Tag: sports

Early Injury Woes:

Throughout a long season, injuries are inevitable. However, the Atlanta Braves seem to have already been bitten by the injury bug. To look at it from a positive standpoint, granted you never want an injury, at least these injuries have taken place at the beginning of the season which allows the players ample time to heal before the postseason.

Sean Murphy: left oblique strain; expected return early May.

Murphy’s injury at the start was definitely a big blow… after all, it was Opening Day. He hadn’t even played a full game. Murphy has proven to be a very useful tool behind the plate and at the plate for the Braves, and while Chadwick Tromp has proven he has what it takes to be a catcher in the Major Leagues, Atlanta will be happy when their All-Star catcher is back and healthy.

Spencer Strider: right ulnar collateral ligament strain; will miss the 2024 season.

Talk about an unexpected injury. No one expected the Braves’ ace to be out for the 2024 season. There were such high hopes for Strider in the coming season, and now there is a large gap to be filled in his place. On April 5th, the Atlanta home opener, Strider had a rough first inning which made the Braves’ staff wonder if he was okay. After an MRI it was announced that Strider had a strain of the ulnar collateral ligament in his pitching arm. It was kept very quiet if he was going to have surgery or not, but on April 13th it was announced that Strider underwent internal brace surgery to repair the strain.

This surgery has been said to have a shorter recovery time than Tommy John Surgery. However, it still requires 12 months at the least to fully recover. There are high hopes that Spencer Strider will be able to pitch at the start of the 2025 season, but nothing is set in stone.

Ozzie Albies: fractured right big toe; expected return early May.

If there was one person on the Braves roster who has the most freak accidents- it would be this guy. During the second inning of Monday’s game (April 15th) against the Houston Astros, Houston’s starting pitcher Spencer Arrighetti’s curveball curved too much and hit Albies on the top of the foot. He was in immediate pain but stayed in for the rest of the game. After the game, they did an MRI and x-rays on Ozzie’s foot and it showed a fracture in the bone of his big toe. He played 7 innings with a fractured toe! Thankfully, Ozzie won’t need surgery. They placed him on the 10-day IL, and isn’t expected to miss more than three weeks.

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Despite injuries to key components of the Altanta Braves team, they are still playing quality games. They are still getting wins, and they are still a strong team. In a way, injuries can help strengthen a team because the players work together to fill in the losses.

GO BRAVES!!

Opening Weekend Success:

Photo: Courtesy @braves

The Atlanta Braves 2024 season is officially underway, and the Braves started off on a positive note by winning 2 out of 3 games against their rivals the Philadelphia Phillies.

With a 9-3 win on Friday and a 12-4 win on Saturday, Atlanta’s offense proved that they did not lose any of their power at the plate. Ozzie Albies hit the Braves’ first home run of the season in the first inning of Saturday’s game, and other home runs soon followed. The Braves were also able to escape run deficits and secure the win. They were almost able to do this during Sunday’s game, however they came up one run short and lost 4-5.

Pitching wise, Atlanta’s starters did pretty well. Spencer Strider went 5 innings in Game One, only allowing three hits and two runs. He also had 8 strikeouts. He did not get the win, however, but the Braves bullpen showed off their arms to keep the Phillies’ bats from doing any damage. In game two, Max Fried had some struggles. He threw 43 pitches over 0.2 innings and surrendered 3 runs. There was a very questionable call from the umpire on a 2-2 count with two outs and the bases loaded that did not go the Braves’ way. If the umpire had made the correct call, Fried wouldn’t have surrendered a single run and could’ve possibly gone a couple more innings. There wasn’t anything wrong with the velocity of Fried’s pitches, his command just wasn’t there. He was hanging pitches and couldn’t command the strike zone. Hopefully, in his next start, he will come out stronger.

Chris Sale made his Braves debut on Sunday’s game. He threw 5.1 innings, had 7 strikeouts, and only allowed 2 runs. It was a bummer that the Braves bullpen could not maintain the lead to secure the win, but it was a very positive start for Sale. And it was exciting to see him pitch a good game.

Unfortunately, on Opening Day, Sean Murphy strained his left oblique with a swing late in the game. He is expected to miss a couple weeks at least. Having Murphy go down after just one game of the season is definitely not something a manager wants, but the positive outlook from it is that he will be healthy late in the season when the playoffs are right around the corner. Thankfully we have dependable d’Arnaud who is capable of catching multiple games in a row.

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As always, the Atlanta Braves are exciting to watch, and I am excited to see what the 2024 season has in store for them!

GO BRAVES!!

Looking Ahead to the Braves 2024 Season:

During the 2023 offseason, the Atlanta Braves added two bigger-name players: LHP Chris Sale and left-fielder Jarred Kelenic. They also added Reynaldo Lopez and Aaron Bummer who are both relief pitchers. These are the only main acquisitions they have made thus far.

After trading Vaughn Grissom to the Red Sox for Chris Sale, Atlanta signed him to a 2-year $38 million contract which includes a $16 million option for the 2026 season. Sale is a 7-time All-Star, however the past few seasons he has been plagued with injuries and hasn’t been able to pitch like he once did. The Braves are hoping he can give them some stability in the starting rotation in the fourth or fifth spot, but given his past couple of seasons, it is up in the air whether that will happen or not. In 2023, Sale struck out 30% of the batters he faced which makes makes his strikeouts per game right around 11. Considering he didn’t pitch a full season in 2023, that is a good stat.

Chris Sale is also 34 years old. By the time the 2024 season starts he will be 35. That is an older age for a pitcher. In most cases when they reach this age they have passed their prime. It is also more likely for a pitcher to have more season-ending injuries when they get into their 30’s (This has been the case for Sale, and another example of this would be Jacob deGrom who has had a lot of injures in the past few seasons which has led to a decrease in his pitching and the quality of his pitching). Hopefully, despite a few “down seasons” Chris Sale can give the Braves some good quality starts and bolster their rotation.

As for Reynaldo Lopez and Aaron Bummer, they both have similar stats. They’re both 30 years old, and ironically they both played for the Chicago White Sox for their entire career until the 2023 season when they went to different teams. Their stats aren’t knock you off your feet impressive, but when looking at them on a piece of paper, they seem consistent. Over 55+ innings, neither one of them gave up over 10 home runs in the 2023 season. And for the Braves bullpen, who has been known to give up home runs late in a game, that is a promising stat. However, we all know that what things look like on paper aren’t always what you get in a game, but these promising statistics give a glimpse of hope to these two starters as added depth to the bullpen.

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Jarred Kelenic was the acquisition that surprised me the most. The Braves made the decision to decline Eddie Rosario’s 2024 option on his contract, which made the position of left field open. I thought that they might sign Kevin Pillar to a contract since he played well for the Braves in the 2023 season, but nope.

Kelenic hasn’t had a ton of experience in the big leagues, and at only 24 years old he still has a good amount of playing time left. Not to mention he also has time to grow and become a better player. His numbers aren’t fantastic, but he was consistent over the 2023 season, ending with a .253 average over 105 games. There is definitely room for growth with those numbers, and Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos seems confident that he can achieve that growth with the Braves team. Let’s hope he’s correct.

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Regardless of who the Braves signed in the offseason, they still have most of their team intact. In fact, the only two players that won’t be there are Eddie Rosario and Kevin Pillar. This means that the lineup will stay the exact same with the addition of Jarred Kelenic. Atlanta has a very powerful lineup, and a very good defense. The only thing that has been questionable in the past couple of years has been the starting pitching and the bullpen. Hopefully, with these few additions, AND players returning from the injured list, the Atlanta Braves will make it farther in the Postseason after the 2024 season.

GO BRAVES!!