Hey there,
Welcome to the first annual Braves Dispatch Midseason Awards.
With the All-Star break looming, we are going to honor the best players and moments from the first half of the Braves’ season. We can reminisce on the last few months as we prepare for the final few.
Let’s get to it.
Offensive MVP: Marcell Ozuna
This is probably the only logical choice here.
Ozuna carried the Braves through their slump. He’s been hot for almost the entire first half.
And then you ask yourself: Where would this team be without Ozuna?
The Braves are good enough to have won without Ozuna going on a tear. But for much of this season, he’s been the only consistent offensive performer.
His 24 home runs are nine more than anyone else on the team. His .942 OPS leads the club. His 75 RBIs are 31 more than any other Braves player.
This award had to go to him.
Top starting pitcher: Chris Sale
For this, I could’ve gone with Sale or Reynaldo López, who has the better ERA. But I went with Sale for the totality of the workload.
He’s thrown 105 innings this season – 15-1/3 more than López. That could be equivalent to two and a half starts, depending on how long a pitcher lasts. And due to extra rest, López has gone in and out of qualifying for the ERA title.
This isn’t López’s fault. It’s only to show how impressive Sale has been this season.
He hadn’t pitched much over the last few seasons because of injuries. But you cannot tell. He’s been like his old self.
And though I’m not in the clubhouse 24/7 like the players, I’ve heard a bit about Sale’s personality and the impact it can have on a team. That’s a benefit, too. (López is also a great guy who fits right in with this team.)
Top reliever: Raisel Iglesias
I’ll be willing to bet you don’t think about Iglesias much. And this is a good thing: It means he hasn’t been an issue for Atlanta.
This award was a difficult decision for me. You could make a terrific case for Jesse Chavez. But Iglesias has been dominant, with his 2.08 ERA.
He has 21 saves. He’s only blown two saves. Perspective on that: The Braves were just in Arizona, where Paul Sewald on Monday blew his third consecutive save – and did it in the span of a week.
If you’ve watched baseball long enough, you know how difficult it can be to get those final three outs. And the life of a closer can be brutal.
Then again, those of you who’ve watched baseball long enough also know that the highest-leverage spot doesn’t have to come in the ninth inning – which is why Chavez, and his 1.56 ERA, are so impressive.
Most pleasant surprise: Reynaldo López
Who saw this – a 1.71 ERA before the All-Star break – coming?
Don’t lie! This is better than anyone could’ve expected.
The Braves knew López might be most valuable for their rotation. But they couldn’t have predicted this. Not only has López’s body held up, but he’s excelling in his return to starting.
At the beginning of the season, if you were drawing up disaster scenarios for the Braves’ pitching, one of them would’ve started with López not panning out in the rotation.
Instead, he’s exceeded expectations.
Best unit: The starting rotation
In most seasons, the bullpen would win this award. But the rotation has just been too dominant.
Without the starters performing as they have, Atlanta would have a worse record. For a moment there, it appeared as if the Braves would have three members of their rotation in the All-Star Game.
Sale, López and Max Fried have all been terrific. Charlie Morton has been OK – which is fine for a fourth starter. Spencer Schwellenbach has done his job.
Remember: These guys are without Spencer Strider, who would’ve made this rotation otherworldly.
The Braves’ rotation has helped them absorb the offensive struggles and inconsistency to this point.
Extra Innings
*At Braves Fest in January, Fried said he felt stronger than ever.
On Thursday, he made his final start before the All-Star break. He threw six innings of one-run ball against the Diamondbacks.
How does his body feel?
“I feel fantastic,” Fried said. “For me, I’ve felt maybe a little bit off for the last month, but still just being able to grind and to be able to have the (start) where I was having really good stuff (Thursday), off-speed pitches were breaking really sharp, and I was touching some velocities I haven’t touched in a little bit. So just to be able to have that in my last start before the break, it’s exciting. I kind of wish the break wasn’t happening yet, because I feel like that was a really good stepping stone.”
That’s a really encouraging answer.
*Where do the Braves rank in certain categories with the All-Star break looming?
Let’s go over it.
After tying the single-season home run record (307 homers) last season, Atlanta has 104 through 92 games – 13th in baseball. They set a record with a .501 team slugging percentage a year ago, but that number is .404 at this point.
Atlanta’s .242 batting average is 18th out of 30 teams. Its .709 OPS is 14th.
On the pitching side, the Braves rank second with a 3.42 team ERA. (The Phillies are first with a 3.21 ERA.) The Braves’ starters have combined for a 3.70 ERA – good for ninth in the sport – but this number is brought down by the team’s various fifth starter options. Fried, Sale and López have combined to average a 2.51 ERA.
Atlanta’s relievers are second in baseball with a 2.93 ERA. (Cleveland’s bullpen is first with a 2.69 ERA.)
*The Braves on Thursday lost, 1-0, to the Diamondbacks.
The Braves, as you know, don’t often lose by a score of 1-0.
Before this year, the last time they dropped multiple 1-0 games in a single season was 2022, when they lost three of them. And prior to that, they hadn’t lost multiple games by that score since 2016, when they dropped three such contests.
*Ian Anderson is set for his fourth rehab start. It’ll occur tonight with High-A Rome. Anderson had been with Low-A Augusta.
Over three outings – two with the Florida Complex League Braves, then another with Augusta – Anderson has allowed one run over eight innings.
Anderson could be an option for the Braves’ rotation in the second half.
