The Braves finished April with a Atlanta single-month record of 246 strikeouts and a majors-leading 38 homers in 26 games, on pace for a franchise-record 236 homers.
The 2003 team hit 235 homers, a franchise record that was just outside the top 20 for all-time major league totals.
Those Braves had a record 55-homer month in May, and these individual homer totals for the season: Javy Lopez (43), Gary Sheffield (39), Andruw Jones (36), Chipper Jones (27), Vinny Castilla (22), Marcus Giles (21 homers), Rafael Furcal (15), and Robert Fick (11).
As for their strikeouts, the Braves already set the team record for strikeouts in a month, and that was in just 26 games in April.
The Astros (267 strikeouts in 27 games) and the Braves finished April with the two highest March/April strikeout totals in major league history, ahead of the 2003 Reds (242).
“Does it bother me?” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “There are certain times in the course of the game where it bothers you, of course. Because it (strikeout) is not a productive out. It’s usually with men on third base (that it bothers him), and that whole thing with the infield back or the infield in — put the ball in play or get us a sac fly.
“That’s when it really stands out. Other than that, we are what we are. There’s other aspects that we can do in the course of a baseball game that we can overcome that.”
The Braves are on pace for 1,532 strikeouts, just ahead of the 2010 Diamondbacks’ major-league record of 1,529. Of course, the Astros are on pace to beat the record by an even wider margin.
Keep in mind, that Arizona team was the first team to ever strike out more than 1,400 times, blowing right by that and on past 1,500 before they were through. The 2001 Brewers had the major league record with 1,399 strikeouts before Arizona pushed it way further.
Since Houston moved to the American League this season, the Braves and Astros could set the records for AL and NL strikeouts at their current paces. The AL record of 1,387 by the 2012 Athletics looks like it’ll be decimated by these swing-and-miss Astros.
