Midpoint
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
On Wednesday, the Atlanta Braves finished up their 30th game of the 2020 season by completing a double header sweep of the New York Yankees.
Usually, the 30th game of the season is unspectacular as a marker of the passage of time within a campaign. But since this is 2020, the 30th game is the halfway point of the whole season.
It also meant that the trade deadline was five days away – tomorrow, as of this article’s publication.
Generally, we would take a look at where the Braves are and where they’re going at the All-Star break (a little past halfway, actually), but even though there isn’t as much to chew on as normal, let’s look at what the Braves have done on the field so far.
We’ve talked about pitching woes ad nauseum, so let me touch on that very briefly. With the injury to Mike Soroka, the continued absence of Cole Hamels, and the ineffectiveness of Mike Foltynewicz, Sean Newcomb, Kyle Wright, and pretty much everyone else; the pitching rotation basically has boiled down to Max Fried and everyone else.
Fried, for his part, could very well win the Cy Young award this season. Everyone else…not so much. Ian Anderson looked terrific in his debut on Wednesday, but time will tell if he can sustain it.
So, with the starting rotation woes being what they are, the team has been relying on the bullpen, the defense, and (honestly a fairly inconsistent) offense. However, the Braves have been winning and are in first place.
The bullpen was a strength on paper going into 2020, and it has delivered. Not every outing is stellar, but very few are disasters.
In fact, before Ian Anderson showed up, the Braves had 16 team wins and Fried was the only starter credited with any – a full ¼ of them, mind you (he’s since upped that number of wins to 5). The relief corps has been invaluable and unfortunately, overworked.
The defense on the team has been solid. Which is unsurprising (with Gold Glove winners like Freddie Freeman and Nick Markakis fielding the ball) and surprising (injuries to Ozzie Albies and Ronald Acuna, Jr. have taken some of the most fleet-footed players off the diamond for extended periods of time).
Marcel Ozuna hasn’t helped too much in this regard, but his value has been immense nonetheless, because of his bat, so let’s get to that.
Ozuna has essentially served perfectly as the replacement for Josh Donaldson in the cleanup spot.
He’s provided power and clutch hits in a way that almost makes it forgivable for Alex Anthopoulos to have let the Bringer of Rain walk to Minnesota. Almost.
Dansby Swanson has been a revelation at the plate, a mini-slump in between two periods of great hitting, notwithstanding.
Outside of Max Fried, I think it’d be hard to argue that Swanson has been the MVP of the season so far.
Not that perennial MVP candidates Freedman and Acuna, Jr. have been slouching.
Acuna, much like the previous two seasons, had a slow first few weeks, but just prior to his injury and since returning, he’s begun heating up.
Freeman was also struggling at first, hitting at the Mendoza line for the first 15 games, but he’s blistered the ball since, averaging out to where we’d expect him to be at this point.
But the real revelation has been Travis D’Arnaud. D’Arnaud was a free agent pickup who has killed the ball at the dish this season, as well as played well behind it.
Tyler Flowers has continued to prove an able backup (he always seems to hit better when the other catcher is having a good season), solidifying the backstop position, which was a question mark in July.
The question is this: can the Braves hold on to first place with the pitching they have?
It’s a great question, and in the NL East the answer might be yes.
However, if any of the other teams get it together and get hot, the Braves may lose that threepeat they’re after.
