As the Braves Turn

What are your thoughts on the Braves? They are 10-7 in their last 17 games – a winning percentage of .588%. Won 5 out of their last six. All without Acuna and their free agent outfielder. Two of their best starting pitchers have each only pitched in one game. Maybe it was too early to panic after all.

You can’t parent every child exactly the same way. Same with ballplayers. Its easy from the outside looking in to say what should happen - but we don’t know each player’s personality, their strengths and weaknesses, their motivations, whether or not they’re hurt, etc. Many factors go into each decision. Players don’t all blossom at the same time. Look at Evan Gattis. Greg Maddux and Phil Niekro didn’t have the same  natural talent as Pedro Martinez or Randy Johnson, but got far more results out of their ability.

Kelenic didn’t hustle. Was it the first time? Is he frustrated about his hitting? What does he need to perform his best? Perhaps what works best for Kelenic is different than for Acuna. Acuna is 27 years old. In seven years he’s only played 119 games two times. Snitker has been a coach and manager for 40 years. He’s around these guys every day. I’ll give Snit the benefit of the doubt.

Francoeur berated Acuna for throwing his teammate under the bus. Where was Acuna encouraging his teammates during the losing streak? Who was first out of the dugout when the Marlins beaned Acuna? It was Snitker. Acuna wasn’t pulled every time he didn’t hustle. He wasn’t taken out the first time he didn’t hustle. For sure Snitker had a talk with Kelenic. In private. Acuna should be happy every conversation isn’t played out in the media. So many fans don’t understand this.

That said, when a player and team are struggling and you see them not hustling, its frustrating to see. As a player when the hits aren’t falling in, oftentimes even when you hit it good they often seem to be right at someone, or a defender will make a great catch, or the borderline calls seem to always go the other way. The Braves have the analytics to see when these things are happening. They got loads more info than what I see.

Makes you think though, that the Braves would sure hate to have to fire Snitker in the middle of the season. You wonder if he may step down at the end of this season. We’ll see.

Will took Millie to today’s victory. Braves may have never lost a game that Millie has attended.

Will was talking about that Ozuna bobblehead. For the most part I’ve retired from the bobblehead world, but can get them when needed. Last Saturday I was going to the Gwinnett game anyway and it just happened to be a bobblehead game. Ozuna is a Wednesday and my small group will be meeting. But I might be able to swing a deal to get one. Don’t pay more than $40 for the Ozuna, including shipping. I am going to see what kind of deal that I can swing. Might be able to trade a bobblehead that I have sitting around for an Ozuna. Lots of time before May 14th.

Hawks fired their GM. Looks like their draft pick may be in the running for rookie of the year, but he should be in the running, since he was the #1 pick. For last Friday night’s game the Hawks offered me free tickets. The Atlanta Dream had also offered me free tickets to a recent game. I saw where Caitlin Clark was at a recent Indiana Pacers game, wearing a yellow Pacers t-shirt.

JULIO FRANCO [SABR Bio] is the first Texas Ranger to lead the majors in hitting. Franco hit .341 in 1991. Michael Young (.331 in 2005) and Josh Hamilton (.359 in 2010) have joined him. Franco was the first Dominican to be named MVP of the All Star Game, in 1990 at Wrigley Field. Pedro Martinez (1999), Alfonso Soriano (2004), Miguel Tejada (2005), Melky Cabrera (2012), and Robinson Cano (2017) have since been the ASG MVP. He was the first Cleveland Indian since Hall of Famer Earl Averill in 1929-34 to collect 180 hits in three consecutive seasons. Franco had 188, 183, & 183 in 1984-86. Averill did it for the first six seasons to start his career.