If you figured the Braves had nowhere to go but up in the home-run department after hitting just 100 a year ago, well, not so fast.
They had just three home runs through 15 games before Friday, the fewest for the franchise at that point in a season since the Boston Bees had two through 15 games in 1937. (The Boston Braves changed their name to the Bees for five seasons through 1940 in an attempt to change the club’s fortunes).
The current Braves entered Friday on a 10-game homerless streak, their longest such drought since the 1983 Braves had a 13-game stretch in May without a homer.
That 1983 team had Dale Murphy with 36 homers and two others with 20 apiece, Chris Chambliss and Bob Horner, and finished with 130 homers, three above the major league average that season.
The 1937 team finished with 100 homers in 152 games, 54 of those long balls coming from a pair of future Hall of Famers, Jimmie Foxx (36) and Joe Cronin (18). That team total was the same as last year’s Braves hit in a 162-game season, which was 20 fewer than the Marlins’ next-lowest total in the majors.
Freddie Freeman had 18 homers last season, while no other Brave had more than 10. Freeman had one home run before Friday, and that came in the first inning on opening day.
Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said he wasn’t concerned about the lack of long balls so far from Freeman and others.
“Especially here (in Atlanta), when it gets warmer here the ball jumps a little more,” Gonzalez said. “We’ve had some cool evenings and even the opposition hasn’t hit many home runs. Knock on wood. (Bryce) Harper in that one series, and (Adrian) Gonzalez the other night, but there haven’t been (many).
“This park plays better than fair, for me. Especially in the early months of the season when it’s still cool out. But in the summertime some of those balls that (Freeman) hits, especially in left-center – that’s where his power is – you’ll see the ball start (carrying more).”
However, so far this season all the Braves home runs have come at home. They hit none in seven road games at chilly Nationals Park and air-conditional Marlins Park.
The team’s three homers entering Friday was less than half of the next-lowest total in the majors, and there were 17 teams with at least 15 homers, eight with 20 or more, and 32 players already with four or more.
The Braves’ home runs leaders, with one apiece, were Drew Stubbs, Adonis Garcia and Freeman. Garcia also went deep in the opener, and the Braves’ only home run in 14 games since was Stubbs’ homer April 10 against the Cardinals.
It’s a small sample size and no one expects it to continue at quite that bad a pace, but if it did the Braves would finish with 32 home runs in 162 games.
“To be completely honest, I don’t think we’re a team that’s going to have three or four guys with 20-plus home runs,” Gonzalez said. “I don’t think we have that on our team right now. And I don’t think that’s talking out of school or anything like that. It is what it is.”
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