The Braves offense continues to scuffle, as the pitching has kept the ship afloat recently. Sean Murphy is nearing his return and Austin Riley will hopefully return Friday, so that should help. The ball and bad luck have been significant factors to hinder this Atlanta offense, however, as the ball has made hitting home runs significantly more difficult so far this season and the Braves have gotten significantly unlucky on balls they have hit well. The team is still on pace to win a ton of games and the talent is clearly there and playing better than they are producing, but nonetheless it would feel really good to get back to raking runs in on a nightly basis. The team has been relying on heroic pitching, good defense, and timely scoring for a bit too long now and it would be good to see them get back to their bread and butter. It is good to see them finding a way to win games fairly consistently even despite these struggles, however.
Braves News
It is getting closer to draft season, which means mock draft season, and in Keith Law’s latest he gave Atlanta a Louisiana right-handed prep arm with their first rounder.
Sean Murphy will begin his rehab assignment next week, on one of the final steps of his long return from an oblique injury that has sidelined him since the first series of the season.
In related interest to Murphy’s approaching return, we took a deep dive into how Travis d’Arnaud and Chadwick Tromp have performed in his absence.
The Braves’ offense laid an egg with Ronald Acuna on the bench the night after it seemed like they might have gotten past their struggles, in a 7-1 loss to the Cubs.
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MLB News
Read Evan Drellich’s latest on the Diamond Sports bankruptcy proceedings (behind the paywall at The Athletic).
Ronel Blanco is receiving a 10 game suspension for a violation of league “sticky stuff” policy and is not appealing the suspension.
The Reds placed Nick Lodolo on the IL in what they are describing as a precautionary move that will hopefully be minimal in time lost.
Max Scherzer is hitting the 60-day IL, as the writing was on the wall and will continue his lengthy absence to start the season for the Rangers.
