues to throw despite it being torched for home run after home run. Iglesias has already given up seven homers (five on sliders) in 21 appearances and has a 5.75 ERA, after allowing just four homers in 66 appearances a year ago when he had a 1.95 ERA in 2024. Snitker said the Braves aren't considering changing closers, but will discuss Iglesias abandoning the slider for the time being. Still, for one night, the Braves said they could focus on the positives after a painful loss, because of what it meant in the bigger picture to have Acuña back and looking so good. 'I mean, we're talking first pitch he's seen in the big leagues in almost a year,' said the Braves' Chris Sale, who was upbeat despite his own fifth consecutive strong start (seven innings, four hits, one run) not leading to a win. 'You probably had a packed house and a bunch of Braves fans halfway expecting something like that to happen. Advertisement 'That just kind of goes to who he is as a ballplayer and just the electricity he can create just on his own. So that was one of the cooler moments I've seen on the baseball field.' It wasn't just the home run. Acuña also had a 108.4 mph leadoff single in the third inning, nearly beat out an infield hit in the fifth, and made several strong defensive plays, including a strong throw from the right-field corner on the fly to second base to cut down Elias Díaz trying to stretch a single into a double to start the eighth inning. Cutting off balls in the outfield to hold two batters to singles, and running fluidly on the bases, was an indication of how good Acuña feels this time after rehabbing nearly a full year from ACL surgery — three months longer than he did following 2021 surgery for a right ACL tear. He struggled with residual soreness and inflammation through the 2022 season after returning from that injury. This time, he and the Braves were determined to do everything possible to avoid a sluggish season in his first year back. 'That's just a culmination of all the work that I've put in this entire time throughout the whole process with my legs, to prepare for those moments,' Acuña said, 'to be able to react and move the way I did in those situations and to have full confidence in my legs and body.' Leading off the first inning, Pivetta either missed his spot or missed the memo about the 2023 NL MVP being ultra-aggressive at the plate. Acuña is not the kind of hitter a pitcher can ease into a game against with a get-me-over fastball or breaking ball. 'No, they can't,' Braves catcher Sean Murphy said. 'It's hairy for them right from the first pitch (against Acuña).' Acuña doesn't ease into anything, even after surgeries on each knee over a three-year span. 'It's like zero to a 100 real quick,' Braves third baseman Austin Riley said, smiling before Friday's game as he discussed Acuña's return. 'So, it'll be good to have him back. I think it just kind of sets the tone of the game, and really just sets the tone for that opposing pitcher — it's like, hey, right out of the gate we're coming out swinging. It takes a special someone to lead off; it's a different bird. And he seems to love it. So, I expect some things to be pretty loud that first at-bat.' Advertisement It was loud indeed, both the ringing sound of the ball off Acuña's bat and the subsequent roar from a crowd of 40,327, with most attendees in their seats earlier than usual on a traffic-clogged Friday in Atlanta. Fans came to back the team's biggest and most popular star. They've learned over the years not to be late to see Acuña, whose first swing sent a ball nearly halfway up the left-center bleachers. (Top photo of Ronald Acuna Jr.: Todd Kirkland / Getty Images)
