5 Atlanta Braves to blame for the most mediocre of Mays

The Atlanta Braves have one of the more talented MLB rosters across the entire league. Their lineup is loaded with All-Stars and it's led to quite the regular season success over the past few seasons. Their success also includes a World Series win a few seasons ago.

But May of 2024 has hardly been mediocre in Atlanta. In fact, through 20 games, Atlanta is 9-11. They've lost series to the Pirates, Dodgers and Padres, with the Dodgers and Padres series' resulting in Atlanta being swept.

With this kind of struggle, the blame has to fall somewhere. Actually, the blame in this situation falls on plenty of players on the roster, including some of the team's biggest superstars.

1. Ronald Acuña's continued struggles helped lead to a mediocre May for Atlanta

It's hard to mention the Atlanta Braves without mentioning Ronald Acuña Jr. in the same breath. As Acuña goes, so do the Braves. When the Braves win 100 games, Acuña is placed front and center as the reason why. Likewise, when the Braves lose 11 of 20 games, Acuña has to take some of the blame.

Over the month of May, Acuña is slashing .247/.322/.407 with a mediocre .730 OPS. For plenty of guys, these numbers would be fine, but for Acuña, they are far from it. Last season, Acuña got on base at over a 40% clip and held an OPS over 1.000. He stole 73 bases, but in May, he's only swiped three bases.

His struggles have been quite apparent, with his tremendous production missing from the lineup. It'll be hard for Atlanta to push through the struggles with Acuña also in a tailspin.

2. Matt Olson's mediocre month is to blame for the Braves May struggles

As the Braves win and loss with Acuña, they do the same with their slugging first baseman, Matt Olson. Olson has been putrid all season for Atlanta, hitting below .220 for most of the season.

Olson, once a threat to hit 50 home runs in a campaign, has just seven bombs on the year with four of those coming in May. In comparison, the Yankees' slugger Aaron Judge has four home runs in his last four games.

The Braves desperately need Olson to break out of this slump. Four home runs and one double across an entire calendar month isn't going to cut it for a former MVP candidate. The Braves won't be as successful as they want to be if Olson holds an OPS of .724, like he did in May.

3. Ozzie Albies' horrible May is to blame for the Braves struggles

During the month of May, Ozzie Albies hasn't just been one of the worst hitters in the Braves lineup, but he's been one of the worst qualified hitters in the game. Over 83 May at bats, the infielder is slashing .193/.261/.253.

Albies's struggles haven't been limited to one aspect of offense. He isn't hitting for average or power. He's not getting on base and when he does get on base, he isn't stealing bases. Albies has just one stolen base and three extra base hits on the month.

Ozzie Albies has been one of the worst hitters on the Braves roster this month. He's still an incredible talent and the Braves need him to break out of this slump as soon as humanly possible.

4. Bryce Elder's disaster stretch of starts is to blame for multiple May losses

So far, the Braves' starting rotation has been the most impressive aspect of their entire team. Well, their top four starters have. Bryce Elder, on the other hand, has struggled.

Elder's month of May was so horrible across three starts that he was sent back down to Triple-A following his third start. In three starts, Elder tossed 11.2 innings, allowing 23 hits, four home runs and 15 earned runs. The Braves went 0-3 in these three games, with Elder receiving the loss in two of the games.

This is quite a surprising turn of events for a pitcher that was selected to the All-Star team a season ago. At just 25 years old, Elder has the time and ability to figure it out, but his struggles have definitely not helped the Braves during their mediocre May.

5. Orlando Arcia's slump is to blame for Braves mediocre May

While there are a ton of Braves to blame for this terrible month, Orlando Arcia may be having the worst month of all of them. On April 27, Arcia was hitting nearly .310. Since then, the All-Star shortstop is 15 for 88, including beign 15 for 77 in the month of May.

Over the month, Arcia is slashing .195/.213/.377 with two walks and 17 strikeouts. He's driven in eight runs and has lowered his season OPS to .667.

Atlanta will need some of these star players to turn their seasons around following these horrible May's. It's hard to imagine Atlanta continuing to struggle like this, but with the way that the Phillies are playing, Philadelphia could run away with the division if Atlanta isn't careful.