ATLANTA — For weeks of hitting so many tape-measure homers and hitting runs at such a dizzying pace, the hard-hitting Braves can be forgiven for looking a little sluggish with the bats much of the time in Wednesday’s series finale against the Twins. The game started at midday and was played with temperatures reaching 90 degrees in the late innings.
The Braves scored enough points to win 3-0 in Kolby Allard’s first MLB start since 2021. It was their 13th win in 14 games and gave them a record 20-4 in June, one point shy of the Atlanta-era winning record in any month. With one game left in June, the Braves can level on Friday at home to the greatly improved Marlins, who have the third-best record in the National League.
The Braves have the best record in the NL by a wide margin, and their massive offense is the main reason for that. It’s a lineup that hitting coach Kevin Seitzer is proud of, whose nine seasons in that position with the Braves is the longest of any hitting coach on his current MLB team.
Just don’t expect Seitzer to puff out his chest and take credit for overwhelming success this season or point the finger at anyone when the team crumbles.
#Braves 3-0 win, improving to 20-4 in June, a win that equals the Atlanta-era franchise record for wins in any month. Beat the Twins and won 13 of 14. Atlanta is 53-27.
— David O’Brien (@DOBrienATL) June 28, 2023
He’s a straight-forward shooter who honestly judges every hitter, whether they’re sagging or rising, but doesn’t claim to have a great formula or try to get a hitter to conform to a typical swing or stance. He differs from some notable hitting coaches of the recent past, who usually excelled before eventually getting fired or slacking off. These periods of success can usually be traced back to one or more hit stars. But we digress.
What makes Seitzer so good at his job?
“Knowing when it’s the right time to say something to someone or just let yourself be yourself, give and take what you’re comfortable with,” said Braves center fielder Michael Harris. “He’s not really forcing anything on a player or just trying to create an immediate change. Just feel a little inside yourself and choose the right time to say something when it is necessary.”
Seitzer also won’t try to impress by downplaying esoteric analysis to sound like he knows more than the person he’s talking to, although he usually knows more, at least when it comes to hitting. Seitzer and top assistant Bobby Magallanes are joined at home games by Hall of Famer Chipper Jones, a Braves advisor, and the trio have the most polished stats and use them regularly.
But that doesn’t mean those three batsmen have to overwhelm them with those stats. Selective use, largely left to the batsman. The Braves have a top-notch analysis department and every imaginable metric is available to any hitter who wants it. But Seitzer doesn’t force it on them.
“On a day where there’s an analysis and a number for everything, they’re more of an old-school team — which I think is good,” said Braves first baseman Matt Olson, who hit his 26th home run on Wednesday scored in NL top performance and so did an RBI double. “I think you can get a little too far into the other things, and for a hitting coach, one of the best things is to keep it simple.”
Seitzer said: “The analysis is only part of it. It’s part of the package, it’s not the bulk of the package. Because every guy is different, so is every pitcher we deal with. And depending on what mental and emotional state a player is in, how they see the ball, where they swing, what their timing is – there are so many variables that play into the direction we’re going to go.”
The Braves have produced one of baseball’s best offenses every year for the past few years — they’re leading this season by most statistical standards — with a lineup that rotates multiple times from season to season. The Braves have now reached new heights despite losing free agents Freddie Freeman after the 2021 season and Dansby Swanson last winter.
Austin Riley was a mainstay, 2021 Silver Slugger Award winner and 2022 All-Star, hitting 71 home runs and 200 RBIs over those two seasons. But he’s hardly immune to dips, having endured one of the worst of his career earlier this season. Meanwhile, Riley appreciated both the patience of Braves manager Brian Snitker, who stuck by him mid-order, and Seitzer for never pressuring.
After hitting .200 with three extra base hits and an OPS of .563 in a 17-game period ending May 16, Riley hit .301 with 16 in his last 37 games before Wednesday extra base hits and an OPS of .861.
“I try to keep things as simple as possible,” Riley said. “And (Seitzer) isn’t pushy at all. And I think what I appreciate is that when things aren’t going well, he doesn’t hit the panic button and try to figure things out. It’s like he lets you do your thing. Every hitter is different and they have their own methods that work for them. It allows you to navigate this in your own way. I know I appreciate that. Because just working with Brum (former Braves minor league hitting coach Mike Brumley, who Riley still talks to about hitting) and all of that (Seitzer) was very good.”
Harris experienced the worst downturn of his baseball life earlier this season, just prior to and five weeks after his stint in IL with a back injury. He reached .147 with an OPS of .459 in a 34-game stretch through June 6th. Snitker stayed with him and Seitzer worked with him on a daily basis.
In 20 games since June 7, Harris has hit .434 (33 of 76) with 12 extra base hits, including five home runs, and an OPS of nearly 1,200.
“[Seitzer]is going to say what he’s seeing, and with that information, you’re both going to go into the cage and try to make a correction or try to figure out the problem or its cause,” Harris said. “Yeah, he’s not really trying to change you, but he’s giving you whatever information he thinks you need. I don’t think we necessarily knew exactly what it was, but then Mags (Magallanes) told me I was just pretty late (late on the field) and lately I’ve been on time and hit harder and get the hits out.”
Harris said the Seitzer-Magallanes tandem was thorough and easy to work with.
“They both have a good sense of the swing,” said Harris, who also enjoyed tips from Jones, who often watches from the stands after changing uniforms after working with batsmen before the game. “He has season tickets and sits right next to our bench. So he’s really close and he can see, and he’s down there telling us what he sees. I mean having three heads looking at a swing and noticing something – and most of the time they all see the same thing, which is good.
“And when a Hall of Famer sees you and tries to make the correction, a guy who hit the 300 mark for his career — yeah, that’s huge too.”
Players say they love Kevin Seitzer’s approach to coaching because it leaves room for individuality. (Sam Navarro / USA Today)
Seitzer, 61, was a .295 career hitter and two-time All-Star during his 12-year MLB playing career through 1997. He finished as a 1987 American League Rookie of the Year runner-up with Kansas City — George Brett was a mentor — after he hit .323 with a league-high of 207 hits, including 56 extra base hits (eight triples, 15 homers) and an .869 OPS.
He has struggled with injuries for most of his career and was less than two weeks away from the dugout a couple of years ago following emergency hip replacement surgery mid-season. There is no doubt about its toughness. But he’s approachable and friendly, and players say he’s easy to be with. Important given how attached they are to him.
Seitzer knows firsthand what it takes to weather long seasons and the frustration of crises. Due to his decades of work as a coach after his playing career, he has a good sense of how to deal with individuals, with the keyword being individuality.
“You can’t be standard players because they’re all different,” he said. “Different mentalities, different mechanics, different movements, different strengths and weaknesses. You just want to try and empower them to give them the best chance of success. The most important thing is our game plan and our approach to each pitcher. And then it’s from a swing standpoint — the mechanics, the moves — it’s about trying to get them into a position where the run is in the zone for a long time. So you have a chance to put the thick part of the racket on it. They have a long swing, but it’s still short and compact – just what batsmen want to be.”
The prolific offense has helped the Braves overcome a string of injuries, including top players Max Fried and Kyle Wright, the only MLB 20-game winner last year. They each completed five launches before landing on the 60-day injured list. The Braves expect Fried (pulled forearm) to be back not long after the All-Star hiatus and are hoping Wright (shoulder infection) will be back in August.
Meanwhile, the Braves’ pitchers say they’re operating with a little more confidence and aggressiveness because they either bet on a first-inning lead or know they don’t have to be perfect because the Braves will be hitting a lot of runs.
Wednesday was the first time they had hit less than four runs since June 11, and the Braves have not had a game without a homer since June 9, when they had their only one in their last 32 games.
The Braves likely won’t quite be able to maintain that level of production. They lead the majors with 147 homers and are on track with 295, which would be a whopping 46 above the Braves’ franchise record of 2019. In June, the Braves are well ahead of the rest of baseball with 55 home runs, .920 OPS and 159 runs, with the Angels second in home runs (40) and no team within 100 points of that OPS.
But even if there are slips, the depth of the Braves is likely to give opponents headaches throughout the season.
“Hopefully it lasts forever, that would be nice,” Olson said with a smile while discussing the offensive tackle.
The Braves’ 76 runs in the first inning is the second most in any inning by an MLB team this season. Her 25 homers and 109 first-inning hits are the most of any team in any inning, and her plus-51 first-inning run difference is by far the best of any team in any inning.
“It’s fun,” Riley said. “Up until now we hadn’t really done everything right. What shows is that when everyone is going along from a hitting perspective, it’s difficult for the opposing pitcher.”
The Braves regained a first-inning lead Wednesday when midseason MVP favorite Ronald Acuña Jr. hit a leadoff walk, collecting his 36th stolen base in the NL lead and scoring after a double from Olson, who leads the majors with nine first-inning homers and shares the MLB lead with Riley with 21 RBIs in the first inning.
Snitker said he had no explanation for the impressive numbers in the first inning, calling it crazy after the Braves hit three homers in a five-run first inning on Tuesday against Twins ace Joe Ryan. Acuña hit a home run on Ryan’s first pitch of the game, and the Braves had five home runs before he recorded his fourth out, including back-to-back home runs from nine-hole hitter Michael Harris II and Acuña early in the second inning.
As an example of the great depth of this lineup, Olson points to Harris, the 2022 NL Rookie of the Year, who finished ninth. Marcell Ozuna — 14 homers and 35 RBIs since early May — also hits the bottom half of the leaderboard. Orlando Arcia is in eighth place ahead of Harris with a .303 average and a .794 OPS.
It’s no exaggeration to say that three or more of the hitters in the bottom half of the Braves’ lineup could hit in the top half of many teams’ lineups.
But whether all the engines are humming like they’ve been lately, or the lineup is faltering like it did for a period earlier this season when the Braves couldn’t score with runners in goal position, the key is stay tuned, Seitzer said, to keep the keel as even as possible.
“I have nothing to do with social media,” said Seitzer. “I mean, I get stuff from friends and things like that — this got posted, that got posted. Mags will show me things in the cage because he’s into it a lot. But I don’t want any part of it. It’s a mental and emotional roller coaster ride that you can embark on if you wish. And I really have enough things to focus on.
“The way I see it since I’ve had this job my whole mentality is: do your best every day and be as prepared as possible, kick your ass off and try to do your best for these guys , what you can. And if it’s good enough and I can keep doing it, great. If not, then I’ll see what God has in store for me after that. But that has always been my mentality. I can only worry about the things I can control and that is my attitude and my commitment. That’s all I ever focused on.”
If he has his druthers, he will remain in Atlanta as long as he is the coach, and Snitker will lead the team while the current coaches remain in office. The entire experience of this coaching situation was so important for Seitzer.
“If you weren’t happy with who you work with, who you work for — no matter how much success you have, you probably would be unhappy,” he said. “And that’s the beauty of this place. I don’t want to go anywhere else. I hope to be able to work here until I die. It was just a really perfect environment. You talk to other people in other organizations, you hear stories – firsthand, secondhand, thirdhand – about things that are happening and what’s going on, and that’s the best of the best of the best.
“I mean for what we have and how we get it, who we get it from and the way they give it to us, it’s perfect. I couldn’t ask for more.”
(Top photo by Kevin Seitzer: Rich von Biberstein/Associated Press)