It’s too early to declare a sea change, but so far the Braves have been able to turn around their fortunes in an area of major weakness in 2014. Hitting with runners in scoring position.
The team entered Tuesday ranked third in the majors with a National League-leading .357 average (20-for-56) with runners in scoring position, after finishing the 2014 season with a .236 average that was the third-worst in he majors.
The early improvement could be attributed to several factors, including personnel changes – addition of contact hitters like Nick Markakis and Alberto Callaspo, subtraction of free swingers – and the approach taught by new Braves hitting coach Kevin Seitzer, who preaches the gospel of putting the ball in play, hitting it up the middle.
“As a team, just making contact – if you’ve got people on base and you’re making contact, you’ve got a chance (to get them in),” said Andrelton Simmons, who was a .227 career hitter with runners in scoring position before this season.
The shortstop has worked within Seitzer’s approach, concentrating on a more controlled swing and hitting the ball up the middle, and before Tuesday Simmons was 3-for-8 with five RBIs when batting with runners in scoring position.
“If you’re trying to hit the ball really hard all the time and missing pitches, you’re not giving yourself a chance if you don’t put it in play,” Simmons said. “Putting it in play gives us a big chance. I mean, if you try to do the right thing, good things happen. I think the right approach, which is sometimes trying to just get a single with a guy in scoring position, it’s been working out pretty good.”
Freddie Freeman, one of the Braves’ few high-level hitters with runners in scoring position the past couple of seasons, had a .299 career average in those situations entering Tuesday, including .314 with a .954 OPS with two outs.
“It’s all about approach, it’s all about mindset,” Freeman said. “The pitcher’s in the hole with a guy in scoring position, and you’ve got take that and make sure you realize that. It’s not you that feels the pressure, it’s him. I think that’s the key to success with runners in scoring position, just being patient.”
Again, it’s early. But Freeman has been encouraged seeing teammates come through with runners in scoring position, including Markakis (4-for-7), Callaspo (2-for-3), Chris Johnson (2-for-4) and Eric Young Jr. (2-for-6). Jonny Gomes had a hit in his only at-bat with a runner in scoring position before Tuesday, and Phil Gosselin was 1-for-2 including a game-winning, two-run single in the eighth inning of the home opener.
“I mean, Nick (and some others), they’re not trying to hit home runs, they’re just trying to hit line drives,” Freeman said. “Good things happen. Sometimes you’ll backspin a ball out of here with a guy in scoring position, but if you’re just trying to hit the ball hard through the middle and not trying to do too much, good things happen.”
Simmons said, “Putting the ball in play gives you a better chance, especially when a guy’s in scoring position already. You put the ball in play, it finds the holes, doesn’t have to be something hit really hard and far or have to be homer or double. It can be a single. Callaspo doesn’t try to hit homers, he goes up there and tries to hit singles. He tries to put the ball somewhere in the grass, and it finds holes.”
