It has been years since the Braves had a potent base-stealing team, but this season they’re taking things to extremes even by their modest standards.
They had a major league-low five stolen bases in 30 games before Wednesday’s doubleheader against Milwaukee and had been caught stealing 10 times.
“That’s not a good percentage,” Braves center fielder Nate McLouth said. “That’s not what you’re looking for there. If my math serves me correct, that’s 33 percent.”
No other major league team has more times caught stealing than stolen bases, and the Cubs (six steals in nine attempts) and Tigers (nine in 15 attempts) were the only other teams with fewer than 10 steals.
Manager Fredi Gonzalez estimated half of the Braves’ times caught-stealing came on hit-and-run situations.
“We haven’t run that much,” he said. “I could probably tell you maybe three or four straight steals. Most of the time that we get caught stealing, it’s been a swing-and-miss hit-and-run, or we take a pitch.”
The Braves were on pace for 48 steals, which would make them the second National League team to steal fewer than 50 bases in the past six seasons. The 2008 Padres had 36 steals in 53 attempts.
The Braves might be the worst base-stealing team since the 2005 Washington Nationals, who were caught 45 times in 90 attempts.
“That’s the dynamic of the club,” Gonzalez said. “Who would you say on our club is a bona fide base-stealer?”
McLouth stole 65 bases in 75 attempts in three seasons from 2007-09. He was a bona fide base stealer and says he still can be. He was 1-for-3 before Wednesday.
“I would like to steal more,” he said. “But [hitting eighth] it’s a little tough. For example, if I get on with nobody out, the pitcher’s sacrificing me. If I get on with two outs, you can’t run that risk of getting thrown out because then the pitcher leads off the next inning, and that’s what you’re trying to avoid.”
Success with RISP
The Braves led the NL by a wide margin in batting with runners in scoring position before Wednesday, with a .332 average to second-ranked St. Louis’ .312. But the Braves also had a league-low 190 at-bats in those situations.
The next-fewest RISP at-bats for any NL team was 218 and the league average was 260.
The Braves increased that league-best RISP average slightly by going 6-for-17 with runners in scoring position in the first game Wednesday.
Brian McCann raised his majors-leading RISP average to .600 (12-for-20) with a two-out single in the third inning of Wednesday’s first game. Chipper Jones was second in the NL at .500 (10-for-20) before Wednesday.
Braves get OF from O’s
The Braves acquired journeyman outfielder Jeff Fiorentino from the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for an undisclosed amount of cash. He’ll go to Double-A Mississippi initially and be ready when needed at Triple-A Gwinnett.
Fiorentino, 28, spent parts of four seasons in the majors with Baltimore and Oakland, batting .270 with a .341 on-base percentage in 178 plate appearances.
He played in 24 games for Baltimore in 2009 and spent 2010 in the Japanese League.
At Double-A Bowie this season, he hit .250 with a .358 OBP while playing mostly left field. He had two triples, two homers and 13 RBIs in 20 games.
Kawakami update
Kenshin Kawakami is beginning his third week on the disabled list at Double-A Mississippi with a rotator-cuff strain in his pitching shoulder. He’s said to be making progress, but the Braves’ efforts to trade the Japanese veteran and part of his $6.67 million salary have presumably diminished.
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