CHICAGO – The Braves finished a 5-18 April with the most losses for the month in franchise history, posting a 5.05 ERA and allowing four of the 17 grand slams that were hit in the major leagues during the month. This after they were the only team that didn’t allow a grand slam during the 2015 season.
That being said, it was the offense that underperformed to an even greater extent for the month. Consider these facts:
— Even after getting two home runs from Freddie Freeman in the last three April games, the Braves had only five homers for the month. No other major league team had fewer than 17 homers in April, 14 teams had 25 or more, and four NL teams have 33 or more homers.
— The Braves finished April with a higher on-base percentage (.301) than slugging percentage (.289). No other MLB team even came close to doing that. The Dodgers (.318 OBP, .368 slugging) were the only team that came within 60 points of having a slugging percentage as low as its OBP for the month.
— The Braves’ .289 slugging percentage was 70 points lower than the next-worst in the majors (Angels, .359). Eighteen teams slugged .390 or above.
— Only the Yankees scored fewer runs (74) in April than the Braves (75). Fourteen of 30 teams scored 100 or more runs for the month, and seven teams scored 120 or more. (In a sea change from not long ago, six of the top seven highest-scoring teams were from the NL).
— The Braves’ .298 average with runners in scoring position was fourth-highest in the majors in April, behind the Orioles (.329), Cardinals (.305) and Rangers (.300). However, the Braves had a .398 slugging percentage in those situations, while the other five of the top six in average with runners in scoring position slugged .448 or better in those spots, and the top two slugged over above .550.
Of the Braves’ 54 hits with runners in scoring position, 38 were singles. They’ve usually required multiple hits with runners on base and sometimes even with RISP to manufacture runs. In fact, their .327 slugging percentage with runners on base is the lowest in the National League.
