AJ Smith-Shawver and Drake Baldwin Continue to Shine in Series Win Over Nationals

00:00:22
Speaker 1: Welcome one and all to the Hemmer Territory Podcast. My name is Sean Coleman. Hope, wherever you are and wherever you are listening, you have had a great week so far, and you know what, it wasn't the best of weekends of your Braves fan, but it's been a pretty good weekend on the field. Some really fun news to follow off the field over the past couple of days, with updates on Ronald Acunye Junior and Spencer Strider, which we'll get to in just a moment. But Steven, we've got another series win to talk about as always here with my podcast partner, one of the best of the game, covering the Braves, Steven Tolbert. Hey, it was awesome to see the Braves win this series. But what really stood out in this series, and we're going to do it in just a moment, is it was the youngins that helped us out. The youngins stepped up big time this week, especially a James Smith shav on Thursday.

00:01:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, what's up, buddy. It was a good series when they won three out of four against Washington, which they needed to do at the at the bare minimum. The offense is still not completely there, and we're going to talk about some some key parts, specifically Riley and Olsen here in a minute. But when one part of your team is not going as well as you would hope, you need other parts to step up. And the starting pitching has been unbelievable and today was no different with aj Smith Shaver, and you know they're doing they're doing their job and giving the offense a chance to score enough runs lad in games. And the bullpen had one blow up in this series on Wednesday, but other than that, the bullpen has been pretty solid. So we're still winning. On the offense, We're still not fully there, but it's nice to be winning without that part of the team right now because we know that once it comes, and there might be some help coming pretty soon, that this team could really go in a role and win ten out of twelve or twelve out of fourteen or fifteen out of twenty or something like that. So it is a weird feeling. The Braves have been winning three out of four is no joke. That helps a lot going into Boston, But we're still kind of waiting on the offense to really look like the offense that we expect them to look like so, but three out of four is three out of four, so you take it. We're on to Boston. Yeah.

00:02:43
Speaker 1: The thing that I'll say is this is that we kind of been playing the waiting game, right. We were waiting on a Coon, you were waiting on Strider. We're waiting on multiple aspects of this team to get hot at the same time. Well, the thing that we didn't necessarily know that was going to be worth waiting on it but has clearly emerged, especially this and it's wonderful to see is the contributions from Drake Baldwin as well as A. J. Smith Schauber, And it very much feels like two thousand and two all over again, where we saw what you know, hey, Spencer Strider, he came into the rotation around Memorial Day, Michael Harrison the second got called up and it was bananas from that point on with them win. He won two in the Rookie of the Year vote in twenty twenty two. I'm not getting ahead of myself. I'm not saying that's going to be the case this year. When it comes to Baldwin and and A. J. Smith Shauber, I am saying that they are clearly putting themselves in contention for the NL Rookie of the Year, which is a wide open race right now. But both of them are contributing, and not just with the you know, hey, good start here, good start there. It's they're putting together multiple weeks of contributions like, for instance, A. J. Smith Schauber over his past five starts, thirty innings pitched thirty strike thirty strikeouts at one point five ERA. The last rookie to do that was Paul Skemes. Before him, it was Jose Bernandez. You look at the names of what ag Smith Chauber, you look at the names that have done in the past, what AJ Smith Schauber has done over his past five starts, it's some pretty awesome starting pitching. You look at names that have done what Drake Baldwin has done as a catcher through his first twenty five games, it's some pretty awesome names. The point that I'm getting at is the contributions that you're seeing from our young rookies. It's notable, not because of how much it's helping the braves, but also because other players that have come before them who have done the same thing are pretty awesome talents in baseball, and it's really good to see that once again, some youngins are stepping up and they're performing big time when the Braves need it most.

00:04:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, I didn't. I really didn't have on my Bengo card at any point saying, man, I wish Mattalson and Austin Riley were doing their job as well as Bryce Elder and aj Smith Schalder have been doing their job. And you could extend that to Drake Baldwin as well. Drake Baldwin is he is so much better than I I thought he was. I you know, the prospect guys have been talking him up the last year or so and he had really good numbers of TRIAA. But until you see a guy performing the majors, you really don't know. And every literally every single time he gets into a game, he does something to help the team every single time. It's incredible. And listen Snit talked about it a couple of nights ago, were like he has been. He has been so good that he has actually worked his way into more playing time despite the fact that Sean Murphy has also been extremely good. Uh, both these guys have I think like an eight Murphy has like an eight forty ops like something like that, which is out outstanding for a catcher, and it's outstanding offensive production out of a catcher. And even with that, Drake has been so good that he has actually fought his way into more playing time, which is completely understandable if you're snit. That's how good this kid looks every single time. And so and then Aj, I mean we said it. I think we said it a couple times in the offseason because the Braves did not go and add a starter. They needed either Smith, Shov or Waldrope to take a step forward, and the Braves were clearly banking on one of these guys taking a step forward. And listen, when the pitching was kind of out of whack last year and they needed a starter for a game one of the playoffs, they picked aj Smith Schover. So they clearly think extremely highly of this kid. And he's still only a kid. He's twenty two years old, and people forget that how yunk he is. But man, easy look good. The strikeouts are up, the locks are down, the command is better. I understand the competition he's faced the last few weeks have not been the greatest, but they're still major league hitterers. You still gotta throw strikes. You still can't walk them. They can still beat you. Washington's got a plenty good offense to beat you. They've got some really good hitters in that offense. And he's just looked awesome. Man, he's just looked awesome. And I'm so happy for him. You know, obviously they made the decision a day to keep him. We'll talk about that in a second. Now the Strider's coming back. But what a what an unbelievable boost it's been for these two kids to come up and play the way they have while we're waiting on some of the more proven vets to do their job. These young kids have really gone above and beyond what we expected.

00:07:17
Speaker 1: So it's been unbelievable, And I feel like the big thing for me is that I think the Braves have recognized something that sometimes teams make much more complicated than they need to, and that's just keeping things simple, go with what right now is allowed for them to be successful. What I mean by that is is that, listen, I know that it would be great if at Lanta would potentially experiment with or you know, further look into the idea of played of Sean Murphy as well as Drake Baldwin more often, but that could potentially take the kid out of his comfort zone because you're not removing Shew Murphy for play catcher. The big thing for the Braves right now is they're taking advantage of the best catching situation in the game. When what starts, you utilize the other in a smart situation like in the game. Yeah, it's not as good as both of them starting, but it still is probably the most effective way to use them right now. And then with aj Smith Shauber, they bumped him up, bumped him down, bumped him up, bumped him down in the past. Right now, his upside is worth more banking on than what you're getting from Bryce Selder. We'll get to that in a bit just a minute, but I do think that it's key for the Braves. They're seeing them be successful. They have them both in defined roles right now. So the fact that the Braves are showing confidence in both youngsters by by telling them, hey, here's your role. You keep playing well, We're gonna keep putting more on your plate because we trust you more. That confidence, I think is fueling the consistency of both being big contributors.

00:08:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think the Braves have yo yowed some pictures in the past to their detriment. Kyle Wright is the first name that comes to mind, and listen, I get it. It's tough when you're trying to win a World Series. That is not a good environment to develop young players. Typically, the best situation for a young player is to play on a bad team because it doesn't the results don't matter, You're just trying to develop your best players. Well, the Braves haven't been a bad team in eight years. I mean they've been in the playoffs literally every year for the last seven years. So it's not a great environment typically for young players, and so they the Braves. Young players have to come up and have to immediately contribute to winning or they don't stay. And that's what makes what Ajs, Michalvern Drake Baldwin doing are so special because these guys are immediately in substantially impacting winning on a nightly basis. I mean, these are bats that Drake Baldwin are having and clutch late clutch situations against left handed relievers, against tough pitching. I can't even begin to describe to you some of these bats he's having as a rookie, and I get he's an older rookie, he is twenty four, but still he's a rookie. Seeing most of these pitchers for the time and the abatsies putting up are like a ten year vet. It's incredible. And that's really what's special about this is again with Braves prospects specifically, or any good team, if you're not contributing to winning, you're not standing up here. Because the Braids are trying to win a World Series and these guys are, I mean, they have been godsends for the Braves, Drake Baldwin probably specifically with how much the offense has been the problem this year, and so yeah, that's been the special part is that they're not just in a vacuum on a bad team having good seasons. They are contributing to winning for a team that is trying to win, and that's on another level of performance.

00:10:42
Speaker 1: Absolutely, And at the end of the day, this Braves team needs as much trustworthy sources as they can have to contribute to winning. And if that's coming from from, you know, sources that are also becoming more and more evident to be big parts of your future. That makes it even better. But we'll discuss speaking of big parts of your future coming back in the present, we'll discuss that at just a moment after this word from our partners.

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00:12:08
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Hebit Territory podcast. Plenty of things to discuss this week. You know, again, it's just good to be able to sit here and have conversations with the Braves are back too witty now again. Seven games above five hundred since that road trip started. You know, one of the best records in baseball. What are the best pitching staffs in baseball? And the big thing, Steven, is that it's likely going to get even better, very very soon, because we've finally I know that we've already been through this once this season, but we do have in mind when Spencer Strider is going to be returning from his hamstring injury. You know, we'd heard over the past seven to ten days him ramping up a bit. Was he going to get a rehab start, what have you? It looks like that's not the case. Next week, when the Braves are in Washington on the road, Spencer Strider will make a start for the Braves. Dagsact date is not known, but what is known is that it is going to happen because Bryce Elder, despite pitching very well here, recently, Bryce Elder was optioned down to the minor leagues. Now the corresponding move is not going to necessarily be Strider. Likely he's going to be a bullpen arm for the next few days. But I do think that it's big to know. Hey, we now know we talked about it being imminent. Yes, we know Spincer Strider is right around the quarner. But the other thing that I think's interesting to discuss is that we talked about it. Grant Holmes, Ag Smith Schaber, and Bryce Elder have all been very good as a late but what it simply comes down to is where do you get your most value. Grant Holmes going to the bullpen because the Braids don't seem to be using a six man rotation. He's more lined up for that. That's why he's staying.

00:13:34
Speaker 2: A J.

00:13:35
Speaker 1: Smith Schauber, He's simply a more upside play and a bigger part of your future in prison. That's why he's staying. Bryce Elder unfortunately was the odd man out, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have a good chance of contributing later this year.

00:13:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, this was interesting, So we knew this was coming. At some point, we knew Strider was coming back, and we've been talking about this for like two weeks now about what the corresponding move would be. Now, obviously, in the short term, the Braves option Elder today because they're going to bring up a reliever to have an extra reliever in Boston, and then when Strider comes up on probably Tuesday, that reliever will be optioned. So but for all intentsive purposes, Elder was the corresponding move for Strider. And this was interesting because it really could have gone multiple ways. The fact that they chose to do it in Washington obviously meant that they wanted, you know, Grant Holmes the schedule to pitch in Boston. So if they wanted Strider to if they wanted Holmes to be the corresponding move, Strider would have probably come back for the Boston series. But because they waited until the Washington series when Elder was scheduled to pitch, they clearly wanted Elder. I understand it. That's the move I would have made. I did think there was an argument for moving Grant Holmes to the bullpen and DFA either Montero de los Santos, somebody that I don't trust a lot, because I think Grant Holmes is I think Grant Holmes is a better reliever than either of those guys. Brad did make the point today in our group chat, and I thought it was a good point that there is some danger and shortening up Grant Holmes and not having him as an option to start. You know, if Bryce Elder goes out and gets lit up his next time, then are you kind of right back to where you would have been where you're like, well, I kind of wish we'd kept Grant Holmes in the rotation and just option Bryce Elder. So I get it. I certainly get it. I definitely would have kept A. J. Smith Schaalber above everybody else because you got more upside. The guy was throwing, you know, ninety seven, ninety eight, ninety nine today, So I get I mean, this is the move I would have probably done. It sucks for Bryce Elder. He does not deserve to be optioned. You know, I was thinking today if Grant Holmes had options and Bryce Elder didn't, I do wonder if that would have been the reverse today. You know, sometimes it is you have options and the other guy doesn't. Grant Holmes doesn't have options, so and aj Smithshauber is one of the best prospects on the team. You know, Elder just kind of got the short straw there, and it sucks for him because he's been awesome, full capital letter a awesome for the last like five starts, four or five starts. So I'm guessing Elder will be back up at some point. He's earned another chance. I do not trust Bryce Elder, to be perfectly clear, I don't think Bryce Elder is a long term answer in the rotation. I think he's more of a triple A maybe quad a starter, more of a depth piece than a significant contributor. But even I have to admit the last three weeks he's been awesome, so he did not deserve to be option. He just he you know, he can't have twenty seven guys on the roster, so sucks for him. I do understand the move. It is the move I would have made. And now we get to see Smitch of Strider back against Washington probably on Tuesday, as my guess, and that's gonna be unbelievable. I mean, even though the pitching has already been really good in the starting pitching, specifically, getting Strider back is just you know, I have this opinion that Streider and Acunya both have this kind of f you attitude that I love that I think the Braves miss when neither guy is there, because the Braves have a lot of all shucks guys, and I think they miss a little attitude quite honestly, especially when things aren't going great. And so that, you know, on top of the talent of getting Striider and a Cunya back, getting the attitude that Strider and Acunya brings to the clubhouse I think is not a small thing. And so having those guys both back pretty soon unbelievable. Can't wait.

00:17:35
Speaker 1: Couldn't be more excited. Absolutely, I don't think many would debate it. Your best overall offensive talent on the team is ronald' Kunyu Junior went healthy. Your best overall pitching talent on the team is Spencer Schreider went healthy. But listen, a person can have to have all the talent in the world. What makes it even better is when they know it and not to the point of being arrogant, but know that it changes a culture and it's what sets the tone for them realizing that they're the main reasons why you can win and win big because of them, and they want to act like Both of those guys not only know that, but they want to get back to doing it. So it's going to be great to have them back. But again again we go back to as awesome as Baldwin and Smith schav for a Ben as well as others have been here recently. Marcelo Zuna had a very good series. He got back to his run producing skills that we're all used to seeing. Two names, though, stand out when it comes to this Brave's team. And I mentioned this because the Braves scored five runs today. They are fourteen and one when they score five runs this season. They've actually won fourteen straight games when they score five runs this season this season. The problem is they're twenty fifth in the majors in scoring five plus runs in games this season. I'm not saying all that to say that the number five is really important. What's really important is how we get to five plus runs more frequently, and two names can be a big part of that. Austin Riley as well as Matt Olsen. Now, matt Olsen, we're used to the streakiness. It happens for multiple weeks at the time. Right now, he's going through a cold streak. Austin Riley, he's getting on base, I think eighteen straight games now getting on base, but he's not doing much at the plate, and he's not also doing much in big moments. That high strikeout rate, especially with runners on, still stands out. The Braves need both of those guys to get going. They gotten going earlier this year. If they can get back, coupled with Akunya coming back, that's really what can fuel that ten, maybe twelve, you know game stretch where we're above eight hundred winning percentage. If those guys can get.

00:19:28
Speaker 2: Going, yeah, listen. I mean, these guys hold the two biggest contracts the Atlanta Braves have ever handed out to any player ever. Austin Riley is one, Matt Olsen is two, the two biggest contracts in franchise history. So it is completely fair to hold them to a higher standard than just being good or a plow average, Especially when Ronald Lacuna juniors out. You need those dudes to be stuck like all star, elite level studs, and they have not gotten that this year. And it's fair to say that. And I think Austin Riley and Matt Olsen would be the first to tell you that they have not lived up to their end of the bargain this year. Now, they've each had moments. Austin's had a couple of hot streaks, but also Austin's also had a couple of unbelievable cold streaks. Both of these guys are streaky as hell. You know, we've seen it the last couple of years. When the summer months come, Austin Riley turns into Barry Bonds. You know. We've seen Matt Olsen get on absolute red hot tears. And we've also seen both guys look like they're lost in the sauce. Both of those guys, at different times in the last two or three weeks have looked like they're completely in the weeds. Austin's strikeout numbers have gone way way up this year, his walk numbers have gone down. He's kind of swinging at those sliders off the plate that we saw in his rookie year that he had really corrected. So I don't know what to make that. I think he is pressing. I think both these guys are pressing. I think it's mental on a lot of levels. We were watching Matt Olson just swing through every single fastball. It doesn't matter. It could be ninety nine, it could be eighty nine. He's swinging through it, which tells you it's mechanical, it's mental. It's not like this dude doesn't have the ability to hit an eighty nine mile on our fastball. It's all on his head right now, and the Braves need more. And I think those two dudes specifically might help, might benefit most from having Ronald back. I think having an alpha on the team and allowing those two guys to be, you know, kind of the next best guys, I think I think will help. I don't think it's coincidence. Two of the best years we ever saw from those guys, you know, with Austin Riley was with Freddie Freeman as the best hitter with Matt Olson, when Ronald Acuna Junia was the best hitter. So I'm very curious to see what happens when Ronald comes back. If those guys pick up their game, it will be the summer months, So maybe that will be the key. But listen, it is absolutely fair to say the Braves need more from Austin right medals. That's one hundred percent fair. Two biggest contracts in franchise history. They need more out of those guys.

00:22:07
Speaker 1: And we've seen plenty of proof as to why they have the two biggest contracts in franchise history, and one of the big reasons why is both of them have performed quite well against quality competition. Well, that's what's about to happen. You're about to see an uptick in competition, especially the quality of pitching that this team will be facing over the next several weeks. So those two getting going will be huge. But perhaps the biggest news of all, and perhaps the biggest appearance of all when it came to baseball today was not at Truest Park. It's going on right now as we record for the Gwynet Stripers, and Steven, I think you may have an update or two on a certain outfielder making his twenty twenty five organizational debut on a rehab assignment.

00:22:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, so he played in the Complex League on what night was that Tuesday night? And he had a home run in a bomb Everybody if you've if you're on Twitter, you're online at all, you probably saw it. There was about twenty different camera angles of people recording and hit a ball. We'll talk about Ronald Kingy Junior, of course. And so immediately after that game, he told one of the Spanish reporters that he's flying to Atlanta that night and then gonna be playing with Gwinnett. I don't fully understand why they had him played the complex game for complexly for one game. Maybe just because maybe the homer where they were like, all right, he doesn't need to be here anymore. Maybe that's what it was. But he got on a plane flewid media to Atlanta. I actually met with the media yesterday, met with Snit, met with the team. He actually apologized for the the social media stuff earlier in the year. Him and Snit got into it online. And then he went to Gwinnett and first at bat tonight, And I'm actually tracking in on my phone as a recording because the game literally started right when we started recording one hundred and six mine hour single. Uh, first first at bat of the game, he's leading off for Gwinette. So we're in it now, I mean, we're full in rehab assignment. You know, you and I talked on our last show about once he officially starts a rehab assignment, he can only be down for twenty days. That clock has officially started. I doubt he'll be down for twenty days at this point. He looks fantastic. He told the reporters yesterday he feels one hundred percent, which was music to my ears. I was not expecting to see the one hundred percent. I was expecting like ninety eighty five, ninety will work up to one hundred. And the dude's already hitting missiles, I mean absolute missiles. So here we go. It's gonna be inter see how long they go again. There's a twenty day max. I don't think he'll get anywhere close to that twenty days. I mean there's talk justin Tiscano yesterday. I mean he was guessing, but he talked about the Braves' next homestand as soon as the Braves next homestand Ronald could be back, we'll see. I can't wait. I mean, I'm so ready to see Ronald Coonson going to play baseball again. And the fact that he's already hitting the ball this well in the miners. He looks like he's running around. They're gonna obviously let him play, take a day off, play in the outfield, take a day off, see how he feels all that stuff. But I mean he's close. He's very close.

00:25:21
Speaker 1: Absolutely, And as everybody knows, Ronald mccoon junior comes back into the fold, he's going to make a big impact. But after a word from our partners, I'm going to talk with Stephen about a particular area where I think that if he could just get right back to contributing like he always has in this aspect of the game, it will really really help the Braves offense get more consistent.

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00:26:43
Speaker 2: You meanicha, oh, I hate.

00:26:47
Speaker 1: I hate when you go right into a good thought and then it just MutS you. Steven, If you go back to twenty twenty three, you obviously remember how historical this offense was. Many were writing, you know, thought pieces about how the Bradys offense that year could have been a Time five offense of all time, and one of the biggest reasons why was because of the home run. But Stephen Dee, you remember how often we got off to good starts, how often we got the lead in games, how historically good we were in the first inning, did it not just build your confidence each game when we got those leads are lead.

00:27:20
Speaker 2: Stephen, Yeah, I know exactly what you're telling you talking about leader, You talking about lead off first inning, That's what you're talking about.

00:27:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, And that to me, we talk about listen at the end of the day, keeping it high level. Ronalcune Junior is going to help out in so many different areas. But again I go back to this phrase team being able to score five or more runs more often, and when they do, they're going to be very, very successful and they're fully capable of doing it. But since twenty nineteen, there are four teams that have an eight hundred or higher ops in the first inning. That is the Dodgers, that is the Yankees, that is the Astros, and that is the Braves. The reason why those four teams are that high are the best in first inning over that stretch of time is because eight of the fifteen players with the highest single ops's in the first inning over that time play for those teams. Aaron Judge, Shohei Mookie, Freddy, Austin Kunya, as well as Jose Altuve and your Nolvarez. I name all those players to say this, when Ronald Acunya Junior comes back, he's going to make a big impact out of that first spot. Number one because of his offensive potential. Number two because he's going to be getting more plant appearances than anymore. But being able to get the ball rolling against qualitague pitching competition when they're at their best and giving our pitchers leads, that is going to be a huge difference. The Braves right now are twenty sixth and first inning ops and twenty sixth and first any runs in twenty twenty five. If they can at least get back to league average when it comes to first inning production, I think that can make all the difference in the world. And again, Stephen can get back to being a reason why we can fuel that tend to tell twelve game stretch where we win eight to nine years.

00:29:03
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean listen, everybody talks about when Ronald came back in twenty two after the first ACL, he was a shell of himself. And the one thing I would point out there is that shell of himself Ronald Acuna Junior in twenty twenty two still had a three point fifty one on base percentage. That's what shell of a shell of himself. Ronald Cuna Junior did still had a three fifty one on base percentage, which would be like the second highest on the team right now. So even if Ronald isn't like Capital a Acunya, just having that on base percentage in the leadoff spot is gonna be so val He just takes so many walks. And you know, we talk about walks a lot, you know, with Michael Harris or Ozzie Albi's or Jered Kelnick about the lack of walks. Walks are so incredibly valuable to offensive production. People. I think the general fan base are you know, just baseball fans in general don't fully get how important walks are. And Ronald always runs like a fourteen fifteen percent walk rate, And even when you're not that's why they're so important, because even when you're not doing great offensively in terms of your batting average or your hits, when you're on base that much, you know, your floor is just so much higher. And that's what I'm looking forward to with ron Even if he's not like all star level run on the Canyon Junior, I know for a fact that he's probably gonna run at least a three to fifty on base percentage out of that leadoff spot, which means the Braves are gonna have much more opportunities. Like you're talking about scoring in the first inning, it seems like every game through the first three innings they get no hit, and then at some point around the fourth or fifth inning, maybe they score a couple of runs. Usually they wait until about the eighth inning just do anything. I'm kind of sick of that. I'm ready for some first inning runs again. I'm ready to jump out ahead of teams instead of always having to come back or hope the pitching staff can throw a no hitter for five innings because the offense hasn't done anything. That's what I can't wait for. And yes, of course Acunya can also just make the game one nothing on the first pitch, which we have barely seen at all this year out of the leadoffs spot. I think Michael Harris has like one home run out of the leadoff spot, and I don't think any of the other leadoff options I've hit a home run. I know Verdugo hasn't, so I think the rest I have one homer this year out of the leadoffs, but it might be two. I might be forgetting one, but that's what I'm ready for. I'm ready for a guy who can make it one nothing on the first pitch, who can get on base at a high clip, can steal a bag. I can't wait, can't wait, cannot wait for Ronald Acun Junior to be back in a Bridge uniform.

00:31:37
Speaker 1: And then just think about it. You know, we saw Drake Baldwin hitting in the second spot today, which I think was actually I'll give credit to Brian Sticker, it was a smart move. But you know, again I mentioned Austin Riley was one of the best in recent baseball history when it came to first need production. As well. Having Ronald Baher just also sets everybody else in such a good spot. It just deepens this lineup so much more, and it's gonna be really easy to see well to turn a complete one eighty. If you're a fan of offense, tomorrow night's pitching matchup in the Braves versus Red Sox at Fenway Park is not the game for you, but it's going to be a really, really fun game to see Tomorrow night. It's going to be Chris Sale against Garrett Crochet. Chris Sale's return to Boston and Stephen. The thing that I'll say is this is that it's not only just an awesome pitching matchup between last year Cy Young winner and one of the best pitchers currently in the game a contender for the al Cy Young this year in Crochet. But it also needs to be said just how much Sale and Crochet's careers have kind of followed each other. Both started off as dominant lefties when it came to both started off as dominant leftings who potentially could have projected as relievers for the White Sox. They turn into pitchers. Both of them I have similar repertoires when it comes to what makes them effective, what makes them dominant, and both eventually left the Reds White Sox and we're traded to the Red Sox. It's pretty crazy how similar their careers are. But it's gonna be a lot of fun to see that pitching matchup. To me, the key for the Braves against Crochet and in order to support Sale, who's been very good as a late is again that early success. There was a better approach at the plate overall for this team this week against the Nationals. If they can carry that over to tomorrow, night, those runs will be at a premium. They could find themselves in a close game and could get the job done. But it's gonna be a really exciting pitching matchup to watch.

00:33:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, how about that? How about Chris Sale versus Garrett Crochet, Like you just said, the similarities of the of them are are actually pretty wild. On top of them both being these kind of funky left handed starters, they started with the same team, got traded to the same team. I guess Garrett Corochet is gonna be a brave at some point. And by the way, we've heard, I've heard from people that Garrett Crochet was almost a brave in the off season. The brads just didn't want to give up a guy who's currently on the team's who's hitting pretty well. But yeah, there's there's probably not gonna be a lot of offense on Friday Night. At least, I think Sale has come. I think I think we're to the point now where we can say Sale it's completely turned around. Kind of back to twenty twenty four, Sail, he had that weird start. A lot of it was bat at ball stuff, and we try to tell people don't freak out too much about this batted ball stuff. There's no way it's gonna last, and it really hasn't lasted. The Red Sox are a weird team. I've actually followed the Red Sox quite a bit this year, just because the Rafael Dever stuff was weirdly fascinating to me. They have like two uber elite prospects, like two of the top five prospects in baseball in Roman Anthony and Marcella Meyer and Triple A and like could be caught up any day. I actually thought maybe they might get caught up for this series because the Red Sox have been kind of floundering lately. No indication that that's happening, but yeah, the Red Sox are a weird team. The Braves. I feel like the Braves don't play great in Boston. I was actually in Boston a couple of years ago when the Braves were up there, and I think they got swept in that series, and so maybe that's anecdotal. I haven't actually looked it up. I know in twenty twenty they had a pretty good series in Boston, but.

00:35:14
Speaker 1: Two straight games with the guy hitting three home runs.

00:35:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. Adam Devaal and Marcello Ozunu did it back to back games and I think they scored like twenty runs in that game or something like that. So so yeah, it's been kind of you know, hit and miss in Boston, but it's gonna be a fun series. I think the Braves have more talent than the Red Sox. I think that's fair to say. Some Boston fans might push back on that. I don't know, maybe that's not fair. I think it's fair. I think they have more talent. I would say you should probably expect to win two out of three. Boston is not the greatest team, but it's on the road you're facing Garrett Crochet. Listen, Garrett Crochet absolutely shut the Braves down last year when he was with the White Sox. They I think the White Sox won like a two to one game with him on the mound against the Braves, So you know, they could get dominated tomorrow. We'll see, but yeah, it'll be a fun matchup. Sale versus Crochet is big time stuff. Nobody would be surprised if Crochet won a cy Young At some point he signed that big contract with Boston. I think he sound like one hundred and seventy million dollars contract with Boston, so he's gonna be there for a while. But yeah, he could very well be you know, the twenty twenty four so young against the twenty twenty five so young if his season keeps going the way it has, and it'll be a good game. I hope the Braves can win up, you know, a low scoring game. They've saved Rossioglacias the last couple of games, so he'll be available in that game or No. The heat pitched today, I'm sorry he didn't a pitching a day because the Braves gave up a run there. But the bullpen is is is in decent shape. They should be able to hold a small lead tomorrow if they need to, because I think it's gonna be a low scoring game if I'm honest, So we'll see. It could be really, it should be a good It should be a good I'm hoping. I really would love to see the bracet two or three, but I don't know if that's a fair expectation at this point.

00:37:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the other thing that stands out to me is that, you know, if you were to split May and half, which we're about to the other big thing that's going to stand out is this when you're talking about in them facing Washington or Colorado at the end of April or Cincinnati, those are three of the worst bullpens in baseball going through the rest of May into early June, that script flips. You're going to be facing some of the best bullpens in baseball. Boston right now, their bullpendra is fifth in the majors. So the whole formula of winning late is going to have to be either continued with us doing it against some of the best bullpens in baseball, or again, we're going to have to score early. So that's the big part about it. If we want to start winning, scoring early is going to have to be part of that formula because it's just going to get tougher against some of these teams that we're going to be facing. And I think that that is what stands out. The other thing that stands out to me in this series is I'm going to be very interesting to see how the batting lineup is going to continue to potentially evolve. We're not going to get a Counya back, I don't think for another seven to ten days at least. The thing that stands out to me is this is that you've batted Alex Berdugo and you've batted Eli White there over the past few days. At this point, I know Austin Riley is struggling, but I still would just go with your four top hitters. I don't necessarily know if that means putting Marcelo Zoon in the leadoff spot. I'm not going to get perhaps that, you know, creative. I know that the idea of like a Verdugo or somebody like that before your big hitters make sense. But in my opinion, if Dugo is struggling like he is Eli White, you know, has been good, but he's still you know, kind of falling off, it's going to be interesting. I don't really have an answer to what the batting order should look like. I just think that it's going to continue to be an interesting evolution until we get Ronald Akunya Junior back. But I do like, I do like the idea of Drake Baldwin batting near the top than the bottom.

00:39:00
Speaker 2: Yeah, especially on Friday when Crochet is on the mount of lefty like typically you could put Ozzy there because Ozzie typically kills lefties. But Ozzie's having the weirdest season and one of the weirdest and probably the weirdest part of his season is that he has been god awful as a right handed hitter against left handed pitching this year. He's got like a I mean it's literally like a ten WRC plus as a left handed hitter or as a right handed hitter. So I don't know. I mean, normally that's what I would say. I would say, put Ozzie there against Crochet, But you know, maybe you trust the long term splits versus the short term splits. I don't know. We'll see what snit does. There's not a great answer, is the long and short of it, you know, against right handed pitching. You know, I'd probably still stick with Radugo. But I could see Drake Baldwin being there if he's catching that night, I would I kind of agree with you.

00:39:57
Speaker 3: I might just.

00:39:57
Speaker 2: Stack Austin Riley, Marcelo Zuna, Matt and Sean Murphy at the top and just hope for the best. But it's not like those guys are hitting Gray at the moment either, So I don't know. There's not a great answer. There really is. The great answer is in Gwinnett right now. That's where the great answer is so or he's you know, the other good answer is on an eighty game suspension for peds. That's where the other good answer is. So Yes, n it's just gonna have to pieces together. I am. I'm with you. I'm very curious to see how the lineup looks for this all three games in Boston, because it really feels like on a daily basis, he just kind of goes with his gut and I have no clue what it's gonna look like any of these three games.

00:40:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, at the end of day, just keep it simple. I mean, if A. J. Smith, Shauber and and Drake Baldwin are doing what they're doing, feature them, go with them, see what happens. Choose if Baldwin is starting or or Murphy is starting, Choose them in a big at bat late in the game over others. Stack your best hitters up at the top of the order. Just go with what makes sense. You're in a position now to where you are playing winning baseball at the end of the day. Just trust the talent that you have, and I think that's going to make the key difference. Steven, do you have anything else for us? And hey, listen a content full edition oh the Hammer Territory Podcast. Winning certainly helps with that. The idea though, of not only winning but also getting even better talent back that's going to help you win more frequently. That's really what makes these podcasts fun. Anything else from you as we wrap up this edition of The Hammer Territory Podcast.

00:41:34
Speaker 2: No, I would just say this, now that they're back to five hundred, and obviously they're back to five hundred again because they were back to five hundred on Tuesday, and now they're back to five hundred again. Now that we've kind of cleared that hurdle, we need to go on like a streak. We need to go on like an eight to ten streak to get get clear of five hundred by a little bit. So it's not like every couple of days we're dropping back below, we're going back above. We're dropping back like, now that you've cleared this hurdle, you know, they need to go in a little bit of streaking. And listen, Boston and Washington aren't like the two greatest opponents you're ever gonna face. Boston's certainly better than Washington, but like, it's not unreasonable to hope for I think it's a six game road trip. Like, I don't think four and two is crazy. I mean, obviously everybody's gonna say three and three is probably the fair expectation, but I don't think four and two's crazy. And I would love to go four and two to get a couple of games clear of five hundred. So you're not doing this dance every day. But they are back to five hundred again. They got to start scoring runs. They need Matt Olson and Austin Riley to be great. The pitching is not going I mean, the pitching can't keep doing this every single game where they throw a shutout basically the first five innings at the game. They need the offense. They need Austin Riley, they need Matt Olsen, they need Sean Murphy, they need Marcel Azuna. Let's start in Boston because you know the right fielder that wears number thirteen is going to be back soon. Let's start scoring some runs. Let's get a Couona back, Let's get on a roll.

00:43:04
Speaker 1: And the other thing that I'll say is this one final point is that we talked about back on April fifteenth, coming up to May fifteenth, which We're now at the end of that month stretch of the schedule. We really needed to find a hot streak. We really needed to get going in an easier part of the schedule. We got back to five hundred, which we would have been a little bit above, but I'll take me in at five hundred. This next stretch May fifteenth through June fifteenth, you get Strider back, you get a COONa back. But let's also look at the content of the our competition. We played the Nationals again, We're gonna play Boston twice. That's fine, those are winnable series. But you've also got the Phillies, the Padres, the Diamondbacks, the Brewers, as well as the Giants. Those are five of the eight teams in the National League right now that I think are seriously vying for a playoff spot. You could look back on this stretch and if you have good success against those teams head to head, that could really be what helps you truly overcome that cold start to the season. Or if you stay around five hundred, you could see this stretch of the season being where it was kind of put the riding on the wall that maybe it's not the playoffs.

00:44:06
Speaker 3: This year.

00:44:07
Speaker 1: I think the playoffs are so obviously in play, don't get me wrong there, but this is the time to make the move directly against your competition for those playoffs. It's going to be really fun to see how good the Braves can be against quality competition. You can find myself in stats Sac on Twitter. You can find Stephen at b Underscore Outliers. Find all of our great content across all forms of social media at Hammer Territory, part of the Foul Territory family of podcasts. And until next time, go Braids. We'll talk to you again soon here on the Hammer Territory Pop