The Atlanta Braves split this week’s slate of games, ending a rain-soaked weekend with a victory in the MLB Speedway Classic on Sunday after the game was suspended on Saturday night due to a rain that was as unrelenting as this season’s injury bug.
Atlanta won two-out-of-three against the Cincinnati Reds after dropping their prior series with the Kansas City Royals. The week saw both Ronald Acuña, Jr. and Austin Riley go down with injuries while the team shuffled their bullpen and rotation despite making only one minor deal at the trade deadline.
This week did see several Braves make their debut with the team – or their season debut – and help the team pick-up a couple of wins. So, in a year where nothing is going right for the team, a non-losing week is a positive.
The offense found signs of life, scoring double-digit runs in a game twice this week. Michael Harris II, Ozzie Albies, Drake Baldwin, Marcell Ozuna and Sunday’s hero Eli White all had highly productive weeks at the plate. Ozuna, White and Riley each popped two home runs while White paced the offense with seven RBI.
On the mound, Hurston Waldrep had his best outing after being thrust into action on Sunday, tossing 5.2 innings of one-run ball. Relievers Pierce Johnson and Raisel Iglasias, neither of whom were traded in a somewhat surprising non-move at the trade deadline, were both nails during the week out of the team’s bullpen.
This week’s choice for Battery Power Braves Player of the Week was one of the more difficult decisions of the season.
White, who was pressed into service when Acuña, Jr. landed on the IL with a calf strain, powered the Braves to victory at Bristol Motor Speedway. Harris II and Albies both seem to be returning to form after a dreadful first four months of the season. Waldrep not only picked up his first MLB win, but saved the Braves bullpen with the team about to play eight games in seven days.
In the end, this week’s Player of the Week goes to a pitcher who, like Waldrep, was once a top pitching prospect in the Braves’ system.
Battery Power Braves Player of the Week: Joey Wentz
When Atlanta picked up Joey Wentz off waivers from the Minnesota Twins on July 11, the 6’5” left-hander seemed to be just another disposable arm to soak up some innings before being designated for assignment.
Since debuting with the Detroit Tigers in 2022, Wentz had largely struggled in more than 100 big league games. But, the 27-year-old former first round pick of the Braves seems to have found a little magic since returning to Atlanta.
In his fourth game – and third start – for Atlanta, he faced a Royals team that had scored 16 runs in the prior two games against the Braves and held them in check.
It what was possibly the best start of his career, Wentz allowed only one hit and struck out seven in 6.2 innings in the rubber game of the series. Unfortunately for him, Atlanta’s offense was shut-out and the team lost in extra innings, but it was Wentz’s longest outing of the year and tied his career best, going back to September 9, 2022.
Wentz tossed 95 pitches, using his cutter 43 times against Kansas City while getting 13 whiffs from Royals batters. He’s allowed only three runs in 18 innings since joining Atlanta, striking out 21.
Is this just a good stretch of games from Wentz before he reverts to the form he’s shown during his past three big league stops? Or have their Braves found something in their former 40th overall pick of the 2016 draft?
Time will tell, but last week, his start was good enough to earn him the Battery Power Braves Player of the Week.
