The Atlanta Braves will be taking on the New York Mets after failing to secure a series victory against the last place Marlins.
The Braves did sweep the Mets less than a week ago and it was because the offense came alive and the bullpen came in clutch. It is clear that the key to victory is that the offense needs to come alive yet again.
The offense has struggled mightily at times in the month of June outside of the few obvious players. Austin Riley has had a 80 wRC+, Eli White has a 58, Ozzie Albies has a 49, Marcell Ozuna has a 48, Nick Allen has a 46, Alex Verdugo has a 38, Michael Harris II has a 33, and Sean Murphy has a 27.
Needless to say, outside of Ronald Acuña Jr., Matt Olson, and Drake Baldwin, the offense has struggled mightily. Fortunately, the Braves’ pitching staff has the tenth best ERA in MLB, and best xFIP. It should be noted that these outputs will likely take a hit with Chris Sale being out.
Drake Baldwin seems to be getting the Lion’s share of starts lately at the catcher position and it also appears that Verdugo has been getting the starts against righties. Trend analysis would say we would likely see Verdugo and Baldwin get the start again, but outside of Sale starts it is hard to predict which catcher will start beyond an educated guess.
Our questions on who would start has been answered and it turns out the trends were not followed today and it makes sense. Murphy needs to get some playing time and Verdugo has been struggling mightily. Murphy will be batting sixth and Eli White will get the start and bat eighth.
Alex Verdugo leads the team with twelve ABs against Paul Blackburn with twelve and has been successful with a .333 average and .833 OPS, but he will not be getting the start. This is likely due to his recent struggles. No other player has more than four ABs against Blackburn. Albies has a 2.500 OPS against him, Murphy has 2.000, Acuña has a 1.833, and Riley has a 1.417.
Spencer Schwellenbach will face the Mets with no player having more than twelve ABs against him. Nimmo leads the Mets with twelve ABs but he has yet to get on base against him. Last time Schwellenbach faced the Mets Juan Soto had a solo shot and Tyrone Taylor had a HR and a double against him.
Schwellenbach’s rival from last game has moved up to hit seventh. Baty will be getting the start at third base. He has never faced Schwellenbach before.
First pitch is at 7:10 p.m. EDT
