Hey y’all.
Good news: The Braves are still balling out. Like, to a historical extent.
More good news: Beat writer Chad Bishop is here with us today … and he wrote about the gentleman I’ve officially placed atop the “Man, That Guy’s Just A Ballplayer and I Will Love Him Forever” power rankings.
DUBEE DUBEE DO
By Chad Bishop
Does Mauricio Dubón play with a chip on his shoulder, now and always?
“Heck yeah. I was a 26th-round draft pick, 773rd pick,” Dubón said in a celebratory clubhouse Wednesday night. “People sometimes still (say) it’s luck. It’s not luck. It’s hard work. It’s hard work, hard dedication, and now it’s paying off.”
Dubón explained that mindset during spring training, when the expectation was for him to be the team’s primary shortstop, but only because Ha-Seong Kim was out with a finger injury.
No matter, Dubón said at the time. He had been down this road before, alluding to his tenure with the Astros when he filled in for Jose Altuve.
“That’s been my whole life,” he said in February. “At the beginning of the year, ‘Oh (another player is) gonna play.’ And then I step in and end up doing good and playing.”
And once again, Dubón is indeed “doing good.”
📈 Before Thursday’s series finale with the Cubs, Dubón was hitting .263 with a .735 OPS. He had three homers (including Wednesday’s two-run shot that put some much-needed separation between the Braves and Cubs) and 25 RBIs (tied for third-most in the Braves’ lineup).
📈 Dubón’s split against left-handed (.259) and right-handed pitchers (.266) is nearly the same, making him a tough out regardless of who is on the mound. He’s hitting .317 with a team-leading 23 RBIs when runners are in scoring position, and an eye-popping .450 with two outs and runners in scoring position. He has 11 RBIs on two-strike pitches.
📈 A Gold Glove winner, he had a fielding run value of 3, which is in the 89th percentile of all MLB defenders. His outs above average range, also at 3, is in the 94th percentile.
He has hit first, fourth, fifth, sixth, seven, eighth and ninth in the order. He has played shortstop, third base, left field and center field.
And, most importantly, he has been on the field for 29 of Atlanta’s 30 wins.
“Me and (first base coach Antoan Richardson) have a joke: I’ve been saving teams since ’23,” Dubón laughed. “But no, I know God doesn’t have me here just to be here. I’m just trying to take advantage of the opportunity, try to prove people wrong and everything. Been doing that for a while now.”
📲 Oh snap! I’m fired up. As always, y’all make sure to give Chad a follow at @MrChadBishop.
QUICK, SOME OTHER NEWS!
🚜 Down on the farm, in brief: Outfielder Eric Hartman keeps crushing (.326, 12 homers) in Rome. In Augusta, 2025 first-round pick Tate Southisene is improving at the plate. Gwinnett pitching prospect Owen Murphy allowed four runs in four innings Thursday, continuing a pattern of good start-bad start to begin 2026.
🤕 Yes, catcher Sean Murphy is back on the injured list with a fractured finger. He’s played in just four games this season.
- Also: Manager Walt Weiss said Ronald Acuña Jr. (hamstring) is making progress and would be reassessed after the home stand. Might he make a return in Miami on Monday?
📺 Team president and CEO Derek Schiller says BravesVision is already on pace to “meet or exceed” past deals with FanDuel Sports, economically speaking.
👔 Former Braves phenom Jason Heyward took a front office gig with the Dodgers.
🎤 The newest addition to the Braves’ bobblehead schedule: A July 22 giveaway of miniature Jermaine Dupris. Or Jermaines Dupri? Not sure. (Just in case: He’s a famous Atlanta hip-hop producer).
❓ Hey, what do you know? It’s some Braves trivia. (There’s more, focused specifically on Bobby Cox’s aptitude for aggravating umpires, incoming, too.)
RED SOX EN ROUTE
The Boston Red Sox are in town for a three-game set that begins 7:15 p.m. tonight. Saturday’s at the same time, then it’s a 1:35 p.m. start Sunday.
All on BravesVision and simulcasting on your local Gray TV station.
💪 Probable starters: In chronological order …
- Spencer Strider (1-0, 2.89) vs. Connelly Early (3-2, 3.16)
- Bryce Elder (4-1, 1.81) vs. Payton Tolle (1-2, 2.78)
- Grant Holmes (2-1, 4.35) vs. TBA
🤔 What to know: The Red Sox won last year’s series at Truist Park, with the Braves returning the favor at Fenway.
This season? Well … Boston fired manager Alex Cora and most of the rest of the coaching staff after a 10-17 start. They’re closer to .500 in the two weeks since, but remain last in their division and have scored the second-fewest runs in the American League. Front-row fans are now putting paper bags over their heads.
- Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story is hitting nearly .350 with 16 home runs in 41 career games against the Braves — but his abysmal offensive start to 2026 is spurring calls for a benching.
🎉 Other festivities: They’re calling Friday’s game a “red out” and encouraging folks to wear red. Fans will get red pompoms, too. Saturday is Armed Forces Day and, on Sunday, the first 3,000 kids get some cool shades.
🪝 And after all that? It’s a trip to Miami and that possible Ronald Acuña Jr. return. Of note on that front …
- Acuña is hitting .322 with 26 home runs in 97 career games against the Marlins.
- The Braves’ final Miami trip of 2025 included Acuña’s ninth career hit-by-pitch against the Marlins. Benches cleared and Brian Snitker got ejected.
Spicy.
SALUTE TO THE SKIPPER
I was born in the late ‘80s but have no real memories, baseball or otherwise, until 1991. The Braves (rather famously) made the playoffs that year and didn’t miss them again until I was in college.
For two formative decades, all I knew was winning baseball.
And Bobby Cox.
I’ve struggled this week to find words befitting Atlanta’s all-time favorite manager. I’ve mostly failed — beyond calculating that Yankees skipper Aaron Boone would have to manage (and continue getting tossed at his current pace) for almost two more decades to even have a chance at matching Cox’s record for managerial ejections.
So for more heartfelt reflections, let’s rely on some folks who knew him best.
Former AJC columnist Mark Bradley: “It was impossible to dislike Bobby Cox. He was the world’s most upbeat human. He loved everything about his chosen profession. He’d arrive at the ballpark six hours before the first pitch because there was nowhere he’d rather be. If he was ordered to leave before a game was completed … well, that was because, as much as he loved umpires, he loved his players more.” Read more.
Team Chairman Terry McGuirk: “He was a patron saint of the Braves. Bobby is Braves royalty.” Read more.
Former Braves catcher Greg Olson: “I honestly think he felt he was a player. The way he rooted on and cheered for every player, clapped for them, yelled for them, protected them when there was any controversy — he had a pretty doggone good career himself — I think he goes, ‘You know what? As long as I’m managing, I’m going to put my cleats on and I’m going to act like I’m a player.’” Read more.
The Braves will wear Cox’s No. 6 stitched into the rear panel of their caps for the rest of the season — which feels like a fitting tribute to the man who always had their backs.
PHOTO OF THE WEEK
Thank you, indeed.
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Until next time.
About the Author
Tyler Estep hosts the AJC Win Column, Atlanta's new weekly destination for all things sports. He also shepherds the Sports Daily and Braves Report newsletters to your inbox.
