We ask again.
Where are the home runs?
We need not remind that the Braves tied the major league record for most home runs by a team with 307 last season. You know how many homers they are on pace to hit this season? Just 165.
We’ll wait while that sinks in a little bit.
The Braves are currently tied for 17th in the majors with 65 home runs. They join the Cubs, Reds and Giants more than halfway down the list. Having played 64 games so far this season, that’s slightly over one home run per game.
Last season, hitting 307 home runs over 162 games was a pace of 1.9 home runs per game. We’re no math major, but that’s almost twice as many as this season.
For perspective on the home runs, the Orioles currently lead the majors with 105 home runs in their 66 games. That’s a pace for 258 home runs for the season.
The Braves had three players hit 40 or more home runs last season:
Matt Olson – 54
Ronald Acuña Jr. – 41
Marcell Ozuna - 40
The current home run leaderboard looks like this:
Marcell Ozuna – 18
Matt Olson – 9
Orlando Arcia/Adam Duvall – 6
That puts Ozuna on pace to hit 46 home runs this season. However, Olson is on pace to hit 23 and Arcia and Duvall are on pace to hit 15 each.
We know that Acuña will miss the rest of the season after just 49 games, but he had hit only four home runs. We also know that Sean Murphy has played only 11 games (with one home run). But something is clearly amiss.
“It’s not that we’re not playing well – we’re just not hitting,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said Tuesday after a 4-0 loss to the Orioles, the second time the team has been shut out in six games.
The lack of home runs is a big part of the reason the Braves are 18th in the majors in runs scored at 279. Heck, the Mets are 17th with 282.
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