The Braves don’t yet have an identity, but that’s not an issue.
That’s fine with them. They understand they probably shouldn’t possess one this early in the season. It comes with time.
“I think that’s something we’re going to have to find out, bit by bit,” shortstop Dansby Swanson said Thursday. “No team is the same, even if you have the exact same guys. You see it throughout sports all the time: It’s always a huge challenge. No matter if you were successful the year before or you weren’t, there’s new challenges that lie ahead.
“I think that, bit by bit, we’ll start to see the identity of this team. But the beautiful thing is that we have a lot of guys that have been together for a while now, so we understand the ups and downs, the ebbs and flows, and understand how to continue to come together and prepare to win.”
That last part is important. These Braves don’t know exactly what lies ahead, but they believe they’re prepared to handle whatever comes their way.
They did it last season.
They were under .500 as late as Aug. 4. By the time August hit, they were five games back in the division. They hung around and hung around, then made their move.
We all know what happened next.
They are celebrating that achievement this weekend, with Saturday’s ring ceremony being the highlight.
It’s a reminder of this: The early part of the season won’t define this club.
“Obviously you want to come out and start off hot and ride it out all year, but I also think there’s something to having done that and knowing that the sky isn’t falling,” Matt Olson said, referencing how his new teammates made an incredible run and won the World Series. “Everybody plans on coming out and being the best team to start. For a team to know there’s not panic and it’s a long season, that’s a good quality to have.”
But do teams learn more about themselves during winning streaks or losing streaks?
“You probably learn more during a losing streak,” Olson said. “The whole goal of being a team and playing good baseball is to figure out how to kind of come together and shut down losing streaks and things like that. When you’re winning, everything’s good. No complaints.”
Added Swanson: “I think it’s just a matter of how you handle each. It’s really easy when you lose consistently for a week straight or something like that, that you can get really Debbie Downer-ish and you can get (into a) lull and panic and start to try and do more than what it is that you’re capable. That leads you to more struggles. Then I think when you’re winning, you can kind of take the foot off the gas a little bit, you can kind of settle in and feel yourself a little bit more, and then that leads you into worse things.”
Washington working with Contreras
Ron Washington, the Braves’ third base and infield coach, has been working with William Contreras at third base. Contreras is a catcher, but the team believes he’s athletic enough to perhaps see a bit of time as a backup at third base.
“He is an athlete,” Washington said on the Truist Park field Friday. “Just want to have an option. We don’t know what’s going to happen. But I’m trying to get him to understand some little bitty things that you have to do over there at third base.”
Washington and Contreras worked together Thursday and Friday. They will continue doing so every day. “Just to enhance our team,” Washington said. Washington plans to give Contreras more and more to digest each day.
If all goes well, Washington said, Contreras could play some third base in a blowout to get starter Austin Riley off his feet. Or if Riley needs to play first base, the Braves could use Contreras at third.
But that’s if they feel comfortable with Contreras over there.
When will they know that?
“After seven days, then I’ll be able to make a decision if I think he can go over there and do something,” Washington said. “Right now, we’re adding. First day we took baby steps. Today the steps got a little bigger than babies. (On Saturday) it’ll be a little more. I’m just going to fire him up a little more every day and just see how he reacts to it.”
Albies shifting in the lineup
Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies hit fifth Thursday. Manager Brian Snitker put him in the leadoff spot for the season’s second game Friday.
Snitker has said he likes the versatility Albies provides in the order.
“He’s good to go with wherever we feel like we need him to help us win the game that night, and he’s all in for that,” the manager said.
Braves likely will use a sixth starter
Snitker on Friday said the team likely will use a sixth starter Tuesday versus the Nationals. The Braves don’t know who will pitch, he added.
The Braves will wait to see what shape it is in when that game arrives. The Braves could start Fried, but it seems like they’ll instead opt for a sixth starter.
“We’re looking at the long haul here, for the next six months,” Snitker said. “That’s going to be the focus with all these guys.”
