BRAVES POSTCAST: Atlanta Braves SWEEP four-game series vs Washington Nationals LIVE REACTION

BRAVES POSTCAST: Atlanta Braves SWEEP four-game series vs Washington Nationals LIVE REACTION

The Atlanta Braves complete a fourgame sweep with a 9 to4 victory over the Washington Nationals on Wednesday afternoon. Let’s talk about it. [Music] This is the Braves Post Cast, your instant game reaction for the Atlanta Braves, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Yes, welcome on in to the Braves postcast, part of Lockdown Sports Atlanta, where we cover your Atlanta sports teams each and every day. I’m your host Lindseay Crosby, author of the Braves today newsletter over at braves.com. You can follow me on social media at Crosby Baseball at handsome fellas, Jake Mastriani, host of Locked on Braves. Catch him on social media at shortstops.Ball. Make sure you’re subscribed to Locked on Braves wherever you get your podcast. Jake’s got a ton of stuff, including if the schedule was normal, a mailbag with your questions coming on Friday. But, uh, I want to talk about this this uh, win by the Braves, this four game sweep, and I want to do it a little bit differently from how we normally do this, Jake. Right. Uh, typically we spend half the show talking about the pitching, half the show about the offense, but I want to structure this a little bit differently today. the player of the game, the turning point of the game, and what you’re going to be talking about. And I think starting off with the pivotal moment where Atlanta just asserted control over this game. Time to reveal where the game was won or lost. It’s the turning point. All right, so going into the sixth inning, Atlanta’s down three nothing. and we saw the Nationals really jump on Hen Waldrip uh in that fifth and final inning of his, you know, leaving some stuff up and things like that. Atlanta roars back with six, I’m sorry, with four runs in the sixth inning. And we’ve talked about this a few times, no home runs, right? They walk a couple times. Um and then they cash those in with hits. Is is this sustainable against nonW Washington Nationals teams over the course of a full season with the roster as currently constructed in the way these guys are playing? I think for now I have to say no. Um well, let me rephrase that. Is it possible? Yes. Do I believe it with this group right now? I think I have to say no because of the stretch at the beginning of this month where you played a bunch of postseason contenders and we didn’t see this type of offense. So, um, you know, like I said on the podcast Monday, that’s really that was really going to be my take the rest of the season. They may go out there and destroy the Nationals. They may go out there and destroy the Pirates, but you had a 15game stretch against postseason teams and the Cubs and the Astros and the Mariners and and this offense didn’t show up. So, yeah, until I can see them do that for one, you know, more than against the Nationals, I’m just really not going to believe it. Now, there’s a lot of stuff that can happen in the off seasonason, bringing in some more, you know, hitters and firepower and just having this group together more for a while if Kim, you know, hopefully stays around. Proofar doesn’t get suspended, everybody else stays healthy. You know, there’s certainly a chance with this group. I’m not saying it’s impossible, right? But I’m not going to base that off a four game series against the Nats when you just showed me what you look like against good competition in the first what 10 to 15 games of this month. Yeah. And it that’s the the quality competition thing, right? You you you kind of look at what happened here. Brad Lord comes out of the game. Clayton Beater comes in and outside of the Michael Harris at bbat and we’re going to get to that people. Don’t worry. I’m I we we have we have thoughts on that. Don’t worry. Um outside of that, you you watch Ronald Krun Jr. gets a single. Drake Baldwin doubles. That brings in the first run and then beer comes in. Walk, walk. Michael Harris, again, we’ll get to that. Um, the big thing here is the bottom of your order does this, right? Marcelo Zuna batting from the eighth hole, he gets a single. Nacho Alvarez, he gets a single. I do have to ask, when’s the last time you saw two challenges on the same play and both of them lose? Because, yeah, I don’t know that I’ve seen the first part of that question or the second part of that question. You don’t That’s a very rare one. you see I mean I guess you’ve seen it avoid two calls from one from each team on the same play but it’s it’s definitely a rarity but both of them to then get denied you know that’s that’s doubly rare yeah it was absolutely wild and from that point Atlanta rolled they they did allow a run in the bottom of the ninth but from I mean they score nine unanswered runs to take the lead there um we do like we’re gonna we’re gonna stay positive in this first segment right uh we do need to give credit to the player of the game and just really the player of the month in particular. This is the locked on player of the game. Kind of kind of excited to have these graphics. Um we’re going to talk about pure hitter Matthew Kent Olsen because at this point I just I really don’t know what you can say about him that’s not already been said. He came into this month with 21 home runs and like 70s something RBI and he is in range of a 3,100 season. He hit his fifth home run in the last five days tonight. Is it possible to not get beat by Matt Olsen no matter who you are? Yes, it’s the Nationals, but he’s done this all month against quality teams. Yeah, I mean I just spoke about the fact that this offense didn’t show up against quality teams first half of the month. That’s not Matt Olsen. I mean Matt Olsen has been doing his part and it’s really incredible. You want to hear more about Matt Olsen, I talked about him all on Wednesday’s episode of Lock on Brave. So, there’s that deep dive on him. Uh, but I mean, it’s just incredible and it’s and one thing I talked about on there is just a consistency. Obviously, September is an outlier in a very great way, but there hasn’t been a month this season where he’s had a WRC plus under 110. Like, there’s been some down months. Sure, May and and I think July in particular, two months where you had like a 30% strikeout rate. the WRC plus was more around the 110 range, but he’s never been a negative offensively this season. In a in a year where you have had a lot of negatives in your lineup and you’ve been lacking some consistency, Matt Olsen has been that presence throughout and now he’s just turned it up to another notch. I mean, we’re talking about a potential 30und season for a first baseman here. I mean, that that is what he is pushing towards and and it really gives me something else to kind of watch and and cheer for towards the end of the season when we’re we’re looking for reasons to watch and tune in. I would love to see Matt get this, you know, if he can hit 280 with 30 home runs and 100 runs scored and 100 RBI, batting a lot in the two spot. I mean, that’s that’s pretty incredible stuff from Matt Olsen. And it’s just it’s fun to see. Again, I don’t know how Brace fans any Brace fans just don’t love Matt Olsen at this point. Plays every day, plays hard. I mean, he’s exactly the guy that you want. And now he’s producing at an elite level offensively. He should get Silver Slugger at first base in the NL. I mean, he should be the first team all MLB uh at first base. If not, at least second team, if some people think might be Vlad. But uh certainly Matt Olsen is having an outstanding year. He’s had a good year, and this hot month is making it a fantastic season for him. Yeah. Um, I want you to guess what his slugging percentage is in the month of September and just give me the number you think it starts with. Um, I know his OPS is like 12 something. Uh, so and and he’s I’m trying to puzzle this out. Six. I’m going to say it starts with a six. Starts with an eight. An eight. Oh, his slash line in the month of September is 383 average, 441 on base, 850 slug. It’s a 1291 OPS, which is just absurd. Absolutely absurd. Um, all right. In just a minute, uh, I want to talk about some of the downsides here, right? The Hurse and Walrip fifth inning struggles. We’re going to mention those a little bit, but we’re really here to talk about Michael Harris. We’ll do that next right here on the Braves Post. This episode’s brought to you by Price Picks, the daily fantasy app where making the right call can actually pay off. You and I make decisions every day. But on Price Picks, being right means cashing in. With Football Back, price picks is the simplest and fastest way to get in on the action. Just pick more or less on two to six player projections, and you can turn your takes into real prizes all in less than 60 seconds. I’ve been playing Price Picks lately. Such a fun way to stay locked in for the season. It’s quick, it’s easy, and honestly, it’s my favorite way to follow along with a secondary sport like football. So download the Price Picks app today. Use code locked in MLB to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. That’s code locked in MLB for $50 in lineups after your first $5 play. Price picks. It’s good to be right. Today’s episode’s also brought to you by our friends at Monarch Money. Most people can’t name all their financial accounts and know what their net worth is. And when you don’t have the full picture, you can end up leaving money on the table. And that’s why there is monarch money. It’s an all-in-one personal finance tool that brings your entire financial life together in one clean, easy to use interface on your laptop or your phone. Because Monarch is built for people with busy lives. If you put off organizing your finances, Monarch is for you because Monarch does the heavy lifting for you. You can link all your accounts in minutes, see clear data visuals, get smart categorization of your spending, and finally feel in control of your money without ever touching a spreadsheet. Uh tons of ways to use Monarch. You can maximize your investments. You can increase your savings rate. You can review finances with your partner or financial advisor. You can use it to keep a clear view of your fi financial health in whatever time frame you want, week to week, long-term, etc. So, don’t let financial opportunities slip through the cracks. Use code locked atmlb at monarchmoney.com in your browser for half off your first year. That’s 50% off your first year at monarchmoney.com with code locked on MLB. All right, Jake. Uh, elephant in the room. I tease it a little bit. The the thing I skipped over in that top of the sixth inning was a one out bases loaded at bat from Michael Harris. So again, Drake Baldwin doubles. He’s on second and they go to Clayton Beer. And the thing here is brand new pitcher coming in. Azie Alb’s walks on four pitches. Hassan Kim walks on seven. Three in the zone. So, so 11 pitches thrown, seven strikes and then Michael Harris comes to the plate. And I completely forgot to play the graphic because again these are new. So, let me get that in there real quick and we’re going to break down how that app went. This is what you’ll be talking about. Still getting used to the graphics, folks. Um, okay. So, Michael Harris comes up, bases loaded, one out. A pitcher who’s thrown three strikes in his last 11 pitches. And not only does Michael Harris strike out on three pitches, Jake, one of them is remotely near the uh the strike zone, two of them are in the dirt. It’s baffling. I I I I I mean it it is just truly truly baffling that you got a pitcher up there struggling, walks back to back hitters and you go up there swinging like like it’s a fast ball down the middle like Yeah. I just I don’t I don’t get it with Michael Harris. A guy that I love, a guy that I think has immense talent that if he did ever figure out the plate discipline and approach would be an all-star. Like I truly truly believe that he’s got the physical tools for it, but he’s never he’s just never shown and I say never. The kid’s, you know, 24, but he hasn’t shown that yet. And and now, you know what, three, four major league seasons now at this point, and he’s just haven’t shown that ability to adjust. Lindsay, he is in the first percentile in walk rate, 2.3% walk rate. He is in the first percentile in chase rate. And and just in case you’re not not aware, one is the opposite of what you want to be. Like on on baseball savant percentage tiles, you want to be 99. You don’t want to be one. I mean, it is just he’s get it’s like he’s getting worse. He he’s gotten worse since coming into the league with his plate discipline and pitch recognition. And I tweeted this out after that at bat, as I’m sure many people had things to say. You can make all the mechanical adjustments you want. And I do think those have helped him make better contact when he makes contact, but until he can fix this part of his game, it’s always going to hold him back from being that all-star level type of player and to to carry out those physical attributes that he has. And it’s it’s it’s just really it’s it’s frustrating because like I said, it all it is all there physically. who can see it. Mhm. And it it just again it feels like he’s getting worse in this area. Yeah. Um and the tough thing is like and what’s frustrating is there was a month like literally 33 games where he was the best hitter in baseball. He hit 396 with a 716 OPS, nine homers, 23 RBI in 33 games. He hit .205 in the 90 games before it. He’s hit 196 in the 28 games after it. Um, little shameless plug. Uh, the next edition of Braves today, the newsletter and all that, we’re going to talk about center field. And there’s just like shortstop is so hard to find other options on the free agent market. Center fields the same way. Your arguably your three best options are Cedric Mullins, Harrison Bader, Luis River Jr. All three of them have one good season in the last three or four years. And outside of that, Melons is batting 229. Bader is batting 234. Andy is in his mid30s. Rober is batting 223. It’s like there’s just no real good options here. He had one hot Jella put it up put it great in the chat. He had one hot month and he disappeared. And and I’ll another shameless plug for for my podcast when we broke down Michael Harris in his good stretch. I pointed out in there the plate discipline and the plate approach was still bad even in that good stretch. and and eventually that’s going to catch up to you and it and it has. Yeah, it’s just Sam puts it great in the chat. Throwing a strike to Michael Harris is a crime. Like you just don’t have to throw him a strike again. Clayton Beater threw two of those three pitches in the dirt and got swings on them. Uh one of them I’m pretty sure was like 56 feet when the when the plate is 60 feet 6 inches away from you. So absolutely just frustrating how that’s gone. the big obvious story we’re going to have to figure out going forward and you’ve got to fix this. Like if as bad as Nick Allen was from an offensive perspective, Michael Harris was just as bad if not worse because I guess Nick Allen wasn’t qualified for the leaderboards. They both give you great defense. You can’t have two black holes in the lineup. Like you got to figure out something. Azie fixed himself for the most part. You got to figure out something. And I just don’t know what you’re going to do. But that’s going to be the thing I’m taking away from this game. As good as it was to get the sweep, see Olsson hit the fifth home run, Ronnie go three hits, I’m going to take away the fact that Michael Harris’s at bat was probably the worst at bat we’ve seen from any baseball player in Major League Baseball this year. And probably the closest second would be the next worst at bat for Michael Harris. Like they they are just that bad. Um, and and it’s like I said, it’s just really frustrating because I love the guy and I can be an all-star, but until he figure this out, it’s gonna hold him back. I’m not a big jersey guy. I have a a Michael Harris like customized Outcast themed Braves jersey. Like, I’m not a big jersey guy. I have a Michael Harris jersey and I’m like, I really want this to be wearable in a year. So, we got to figure this out. Um, all right. So, Braves take the four game series. They are heading to Detroit tonight. They are off tonight. I’m sorry, off tomorrow. Friday starts a series against the Tigers. Bryce Elder, Joey Wentz, Spencer Strider are your one through three. The Tigers have not yet announced their starters. I don’t know if we’ll like who we’ll see. Will we get Scooble? Will we get Flarity M? Whoever it might be. Um, but we will be back on Friday to bring you everything from that. In the meantime, make sure you are subscribed to Locked on Brave. Jake’s got a ton of great content coming up. uh whether it’s his mailbag on Friday. I had a a question sent to me that I need to give uh Jake for his mailbag on Friday. There’s lots of great content coming. Uh also on YouTube, subscribe to both Locked on Braves and Locked on Sports Atlanta. Hit the notification bell so you know when Locked on Sports Atlanta has Brave uh Braves content, Hawks content, Falcons content, and all of that. Uh for Jake Mastriani, I’m Lindseay Crosby. This has been the Braves postcast.

The Atlanta Braves won all four games of their extended series against the NL East rival Washington Nationals thanks to nine consecutive runs from the 6th through 9th innings in Wednesday afternoon’s finale. Postcast host Lindsay Crosby and Locked On Braves host Jake Mastroianni went LIVE after the game to break down all of the action.

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