Braves Playing Best Baseball of Season, Sweep Guardians in Cleveland

00:00:05
Speaker 1: Hello everyone, and welcome to episode two hundred and fifty one of the Hammer Territory podcast. I'm Scott Coleman, and I am driving the boat on this Sunday edition of the show because our good friend Brad Rowland is currently on the other side of the planet, and I am joined this weekend as the Braves have won five games in a row and have just come off a sweep of the Cleveland Guardians by none other than Steven Tolbert Stephen. It's fitting that this team terrible year aside, is now deciding to play its very best baseball as the home stretches right around the corner.

00:00:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, what's up, buddy? I mean, you know, there was that great Twitter account forever they Can't predict Ball Twitter account where we just tweet the most random stuff that happens in the game, and you literally cannot explain baseball sometimes. And if you look at the quality of starting pitching the Braves got for three months, some of the best in baseball, some of the best pitchers in baseball, you know, back in May and June, Sale and Strider and Swallenbach and Homes We're all pitching at like almost all star levels, even Bryce Elder was pitching a lot better, and the Braves could not win a game, could not win a game, could not score a run. It's the most maddening frustrated. I mean, everybody who's followed along all year knows how frustrating that stretch was. And now Joey Wentz and Carlos Carrasco and Bryce Elder and you know, the band of misfit toys is in the rotation and they can't lose. And I mean baseball is just the weirdest sport. And the offense has woken up a bunch of guys. Individual guys have woken up. Michael Harris, you know, is the star of that show right now. But I mean everybody in the offense up, like even like Nacho Alrez, guys up and down the lineup are contributing. And so yeah, they've they are now. They just went five and one on the road trip and got the white Sauce coming in town next. I mean, yeah, it's just crazy. It's like, this is a crazy, dumb sport. That's one of the reasons we love it so much.

00:02:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, offenses up across the board. I think the Braves are scoring a full extra run per game in the second half of the season versu the first. As a team, the on base percentage is like top five and in the majors, and they have the best walk rate, I think, or at least near the very top for walk rate among any team.

00:02:24
Speaker 3: Here in the second half.

00:02:25
Speaker 1: And it's frustrating because we all knew, as as challenging as the first half was, I think we all knew there was just too much talent in this damn lineup to not score runs. Of course, now they're scoring runs with basically the entire rotation on the injured list, and I guess it goes that way, but hey, you know, they take two out of three from the Mets, they just drive that stake in even deeper into a Mets team that's in a free fall right now. And then they sweep the Cleveland Guardians, who I mean kind of were out for dead, but Cleveland has been one of the hottest teams in the American League coming in and they just, I mean, they took three games in Cleveland against a team that is playing pretty well. It's just hard to explain, and I think, I mean, can't predict ball is probably the best way to talk about this recent brave stretch.

00:03:10
Speaker 2: It's not just been the offense covering up bad pitching. Like the pitching, like Joey Wentz has been very good, Herssel Waltrip has been very good, like yes, the Carrascos and the Elders, Like the offense is having to cover up a lot in those games. But it's not just the offense covering up bad pitching. It's also been they've gotten some unexpectedly good pitching from guys they you know that we're not on anyone's radar, never mind six months ago, a month ago. And and then you know, add in the bullpen where Rossillo Gleasias has gotten hot. You know, the bullpen in general has calmed down a lot. So it is such a weird sport, and I you know, it could flip again tomorrow. The Rids could get swept by the White Sox next week. And this is a whole different conversation. But right now they're arguably the hottest team in baseball and with the most random ass rotation I've ever seen in your life. And that's baseball for you.

00:04:07
Speaker 1: So let me ask you this, Steven, because there's been whispers I would say in the braves, Twitter Sphere, braves, Facebook or YouTube comments wherever it is. But are you getting your hopes up even like in Iota or are you still telling yourself this team is still so far buried they're never going to see the sun.

00:04:27
Speaker 2: I have decided that it's the hope that kills you. Like that's the famous line from The Dark Knight Rises, right, it's the hope that so I've decided no hope is the like I go into every game expecting to lose, yeah, and just enjoy the outcome as soon as I know myself well enough to know it. Soon if like, if they win, let's just say, hypothetically, they swept the White Sox and then the Mets came to town and they took two out of three. At that point, I know me well enough to know that I would be like, damn, all right, I'm going to start checking the standings every morning, which I haven't done in a month, and then that's what they'll lose and you know, and then rip your heart out again. So for the time being, I am full there's no hope, there's no chance. This is crazy. This We're just going to enjoy the ride for as long as it lasts. I'm sure the other shoe is going to drop any second now, and I'm not changing that mentality until. I mean, they would have to win like ten and twelve in a row before that mentality change. I think.

00:05:25
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, that's where I'm at too.

00:05:27
Speaker 1: It's just when you have as bad of a month of July as what the Braves had, I mean, that's just such a deep, deep hill that you have to try to climb, and there's not just I mean, if the Braves are trying to chase down like one team, two teams, that's that'd be different. But there's still i think seven teams ahead of them in the wild card race. And I mean sure, maybe crazier things have happened in the one hundred and forty year history of baseball, but that's kind of the boat I'm in. But as you said, if they have another really good week and then a week after that, I don't know.

00:05:56
Speaker 3: It's I think.

00:05:57
Speaker 2: I think I think you have to get back to five hundred. I think before you can even dream of anything. Yeah, I think that's probably the number. Like I'm going to assume the season's dead until they get back to five hundred, and then maybe the hope changes a little.

00:06:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, And you know what, it's obviously I'd much rather be watching the Braves twenty games above five hundred, first place in the division, locking in the division title, a playoff spot, all of that scoreboard, watching for playoff seeding purposes. I would take that a million times out of ten. But it is it's a different experience right now because there's really no expectations going into these games.

00:06:35
Speaker 3: And if they're.

00:06:36
Speaker 1: Playing well, and they have been playing well, I mean I watched as much as I could this weekend, but frankly, if the way the season's gone, if they're down six to nothing in the third inning, I guess other than that one game against the Mets, more times than not, I'm just I'm flipping the channel because they're obviously they're dead. I don't want people to think, you know, Scott and Steven are saying the Braves, you're making the playoffs.

00:06:55
Speaker 3: Now we are not saying that. But it's just it's a different vibe entirely.

00:07:00
Speaker 1: And sometimes when there's no drama and stress of just that. Like think about in twenty twenty two when they tried to chase down the Mets and every night was so important, Like those are stressful baseball games in.

00:07:12
Speaker 3: August and September. We're not really at that point in twenty twenty five.

00:07:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, and baseball is a weird sport and that talent over a small sample does not matter as much as just a hots like the Brewers are a great example. The Brewers are not the best team in baseball. They're not the most talented team in baseball, but they've been the hottest team in baseball for a month. Like if you just go roster for roster, the Brewers are probably like more like middle of the pack in terms of just talent. But in baseball, crazy stuff happens in small samples and random teams get crazy hot. And for the Braves, that's absolutely what it would take. It would take a Brewers level kind of hot streak to get actually back into this thing, and we're at just the very beginning of that, so they would have to continue this for another two weeks just to even have a chance. But crazy things like that do happen in sports, and it do happen with teams that maybe don't have the most talent. And like we just said, this pitching staff specifically, the rotation doesn't have the most talent, but in baseball that's not always the biggest factor in small samples.

00:08:23
Speaker 3: Yeah, so we'll see.

00:08:24
Speaker 1: I guess the Braves have at least given us something to think about with six seven weeks to go in the season. You know, on the news front, Stephen, usually we have quite a bit of news to talk about. But there's I mean, frankly, the last few days since our last show, really not a ton in Braves world.

00:08:40
Speaker 3: Really.

00:08:40
Speaker 1: The one notable thing was Chris Sale made his second rehab start with the Gwinnett Strippers on Sunday.

00:08:48
Speaker 3: Pitched pretty well by most accounts. It seems like he's probably going to get.

00:08:52
Speaker 1: At least one more rehab start, But all things considered, it seems like Sale is in a pretty good place with his rehab.

00:08:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's funny. It's obviously very good news that Chris Sale is pitching and in Guinette already and probably set to make us start in Atlanta sometime in September. My guess is they'll do another rehab start or two. But it is funny. I was thinking today watching the game, like when the Braves offense sees Chris Sale on the mound, it's almost like they relax and they're like, oh, we don't have to score much. And when they see like Joey Wentz on the mound, they're like, oh, damn, all right, we need five or six. Like you know, I remember that twenty twenty team that had like Max Freed and then no one else. You remember that, and they had to score ten runs a night. Twenty twenty three, they had no rotation for like the second half of the year. They had to score ten runs a night. Like, I don't know, there's something weird about the offense where like when there's bad pitching on the team, the offense goes crazy, and when there's good pitching on the team, for some reason, the offense goes quiet. And so you know, watching Chris Sale come back, obviously I want Chris Sale to come back, and I want him to be healthy, and I want him to be healthy for twenty twenty six is the big thing. But yeah, know, I need the offense to pitch. I need the offense to hit. When we get good pitching, that's what I need. And lately it's been one or the other. Good good pitching, no hitting, bad pitching, a lot of hitting, And we need to find a way to get both of those going at the same time at some point.

00:10:17
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:10:18
Speaker 1: I mean, has there been more than a couple of games at a time that this team had both the pitching and hitting going in the same direction.

00:10:25
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:10:25
Speaker 2: None.

00:10:26
Speaker 3: It feels like it's been one or the other. And I don't know.

00:10:29
Speaker 1: Maybe that's the perfect summary of the twenty twenty five Braves so far this year. Yeah, all right, Steven, we are going to a quick break to hear a word from our sponsors. But after that we have a sweep to talk about and some really encouraging signs from on the field from the Braves.

00:10:44
Speaker 3: We'll be right back in a moment.

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00:11:50
Speaker 1: All right, Steven, let's get into the games and let's talk. Friday was I guess one? Maybe the most notable thing is that Ronald Dacunya June returned on Friday. Seems to be fine, no worse for wear. I'm sure the Braves are gonna be careful with Acunya. But great to see Ronald out there after the scare. And really the big story from Friday Night it almost caught on nationally, I think, was hirston Waldrip. And Waldrop looks so good right now. He is not even miles ahead of where he was a year ago galaxies universe ahead of where he was this time a year ago where he could barely get the ball over the plate and when he did it was getting hit hard.

00:12:33
Speaker 3: Waldrip looks so good.

00:12:34
Speaker 1: That splitter is such a devastating pitch and he has legitimately three or four pitches that he can go to through six scoreless innings on Friday night and just, I mean, really impressive step from Waldrop.

00:12:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, Hurst of Waldrop has a one to two era, one point zero two era so far with the Braves just absurd. You know, he came up in that Speedway Classic in kind of an emergency fashion. It pulled him off, you know, they drove him up in the middle of the night. You know, obviously it was a rain suspended game and he came in and pitched the last or the you know, about six innings of that game, and just in that start you could tell, like the dude is just a different place mentally, Like that would have been a like last year hearsl Waldrop coming up in that situation, that would have been a blow. I mean he would have gotten lit up. Yeah, and he was just really calm and collected. You know, he's got this splitter slider combo and there's actually some interesting research out there about having a splitter and a slider comes in from very similar arm slots for him. The tunneling of it is very effective. You know, one goes down, one goes away, and it's very very difficult for hitters to pick up and and to lay off. It's a very unique splitter, like people talk about like if you haven't seen it, then it's like you got no shot again. It's just not something you see a lot. The fastball command has gotten substantially better. His fastball was basically unplayable. Last year. He could not throw his fast getting rocked, and that's not been the case this year. Has become a weapon. So like you said, he's got he's got like a full arsenal, And my god, what a development for the Braves if this kid can start living up to his first round potential, because you know, the Braves have so much injury risk built into the rotation with Sale and Strider and Schwollenbach and Ronaldo Lopez and Grant Holmes and aj Smith Shalt like everybody, everybody, the entire rotation has got massive injury questions and a guy like Hurst and Waldrop emerging, Oh my god, what a that's a massive, massive story for the Braves.

00:14:38
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's huge, and I can't recall who had this staff, but one of the stuff plus trackers who are really into the kind of the the real advanced side of pitching. Also made a note that Waldrop's pitches all basically come and you talked about the slider and the splitter, but they all come from a very similar plane, and of co they all move different. So if you're a hitter, I mean I played up until high school. I don't want to pretend like I'm a professional hitter here, but you can only imagine how hard that must be to make a decision, not only just.

00:15:12
Speaker 3: Picking the ball up out of his hand, but like.

00:15:15
Speaker 1: Midway from Waldrop's from the mound to the plate, how are you supposed to decide is this a splitter, Is this a slider?

00:15:23
Speaker 3: Is it a fastball? Is it the sinker that he's been working in.

00:15:26
Speaker 1: It's really encouraging and I think the Braves development deserves that the coaching staff deserves a lot of credit here for the development they've done with Waldrop, because I think it's fair to say the scout on Waldrop when they drafted him in the first round was that splitter is ridiculous. But he's got a long way to go before he can get major leaguers out not just one time, but two and three times through the order. And in a year and a half, they have really just morphed Waldrop into a pretty close to.

00:15:55
Speaker 3: Being a complete pitcher.

00:15:56
Speaker 1: And when you have an elite pitch, a truly elite pitch, which that splitter is, if you can just make your other stuff serviceable, I mean that that's going to carry Waldrup a long way. And if they can count on this kid in twenty twenty six, I mean that is huge for this team going forward.

00:16:14
Speaker 2: So far this season, Hrston Waldrip has had forty four balls put in play against him and he's given up one barrel. So that tells you just how hard it is for hitters, like you were just talking about, to gauge where these pitches are going and get the sweet spot of the bat on it. And you add that with his you know, obviously a splitter is very much a swing and miss pitch. You add swing and miss with guys not being able to barrel it. I mean, that's that's literally, that's that's success. That's major leagues. That's how you have success at this level is miss bats and when they do make contact, it's on you know, the wrong part of the bat. And so all the credit in the world goes to him, to the Braves player development. You know, they've changed his arsenal a lot, done a lot of work like this would be a major, like very clear cut example of like player development success of taking a guy who was kind of at a dead end with where he was last year and completely you know, and the kid has to buy in as well, like he has to be like, all right, yeah, let's do it, let's change some stuff. And that's not easy for somebody who's had as much success as he had up until that point. So yeah, it's just a huge story. And again, if this is real, we're gonna wait. It's still very early in the kids career, and you know, the league is gonna see him and then they're gonna make adjustments, and he's gonna have to make adjustments. We'll not to the end of you know, this is the beginning of this story, at the end of it. But if this is real, if the Bradys really have found something with him, it's such it's such major news for them.

00:17:45
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's huge, man.

00:17:46
Speaker 1: I mean, we talked about big storylines in the second half of the year, Michael Harris, Jerks and pro farre Ossi, Albiz, Drake Baldwin. On the pitching side, at least in my mind, Waldrop is like one, two and three. That is, if they have a legitimate even if he is a number four starter for this team next year, that is huge because we know how good Sale and Schwellenbach are when they're healthy. Hopefully with the normal offseason Spencer Strider is better in twenty six. There's the framework for an awesome rotation next season. It's just going to be if they can avoid the injury bug and also probably add somebody to the rotation externally, who through free agency or a trade. Because God knows you can never have enough pitching. You know, Friday Night's game, offensively, there was not a whole lot. I did want to give a quick shout out to Nacho Alvarez because Nacho has had a really good last couple of weeks.

00:18:44
Speaker 3: He came up, he.

00:18:45
Speaker 1: Did not hit a thing, but Nacho's been putting the bat on the ball. He's had some doubles, which is really good to see, had a huge hit in that Mets series, had a basis loaded walk as well in the Cleveland series. And I mean shout out to Nacho. I think, I mean, where are you at with him?

00:19:00
Speaker 3: Long term?

00:19:01
Speaker 1: I kind of see a good utility player, which is not a total zero, but you know, he's at least showing things that Nacho has not really shown up until this point.

00:19:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, he kind of reminds me of Jose Pirazza. If Bras fans are old enough to remember, it was one of the bravest, better prospects, but it was at the time when the system was very bad, so you know, realistically, he was probably just more of a solid utility guy that utility all over the infield, could even potentially play outfield in an emergency. Situation, had a light bat, but you know, could field his position in and multiple positions and you can. You can play ten plus years in the league doing that. You know, every team in baseball wants a guy who can play third base, second base, first base, you know, shortstop in an emergency situation, maybe right field. Yeah, you can have a whole you know. I don't think Nacho is a like every day, you know, foundational core piece for a championship level team. But that's not the bar you have to clear to be a major leaguer. You just have to be competent in you know, certain defensive areas, take your walks, and that's something the bottom of the lineup has been doing better. The whole lineup is, in fact, but specifically the bottom of the lineup has actually been contributing to rallies by maybe just taking a walk and getting it back up to profar Olsen and Acunya. We've seen that multiple times in the last week, where like the bottom of the order like well even start a rally because even like Nick Allan's taken more walks. So yeah, I mean credit to Nacho. I think he'd be a great bench piece. I would love to have him on the If you told me right now Nacho is gonna be on the bench next year, I take an heartbeat. There's much worse guys out there than him, so credit to him. You know, he's got to get a little stronger, get a little more pop in the bat to maybe if he wants to get up to like an everyday regular type of role. But he's still young. It's not impossible that he could do that.

00:20:53
Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, curious to see how Nacha develops. It's, you know, an important time for him because he's getting regular the reps with Riley on the injured list, and it seems like Riley is probably gonna come back in a couple of weeks. But until then, and Natcho has a great opportunity ahead of him to show something, you know. Moving to Saturday, the Braves, I mean the offense went nuts ten to one win. Nice nights again at the bottom of the order. You mentioned Nick Allen. Oh gosh, is Nick Allen going to hit a home run this season?

00:21:25
Speaker 2: That was as close. I think that was as close as we were gonna get that way. If you missed it, did it hit the did it hit the wall on the fly?

00:21:34
Speaker 3: I think so yeah, I think.

00:21:36
Speaker 2: It hit the wall in the f like it was. Everybody's like, oh my god, he just barrel the ball. He just barrel the ball, and it was like just short of the you know, it's a certain amount of x of losses, a certain amount of launch angle. I don't know, it's gonna be tugh. He's such a small guy and he has such a like armsy like you know, upper upper half swing. There's not a lot of power, Like if you the funny thing is like if you look at Ronald and you look at Nick Allen, like by weight, they're actually not that far with Like Ronald is not a heavy dude, but Ronald swings with his lower half and so he can hit a ball four hundred and seventy feet and Nick Allen is very much like an duranc Rte like upper half all arms kind of a swinger, and it's just it's tough to generate any power like that, and you know, he's never gonna be part of his game. It was funny that everybody, everybody on Twitter lost their mind because everybody thought Nick Allen just barreled the ball for the first He is the only regular in baseball to not barrow the ball all season long. So that's kind of what everybody's been waiting for, is that first one.

00:22:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know it's uh, I am holding out hope that Nick Allen is going to hook a ball down the left field line at Truest Park and.

00:22:38
Speaker 2: That's what's that's what it's gonna take. He's gonna have to like ropoke one.

00:22:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe on like a hot afternoon, like a day game or something where.

00:22:45
Speaker 3: The ball is really carrying. And yeah, so we're rooting for you Nick.

00:22:47
Speaker 1: Hopefully you get one home run this season. You know, we mentioned ten runs and really the headline again Stephen Michael Harris. We have talked about Michael the last few weeks as he has just continued to just hunish the baseball. He absolutely launched a home run four hundred and fifty two feet on Saturday. That also made it eight straight multiple hit games for Michael Harris on Saturday night, which tied a Braves franchise record. It actually ended on Sunday, of course, when he had a chance to break the record. But I mean, Michael Harris, he is just hitting the ball so well.

00:23:23
Speaker 3: Right now.

00:23:24
Speaker 1: We've talked about Mike a bunch on the show. So I don't think we need to do another twenty minute deep dive on Michael Harris here, but I mean every time he comes up, it feels like something good is going to happen.

00:23:34
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:23:34
Speaker 2: What I've noticed with Mike is that his approach really hasn't changed that much, Like he's still So I had somebody tweet it me and say, are pitchers throwing Mike more strikes then in the second half and then did in the first half. So I looked it up. His zone percentage is almost exactly the same as it was in the first half. Like, pitchers aren't pitching him any different. He's he's still not taking any walks. I don't think he has a single walk in August or maybe one.

00:23:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, So his walk right in the second half is two point two percent.

00:24:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, which exactly almost maybe lower than it was in the first half. So his approach is not any different. So you're like, all right, so what's happening when Mike. When Mike gets pitches in the zone right now, he's not missing them, and that's the he's not fouling them off, he's not swinging through them, He's put them in the seats. Or put him in the gap, like he's just doing so much more damage per swing than he was in the first half. You know, he changed his hands, he changed his stance, went back to his kind of original one that he had as a rookie. And I've said, listen, we've talked about this. I don't know. I don't know what to make of it. I don't know if it's real. I don't know. I don't know if this is something you can project over a full season next year, Because that's the question everybody has. Can this dude do it for six months? Maybe not this for six months, but can you be like a serviceable hitter, like when you're when you're going through your bad spells, can you be at least serviceable and so that when you're hot, you know, now you're still an all star level player. What we can't have is like, for the first three and a half months of the year, be the worst player in baseball and then do this, And so that's that's the question everybody has. And I don't know. I have no idea. You know, I've made the joke about being Charlie Brown, like, I don't know, I really don't know what this I don't. I tend to think because it's been accompanied by like mechanical changes in his swing, that there's probably something more real about it. But honestly, until we get to the first half of next year and see what he does, I don't know how much confidence I have in it. It's unbelievable to watch right now. It's fun as hell to watch right now, but yeah, we just gotta see him do it for like six months.

00:25:40
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I mean, good luck projecting Michael Harris in twenty twenty six.

00:25:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, if you had to project Michael twenty twenty six right now, I mean, it's an impossible.

00:25:51
Speaker 3: Task, right right.

00:25:53
Speaker 1: Is he gonna revert and have the football pulled from him like you made that great analogy, or is he gonna be an honest to goodness MVP candidate if he does this for a full year.

00:26:02
Speaker 2: And that is the ceiling, Like that's how good, that's how talented this dude, Like it's like MVP level talent. Yeah, or it's like the worst hitter in baseball, Like the floors and ceiling for Michael Harris is insane.

00:26:15
Speaker 3: Yeah.

00:26:16
Speaker 1: I can't remember who of the four of us said, but as we were previewing the season, I think someone said out loud, like, if Michael Harris puts it all together, I could legitimately see him being like a top five MVP vote getter.

00:26:28
Speaker 3: In I said that.

00:26:29
Speaker 2: I said that like five times. I know it because I kept I got made fun of all the first half because Sean and I talked about it, like we like with the Couona coming back from a second acl. At one point we made the argument that Mike is the most talented player on the team, Yeah, which you know, after we watched the first half, we're like, all right, so that was the dumbest take of all time. Yeah, it's just it's watching him is crazy. It's crazy.

00:26:53
Speaker 3: Yeah, and he's so talented that you can never give up on him.

00:26:56
Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:26:57
Speaker 1: It's yeah, special player, special talent. Let's just hope he can have a good final month and a half of the season and then carry this into next next year, because God knows, the Braves need a good Michael Harris if they're going to really be a contender in twenty twenty six. All right, Stephen, let's talk about Sunday's game. The Braves wrapped up the sweep. It was not looking good. In the early going, Eric Fetti on the mound. Braves were down early. It felt like it was gonna be one of those. Okay, they got two out of three in the series. You take it, you move on. But the offense fought back. It was fun to see. I think maybe the most Jerks and Profar thing imaginable was just an awful blunder in the outfield where he dropped a relatively routine fly ball.

00:27:45
Speaker 3: I get it.

00:27:45
Speaker 1: He was trying to make the catch and then fire it in to get the runner, but he ended up dropping. It costs the Braves, but Profar did atone for it, and he hit a two run homer later in the game that would end up being the game winning homer. It was It is the Jerks and Profar experience every night. Seemingly there's something weird.

00:28:04
Speaker 3: It is what it is.

00:28:05
Speaker 1: But hey, the Braves won in Profar did have the biggest swing of the game.

00:28:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, and he missed a second homer by like a foot, Like it went foul by like a foot. He would have had a second tour on homer. I mean it's funny, you know, like in football, like in the NFL, like you have these diva wide receivers, and like your tolerance level for their nonsense is at a like a commiserate rate to their production, Like as long as they're still very good, you don't really care about the nonsense off the field. But like when you're talking about defense in the corner spots of a field, right field, left field, first base, third base, my willingness to deal with your nonsense on defense is commiserate with your offensive production. Like as long as your offense is there, I don't really care. I like, one of the worst hitters in all of baseball, right, I'm sorry, one of the worst fielders in all of baseball is Won Soda. You never hear about it because he hits like Juan Soto. Yeah, Ronald Acune Junior is not a great fielder by any metric. I don't care. He has a thousand ops most of the time. So for Jersen profar, he's got a one twenty WRC plus right now, his defense has been awful. But if you hit, I don't care about the other nonsense, Like it's just your offensive production covers up a lot. And right now he's hitting, and like you know, with Austin Riley, like it's the same thing like if Austin hits, I don't care about the defense at third base that much. Like you know, when you're playing up up the middle, when you're playing catcher, shortstop, centerfield, the defense matters a lot more at those corner spots.

00:29:40
Speaker 3: Just hit.

00:29:40
Speaker 2: I just need you to hit. And Jerkson's hitting and so you know, and the fact that he's taking walks allows the Braves to be you know, creative with their lineup about where to put Acunya. As long as he hits, I'm good.

00:29:55
Speaker 1: Yeah, because most of the time left field defense is not going too kill you. Yeah, I mean sure, all things equal, of course we want to we want gold glovers at eight spots on the diamond naturally, but it's not the case. And and then also just some weird base running too from Profar.

00:30:11
Speaker 2: He's so slow. He's like Matt Olson is gonna murder this guy, Like Matt Olson's hit multiple doubles with a with Profar on first with two out, and Profar has it come close to scoring on either one, Like yeah, it's great, it's hilarious.

00:30:27
Speaker 1: It is maybe the argument for moving Acuna up in the lineup to leadoff spot, other than being an otherworldly hitter.

00:30:34
Speaker 3: Is just Acunya speed.

00:30:35
Speaker 1: You know, if Mattilson gaps a ball, Acunya scoring.

00:30:38
Speaker 2: And one of the ones Profar didn't score on was a three to two count where he was running on the pitch and still didn't score.

00:30:45
Speaker 3: Yeah, he runs. My high school coach used to yell at me to unhook the trailer because I'm not very fast.

00:30:52
Speaker 1: I mean, when when Profar is running the bases, I'm gonna start yelling at my TV to unhook the trailer because he he's not fast.

00:30:58
Speaker 3: He looks like he's fast.

00:31:00
Speaker 2: It's just like it's the it's the skinny guy. Like you don't expect the skinny guy like you expect Brian McCann to be slow. The skinny guy slow is the one that shocks your system. You're like, what, why are you so slow?

00:31:12
Speaker 3: Bro?

00:31:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's hilarious.

00:31:14
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah.

00:31:15
Speaker 1: So seemingly every night good and bad, Profar finds a way to get himself in the mix. But hey, you said it, man, this team needs Profar to hit. Just after after the ped suspension, i mean, everybody was holding their breath because, you know, the Braves unless they're able to trade them this offseason, I don't even know if they want to. Frankly, I mean, they're married to this guy for two more seasons beyond this. And if it if his breakout last year was entirely PED fueled, I mean, that.

00:31:44
Speaker 3: Would be disastrous.

00:31:45
Speaker 1: And it seems like, even though it's only been what a month and a half of data that we've seen, it seems like Profar is going to hit enough to not turn that contract into a total albatross.

00:31:55
Speaker 2: Oh A one twenty WRC. If you told me that that's what Profar was going to do for the years, I don't care. I don't literally, I literally don't care about anything else. I'll take that right now. I don't care if he runs like a mailbox. I don't care if he's, you know, the worst defender you've ever seen. When you hit out of one of those corner spots, it covers up pretty much everything else.

00:32:17
Speaker 4: Ye.

00:32:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, it really does.

00:32:19
Speaker 1: And we'll see what the next two years hold for Profar outfield. Maybe some DH mixed in. I mean, honestly, Stephen, the DH spot this offseason is maybe like the number one storyline is what are the Braves gonna do? Because there are so many avenues this team could go probably a deeper discussion. Maybe we'll do a show sometime in September or early October, be where the off season really gets going, and really just lay out all the little pathways this team could do, because they do have some some options here coming up, you know. The only other game note, I wanted to give a big shout out to the bullpen, especially on Sunday, the group of Aaron Bummer, Dylan Pierce Johnson, and Ryce ell Iglesias covered five scoreless innings in relief of Eric Fetti made it hold up. They entered the game, the Braves were down, and they then Profar gave him the lead and they held it the last three.

00:33:12
Speaker 3: Innings, which was great to see. And I wanted to just.

00:33:15
Speaker 1: Mention Ryce ell Igalasias because this dude, ever since he had the infamous blow up against the Diamondbacks the first week of June has been like as good as he has ever been in his entire career dating back to that Diamondbacks blow up.

00:33:32
Speaker 3: Iglesias has a.

00:33:33
Speaker 1: One point six ERA, a one point eighty five FIP, a three point four x FIP, and he's pitching like someone who might be back in twenty twenty six, because God knows, Alexanthopolis loves reunion and he is pitching like the guy we have seen for years with Atlanta, even if those first couple of months were just unspeakably bad.

00:33:54
Speaker 2: And listen, I think you know, we talked about it multiple times. I don't think the Breads were willing to eat off of that money to get him on another team. There's I mean, imagine how many teams would love to have Roscio Glaciers right now? Who are you know, getting ready for the playoffs. But yeah, you're right, listen, the Braves don't have a closer lined up for next year. You know, we talked about all the different storylines for the offseason. That's another one. They don't have a They currently don't have a closer under contract for next year. Obviously. I Glaciers is a free agent. Joejomenez, who is kind of signed to be the primary setup man, has missed the entire season with the knee injury. He recently got shut down again because the knee wasn't you know, doing exactly what they wanted to do. We'll see how serious that is. They need a closer, I mean, and you know it's gonna be interesting to see the manager. Who the manager is like old school, news school, like Brian Snicker kind of manager. They want a closer, they want to set it and forget it every single time closer. They want a traditional closer. And that's been a spot that really has maintained itself even in the analytical modern game, like most teams still have closers. So that's going to be fast, Like what do the Braves do with that spot? And yeah, you're right, I mean, if he keeps pitching like this, it won't be at seventeen million a year, which is what he's making now. But I would not be stunned. Nobody would be stunned if they, you know, at some point called him up and say, hey, let's run it back on a one year deal.

00:35:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, you took the words out of my mouth. I mean another one year deal seems. And if Joe Jimenez is healthy next season, that is an obvious.

00:35:32
Speaker 3: Kind of backup plan for closure. But that's easier said than done.

00:35:36
Speaker 1: And it will be eighteen months since Joe Jimenez was on a mound and pitching at a high level. And then you know, it's our it's our podcast. Specialty that bullpens are volatile year over year, and and but yeah, I mean I think I think bullpen is very interesting going into next season. Not the priority for me anyway, but there's some real questions here about you know, do they do they run it back with this group and then just hope with a healthy Jimenez and bring back Iglasias for one more year, or do they kind of shuffle the deck a little bit and see what they want to do? You know, Steven, that was really it from the weekend.

00:36:12
Speaker 3: I mean, man, a good sweep of a decent Guardians team.

00:36:17
Speaker 1: I don't want to pretend like they just went into you know, La or New York and swept one of the better rosters in the game, but I mean, overall, just did an.

00:36:25
Speaker 3: Encouraging week from the Braves.

00:36:28
Speaker 1: We talked at the top, they're still probably dead, but.

00:36:31
Speaker 3: It's fun to see this team play well.

00:36:33
Speaker 1: And I mean it's been few and far between that we can say this team played three complete, across the board good games at any point this season.

00:36:42
Speaker 2: Well, and you saw the variety too, Like Hurst and Waldrip pitched a gym. They want a low scoring, close game on Friday. Offense exploded. They blew them, blew them out on Saturday, and then they needed a comeback on Sunday to win, you know, another close game. So you saw the full variety. You know. Now we got Spencer Strider going against the White Sox starting tomorrow or Tuesday, I can't remember.

00:37:03
Speaker 3: With Monday.

00:37:04
Speaker 1: Yeah, series starts against the White Sox Monday.

00:37:06
Speaker 2: So obviously every Spencer Strider start is going to be notable until we get to the winter and even into next year. You know what he looks like. But yeah, I mean this is this is you know, this is their first five game winning streak of the season. Is what they just did. I mean literally the best they played all year. So it is it is bittersweet that it's happening when they're their playoff odds are sub one percent. But you know, and there's this entire subset of fans who are mad because they don't want wins right now. They want losses. They want draft position. I don't know where you stand. I'm I'm really not all that interested in like just tanking just because the draft doesn't work the same way. But I get it. Listen, I understand people who are who are not all that excited about winning games, but I still think it's fun. I still want to win games I had. More specifically, I want to see guys who are still under contract for next year have success, which leads to wins. So yeah, it was a really fun week.

00:38:06
Speaker 1: I find myself caring more about storylines than wins and losses. Yeah, and all things equal, of course, I want the best chance at the most draft money and the highest slot and everything like that. But I'm not losing sleep, you know, like the difference between the having the fifth best odds and the seventh best odds at the lottery in December in a draft like baseball. I mean sure, if this was an NFL team who was desperate for a quarterback, it's different, right, Or if it's basketball and you have a generational player going one to one, of course it's a little different. But I mean, more than likely, the Braves are going to take a player and we'll be excited for twenty four hours and then we'll say, okay, hopefully in twenty twenty nine, this guy's you know, playing and contributing every night, and it's just such a different game than the other professional sports you mentioned. Stephen on Monday Night, the Braves will kick off game homestand against the God help them. The Chicago White Sox. It's gonna be Spencer Strider on Monday night. Hopefully Spencer can kind of get back on track because the last handful of starts have been really bad. And then Bryce Elder on Tuesday night. Everybody say a prayer. But then Hirston Waldrip on Wednesday. So if you're in the area and maybe you feel like checking out some baseball, no Waldrop Man. That is in my opinion anyway, Hurston Waldrip Day is the most fun.

00:39:29
Speaker 3: Day with this rotation.

00:39:31
Speaker 2: Right now, I gotta, I gotta stat for you.

00:39:34
Speaker 3: Okay, let's do it.

00:39:35
Speaker 2: The Atlanta Braves in the second half as a team have a one to ten WRC plus as a team that is good for sixth best in baseball, just above them at fifth best in baseball with a one to twelve WRC plus in the second half the Chicago White Sox. So the White Sox cannot pitch. They have no pitching. They get lit up every night, but they can't hit. They do have some young hitters. Colson Montgomery has come up and hit like twelve or thirteen homers in his rookie year. So I know it's the White Sox and people think, well, Spencer Strider should just you know, just mow through these dudes. It's not gonna be quite that easy. They've actually been one of the hottest offenses in baseball in the second half. They have not won a lot because they can't pitch, but for Strider, for Waldrop, like, they're still major league kidders, and they've been pretty They've done pretty well in the second half of the season. So yeah, I think normally you would say, go win two out of three with the Braves are right now, you're honest to god, probably need a sweep, but win two out of three and see what happens.

00:40:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, hey, man, if they sweep the White Sox the next three games.

00:40:53
Speaker 3: I feel like we're doing ourselves in.

00:40:55
Speaker 1: And again, I promise you, Steven and I are not sitting here saying to go pre order your playoff tickets. We are not saying that. But it's gonna be funny.

00:41:04
Speaker 2: If there's we need one more week, you need another week of like what they just did, where they sweep one of these series and take two out of three from the other. The conversation we're having at the beginning of next week. That's when it might get a little interesting. But right now is still no hope, no hope.

00:41:22
Speaker 1: And at the very least we can make the New York Mets sweat a little bit more so. The Braves are off on Thursday after the series with Chicago and then three games at home against the Mets. The Mets have their issues. Braves just took two out of three with Elder and Carrosco starting then series. So anytime we can make life a little more difficult for the Mets and their fans, let's do it, and.

00:41:44
Speaker 3: Let's hope for another fun week.

00:41:45
Speaker 1: And I think I think at some point, Stephen, the lights are really gonna turn off. They're gonna have a bad forty eight seventy two hours and we're gonna go, Okay, now it's like really really over and let's actually start thinking about next season. But until it comes, I'm just kind of along for the right and enjoying the wins whenever we can get them.

00:42:03
Speaker 2: Yep, I agree, one hundred percent. I think at some point the rug is gonna get pulled. It might beat this series against the White Sox, but until then, we're gonna enjoy it, because what else is there to do. We're gonna talk about it, We're gonna have fun with it. Still a lot of storylines to follow, Like Scott was saying, storylines are probably way more important than wins and losses right now anyways, so we'll be here to cover it.

00:42:25
Speaker 3: I agree entirely. We will be here.

00:42:28
Speaker 1: Maybe Brad Rowland, we'll travel back across the pond and get back on the show. Of course, we have a lot of shows with Brad, yourself, my law partner, Sean Coleman.

00:42:39
Speaker 3: Of course we'll.

00:42:41
Speaker 1: Have fun these last six weeks, win to lose, We'll find things to talk about as always, Stephen, any final thoughts here before we sign off for this Sunday edition of the Hammer Territory podcast.

00:42:51
Speaker 2: They just went on Sundays now, I get what is that? Is it three Sundays in a.

00:42:55
Speaker 3: Row or technically three in a row?

00:42:57
Speaker 1: I know there was a lot of back and forth about the games in Bristol, but it's at least two legitimate Sunday wins in a row, and we're calling it three wins in a row.

00:43:06
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, Brad being out of town right now, it's hilarious. Because I'm I'm I'm pinch hitting on one of the few sundays that the Braves actually won a game. So yeah, I mean, it's fun. It's fun right now. I'm gonna enjoy the hell of it. I like, I can't wait for the game tomorrow. That's where I am right now, and I didn't think I'd be saying that two weeks ago. It's just more fun. Chris Dale is gonna come back at some point, Austin Riley's probably gonna come back at some point. I'm gonna have fun with it and we'll see how long it goes. Probably get the rug pulled here pretty soon, but until then, it's gonna be it's fun to follow the team.

00:43:39
Speaker 3: He is Stephen Tolbert. I am Scott Coleman.

00:43:41
Speaker 1: A big thank you again to everybody for checking out the show, and we will see everybody next time.