ATLANTA — The Braves’ 61 home runs in June were impressive enough considering it was four more than the previous National League record by a team in a calendar month. But what made batting even more encouraging for Braves coach and manager Brian Snitker was this: The home runs came with a sustained decline in strikeouts.
The Braves hit 14 more home runs than any other MLB team in June while averaging a .372 OBP that was 25 points better than the second-highest, and although they hit 176 strikeouts, they represented their lowest tally in the month’s majors .
“If you look back at some of these good Astros teams — let’s face it, they’re still good — but in their heyday a few years ago, they led the league in home runs and had the fewest strikeouts,” said Chipper Jones, the legendary former Braves hitter who is now the hitting advisor for the team. “It’s a deadly combination, especially considering the pitching they’ve had in recent years.
“That’s exactly what I compare this offensive to. It might be a bit biased to say this, but I think they’re better. These (Braves) are better. They do it to the nth degree.”
After the Braves hit five runs in the first inning and hit six homers in Friday’s opening game of the series, going 16-4 against the Marlins on the final day of June, the Braves opened July in a similar vein, with back-to-back homers from Ronald Acuña Jr. and Ozzie Albies turned heads A six-run first inning on Saturday in a 7-0 win that extended Atlanta’s winning streak to seven games and gave the Braves a league-best 55-27 record with 15 wins in their last 16 games.
They opened an eight-game lead in the NL East over the second-seeded Marlins, who have 8-1 against the Braves and 47-28 against everyone else. Marlins rookie Eury Perez started with a scoreless 21-inning streak, a 5-1 record and a 1.34 ERA, including a 0.27 ERA in his last six starts. The young right-hander retired with a 2.47 ERA after recording just one out and conceding six runs and seven hits, including two home runs and three doubles.
Something like that can happen against these Braves, who have two six-homer games this season against the Marlins — no other MLB team has multiple six-homer games, period — and the Majors with 155 homers, including 29 in the first inning , quote Homer. They’ve hit five or more runs in the first innings of three of their last eight games against teams (Reds, Marlins) who had winning streaks prior to the Atlanta game.
“What we’re doing, I’ve never seen anything like this, this first-inning thing,” Snitker said. “It just speaks to the individual sluggers and how focused those guys are. A lot of these guys never throw one away, and they grind with the bats every time. I think all the runs and damage we do is a byproduct of that.”
The Braves’ first-inning offense is plundering pitchers at an historic pace, with more runs (87), hits (121) and home runs in the opening inning than any other MLB team has scored in any inning this season. They are on pace with 171 carries in the first inning, which would surpass the Boston Red Sox’s 1950 MLB record (160 in 145 games) and smash the Atlanta record (127 in 1999).
No team had hit more than 31 first-inning homers before August, and the Braves have three fewer than 32 and have to spend most of July doing it.
“I mean, it’s ridiculous to see what they’ve done, especially over the last month,” said Braves veteran Charlie Morton, who allowed four hits and a walk with five strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings on Saturday. “I think if you play long enough – I’ve seen enough where not much really surprises me anymore.” But that’s pretty ridiculous. To see a guy (Pérez) get out of there — this guy is sitting at 98-100mph and they’re hitting the ball one shot at a time. I don’t think they beat anyone in the first inning and we did hit six runs.
“I mean, that was ridiculous. The last few days to watch them…”
It’s not often that Morton, 39, is at a loss for words, but he kept searching for words to complete his thoughts on the Braves’ offense.
“I’ve watched guys try to hit home runs and get the run on the ball, especially during BP,” Morton said. “Pro guys can do it, but at the same time you have to watch the guys go up there – guy after guy after guy after guy – and beat a guy who’s throwing 100mph, who’s a really good one pitch has. … There’s a reason (the Marlins) won games and a reason they came to this park for the series feeling good. They play well, they throw well. And watching the guys do it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before.”
With 155 home runs, Atlanta topped every other team by 25 ahead of Saturday’s late games and hit 306 home runs. The MLB single-season record is 307 for the 2019 Twins.
The other two teams that were among the three lowest strikeout totals in June, the Nationals (176) and Yankees (181), combined hit 50 home runs during the month — 11 fewer than the Braves in June. This comes after Atlanta had the second most home runs (51) while also having the 11th fewest strikeouts (232) in May in the majors.
The Braves finished the 2022 season with the second most homers in the majors (243) but also had the second most strikeouts (1,498). Their trend toward even more home runs and significantly fewer strikeouts this year has excited many in the organization.
“Boys are maturing, getting older and sort of growing into their game,” Snitker said. “They are another year older and more experienced. That has a lot to do with it.”
According to Fangraphs, the Braves shot outside the strike zone 34.8 percent last season, the third-highest rate in the majors, lower than just the Tigers and White Sox. But this season, the Braves’ 33.0 percent pursuit rate is better than nine teams, and their 32.7 percent mark in June was better than ten teams including the Astros (33.5) and Rays (34.6).
“We don’t hunt that much,” Snitker said. “You’re talking about a bunch of young people who aren’t where they want to be yet. I think with more shots and more experience you’ll probably see continual improvement in all of them. Pretty talented people. The more you do it, the better you get at it, and they’re doing it a lot more now.”
For example, Austin Riley, who in 2022 shot 34.5 percent of shots outside of the shot zone, has reduced that to 29.4 percent this season. Acuna rose from 28.5 percent last season to 27.2 this year and Michael Harris II from 41.7 last season to 39.1. Even some older Braves have reduced their pursuit rate, including Marcell Ozuna, who swung outside the zone 36.1 percent of shots a year ago and is at 30.7 percent this season.
The powerful offense has helped the Braves win 22 of their last 25 games and carried the team to 108 wins, which would set a franchise record. That mark is held by the 1998 Braves, who went 106-56.
The Braves have had just three games with fewer than four runs since the 5-2 win in Arizona on June 3. Five Braves were in the top 17 in the NL in the OPS in June, led by Eddie Rosario (1.115) and Acuña (1.112). , who were first and second in the league and each hit nine home runs during the month. Matt Olson led the league in home runs (11) and RBIs (25) in June.
After moving up the batting order from second to fifth, Olson averaged .333 with 10 homers and 22 RBIs in his last 13 games in June.
“I don’t mind where I’m in the order if you have the depth that we have,” Olson said. “I consider myself a guy who’s going to be riding in runs and when 7, 8 and 9 (in order) come on base the same way as 1, 2, 3, there really isn’t a specific spot that you really go to looks for. I think it worked out pretty well. You’ve got the speed of Ronald and Ozzie at the front on base and it’s going pretty well for us.”
Riley said he felt the offensive picked up steam in early June.
“Up until then, I always felt like we just didn’t fit together, and I think we’re getting there right now,” he said. “And it is fun. Like Oly said, one through nine doesn’t matter – any point in the game, any situation, whoever’s up there, you like it.”
Snitker was asked in late May if he had any inclination that his team was about to generate such an overwhelming offensive boost.
“You never know,” he said. “You’re hoping you’ve played enough by the end of May for things to get going, maybe that will define your path. They don’t sit there and think we’re going to do what we just did. You just go out and do it and you don’t really think about it when you’re living it. Then the month is over and you look back and think, “Holy cow, that was pretty good.” But see you tomorrow.”
(Photo by Ronald Acuna Jr. and Marcell Ozuna: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)