3 Braves on thin ice with team’s cold start to August
The Atlanta Braves have looked far from the juggernaut they were through the first four months so far in August, and these players deserve some blame.
In the grand scheme of things, the Atlanta Braves are fine. Sitting at 72-41, they have the best record in baseball and a 10-game lead over the Phillies in the NL East. They’re a virtual lock to make the playoffs and should be able to contend for a World Series… as long as they don’t keep playing like they have at the start of August.
The Braves started out August with three straight wins, two over the Angels and taking their series-opener against the Cubs 8-0. But the wheels have fallen off by the standards for Brian Snitker’s team since then, going 2-4 with a pair of losses in Chicago and then splitting a four-game series to the lowly Pirates, punctuated by a 7-5 loss on Thursday.
Over the course of a 162-game season, there are bound to be poor stretches. When you look at this cold start to the August for the Braves, that’s likely the case as well. However, there are some players who are on thin ice for how they’ve negatively contributed to this skid. They won’t be released or anything of that nature, but the pressure should be mounting for these three players to get right — and do it soon to get out of this slump.
Braves: 3 players on thin ice after cold start to August
3. Sean Murphy has fallen out of All-Star form
Coming over from Oakland in an offseason trade, Braves catcher Sean Murphy made his first career All-Star appearance this season as the starter for the National League, and deservedly so. With his two-way ability and increase in his production at the plate from his time with the A’s, he’s been arguably the best catcher in MLB overall this season.
That has been decidedly less the case at the start of August, however.
Making six appearances in August, Murphy has been struggling quite a bit overall, slashing just .222/.364/.389 with only one extra-base hit and three RBI over that span. Though it’s more than just August, over the last month, he’s hitting a measly .143 with a .487 OPS. And those numbers are even a bit inflated by the fact that the Braves catcher has already started to turn it around a bit lately with hits in his last four games.
Having said that, the Braves have Murphy hittng after the elite heart of the order in Atlanta when he’s in the lineup. And for him to have taken such a dip in terms of his hitting has been detrimental to the offense. Now, it might not be as problematic if it weren’t for other issues that we’ll touch on shortly, but it’s been noticeable because, after all, this is a player who is Top 10 in baseball with an .899 OPS overall this season.
As stated, Murphy is showing some signs of snapping out of it lately, which is good. But he needs to get all the way back to the way he was performing prior to the All-Star break if the Braves are going to return to being nearly unbeatable, which is the expectation they set early in the season.