The Braves currently have a record of 14-11 in Spring Training. And while the resonates to nothing when the regular season begins in two weeks, the Braves have a very exciting team to look out for. The Braves created a monstrous outfield by adding the Upton Brother, Justin and B.J. with Jason Heyward.
The three have the ability and the talent to overpower pitchers with their defensive abilities, as well as insane home run power, and their ability to run the bases. Each player has the ability to hit 20-25+ home runs, as well as steal 20 bases.
There is no doubt in my mind that the these three with the help of Freddie Freeman, Anderlton Simmons, and Brian McCann, the Braves will start the regular season as contenders for the World Series.They will most likely end up taking the top Wild Card seed and end up second in the division behind the Washington Nationals but that is no problem. The Braves will have had multiple match ups to face the Nationals in the post season, if it comes to that.
But with this new dynamic outfield and the extremely talented offense, the team will most likely lead the National League, if not the entire MLB in strikeouts by a team. Last season, both Upton Brothers and Heyward struck out a total of 442 times. Factor in the projected infielders of McCann (76) at catcher, Freeman (129) at first, Uggla (168) at second, Simmons at shortstop (21), and Chris Johnson (40) at third that brings the total strike out total for the Braves last year at 876. With full season from Simmons and Johnson and the bench/role players and pitcher, the number will definitely increase to well over 1000. The record strike out totals as team is 1529 by the 2010 Arizona Diamondbacks. Since the Braves are by definition a "power" team, they will tend to take a lot more swings at pitches to hit out of the ball park.
While the quantity of strikeouts will be an issue for the Braves in the upcoming season, fans should not be worried about their ability to score runs. The Braves will combine for at least 700-800 total runs scored this upcoming season mainly because of the additions of the Upton Brothers and a full season from Anderlton Simmons. I can see the Braves flying into the playoffs with a lot of hype and excitement around them. They are definite World Series contenders and while they will strike out a whole lot, their ability to run the bases, and hit home runs will at least get the Braves through the first round of the playoffs.
On a slightly separate note, a statistic that states the players ratio for strikeouts between home run should be calculated and factored into a players importance. For example if Jason Heyward hits 5 home runs in between 15 strikeouts then his K/HR rate is 1/3 or .33. I mean sure the math is simple but think about it. If a hitter hit 5 home runs in between 15 strike outs, then he has the probability to hit a home run every two games or so (with an average of 3 at bats per game).
Quetions or Comments?
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(Player and team statistics from www.baseball-reference.com)
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