Weekend Reflections: Injuries play part in miserable Braves season

What I think about some things I saw over the weekend …

Injuries explain a lot about this miserable Braves season. No one wants to hear it, because underperforming hitters and cost-cutting bullpen moves are factors, too. But we’ve reached the point where injuries matter at least as much as those reasons.

News of the latest one came after Texas completed a sweep of the Braves on Sunday. The Braves placed right-hander Grant Holmes (elbow) on the 15-day injured list. Four other Braves starters who began the season in the rotation already were on the IL.

Those five pitchers started just 63 of 144 games through Sunday. Add Spencer Strider, who wasn’t ready to begin the season, and it’s still only 76 games. The Braves have started their preferred pitchers in barely more than half their games this season.

That has nothing to do with their anemic offense and poor bullpen, but better performances in those areas might not be enough to overcome all the injuries to pitchers. The Braves still rank higher among MLB teams in starting pitcher ERA (19th) than runs scored per game (22nd). Baseball is a weird game.

Holmes joins an injured list that includes fellow starters Chris Sale, Spencer Schwellenbach, AJ Smith-Shawver and Reynaldo López. Right now, the 2026 rotation projects to be Strider, Sale, Schwellenbach, Smith-Shawver and one of López or Holmes. The Braves could use another veteran starter for depth, but that’s lower on the priority list than middle infield and bullpen.

Braves president and general manager Alex Anthopoulos should have more flexibility next winter. Marcell Ozuna ($16 million) and Raisel Iglesias ($16 million) will come off the books then, if they haven’t already done so by Thursday’s trade deadline. Next year, the Braves won’t be subject to stiffer taxes and draft-pick penalties for exceeding the luxury-tax threshold.

Hours after placing Holmes on the IL, the Braves acquired right-hander Erick Fedde in a trade with the Cardinals for a minor-leaguer or cash. St. Louis designated Fedde for assignment after his fifth consecutive ineffective start. The Braves also scratched Hurston Waldrep from his most recent scheduled start for Triple-A Gwinnett, so he’s presumably a candidate for the other open rotation spot.

The Braves need pitchers to eat innings. Might as well take a low-cost shot with Fedde, who compiled a 3.30 ERA over 31 MLB starts in 2024. Waldrep has had better results at Gwinnett lately. Maybe he can be better in his second MLB stint than he was in his first (13 earned runs over seven innings in 2024).

The state of the Braves is such that project pitchers are making starts in July. The team started 0-7, recovered briefly in May and has been even worse since. Injuries are far from the only reason that happened. But we’ve reached the point where they matter at least as much as the other reasons.

Michael Harris II is hitting again

Braves outfielder Michael Harris II never played for Gwinnett before the Braves called him up from Double-A Mississippi in 2022. He’s looked as if he belongs there this year.

Braves manager Brian Snitker has kept putting Harris in the lineup even though he’s one of MLB’s worst-hitting regulars. Pitchers needn’t bother throwing strikes to Harris because he’ll swing at anything. The Braves finally can see some evidence that their seemingly endless patience with Harris is paying off.

Harris was 8-for-11 in the three-game series against Texas, with five extra-base hits. Over his past 12 games through Sunday (45 plate appearances) Harris was 18-of-43 (.400) with a 1.23 on-base plus slugging (three homers, three doubles, three triples, two walks, seven strikeouts). The sample size is small, but Harris hardly had one good week this year before, so two qualifies as a surge.

We’ve seen Harris produce at the plate before. Harris had an .828 OPS from his NL Rookie of the Year season in 2022 through ’23. Harris’ .722 OPS in 2024 was OK considering his excellent defense. Harris’ .611 OPS through Sunday was better than only four MLB regulars.

Those are the kind of numbers that usually get a young player sent down. The Braves stuck with Harris as the team struggled to hit and lost a lot of games. The Braves are still losing, but at least Harris is hitting. A strong offensive finish for their scuffling center fielder would be a happy highlight for this miserable season.

Atlanta Dream make a statement

The Dream stumbled after the All-Star break with a loss at Las Vegas. That was their sixth defeat in nine games. All-Star guard Rhyne Howard was out with a knee injury. It seemed the Dream, the city’s best hope for a winner in pro sports, were fading like the city’s pro sports teams tend to do.

But one night after losing at Vegas, the Dream won at third-place Phoenix. Then they went to league-leading Minnesota on Sunday and won, 90-86. That was the Lynx’s first loss in two weeks and fourth in 27 games.

The Dream (15-10) are fourth in the WNBA standings, one game behind third-place Phoenix. The Dream will play two games against losing teams this week — here Tuesday against Golden State and at Dallas on Wednesday. They’ll play a rematch at home against Phoenix on Friday. Howard might return soon after that.

The Dream are legit.

Atlanta United’s Derrick Williams points finger at teammate

Atlanta United defender Derrick Williams responded to a question about whether the team was “playing scared” during another second-half lull with a pointed critique of teammate Luke Brennan’s play. Fair enough. But if someone wanted to make a pointed critique of Williams, they could note that Seattle’s Osaze De Rosario stepped in front of him to put away a header for a go-ahead goal during stoppage time.

Williams said he thought De Rosario was offsides before the crossing pass was struck. Maybe he was, but best for Williams to get a body on him just in case. Atlanta United’s Alexey Miranchuk salvaged the draw with a lovely, long-range goal in the 99th minute. The Five Stripes aren’t good, but they are entertaining in the sense that they often follow poor plays with great ones.

Williams is part of an Atlanta United defending group that hasn’t been nearly good enough. That’s why Atlanta United signed Enea Mihaj and acquired Juan Berrocal on loan. Maybe the specter of competition for playing time is why Williams was pointing the finger at Brennan after another disappointing result for the Five Stripes.