{"id":676569,"date":"2026-04-16T00:01:03","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T00:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/676569\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T00:01:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T00:01:03","slug":"the-scouting-report-braves-versus-marlins-game-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/676569\/","title":{"rendered":"The Scouting Report: Braves versus Marlins, Game 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s Atlanta Braves baseball! Let\u2019s break down everything you need to know about tonight\u2019s matchup.<\/p>\n

First Pitch: 7:15 PM ET<\/p>\n

Location: Truist Park, Atlanta<\/p>\n

TV: BravesVision<\/p>\n

Radio: 680 AM\/93.7 FM The Fan, La Mejor 1600\/1460\/1130 AM<\/p>\n

Weather: 83\u00b0 and mostly sunny, wind SW at 8 mph<\/p>\n

RF Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr.<\/a>
C Drake Baldwin<\/a>
1B Matt Olson<\/a>
3B Austin Riley<\/a>
2B Ozzie Albies<\/a>
LF Mike Yastrzemski<\/a>
DH Dominic Smith<\/a>
SS Mauricio Dub\u00f3n<\/a>
CF Michael Harris II<\/a><\/p>\n

Quick thoughts:<\/p>\n

CF Jakob Marsee (L)
2B Xavier Edwards (S)
SS Otto Lopez (R)
C Liam Hicks (L)
DH Connor Norby (R)
RF Owen Caissie (L)
LF Heriberto Hern\u00e1ndez (R)
3B Graham Pauley (L)
1B Deyvison De Los Santos (R)<\/p>\n

Quick thoughts:<\/p>\n

Catcher Agust\u00edn Ram\u00edrez gets the night off, with Liam Hicks behind the plate and Deyvison De Los Santos getting the start at first base. <\/p>\n

This lineup has combined for 27 at-bats off of Bryce Elder, with one homer (Hern\u00e1ndez) and six RBI combined. <\/p>\n

Quick snapshot:<\/p>\n

1.02 ERA \/ 2.35 xERA \/ 2.93 FIP<\/p>\n

23.5 K% \/ 7.4 BB% \/ 1.5% HR rate<\/p>\n

Pitch mix<\/p>\n

vs RHH: 48% sinker, 41% slider, 7% four-seamer, 4% changeup<\/p>\n

vs LHH: 36% slider, 19% four-seamer, 18% cutter, 17% changeup, 10% sinker<\/p>\n

What\u2019s changed in 2026:<\/p>\n

What to watch:<\/p>\n

As always, for Elder, his whole thing is location-dependent. If he\u2019s keeping the slider down and getting ground balls from it and his sinker, it\u2019ll be a good day. If he\u2019s either letting his locations drift up into the heart of the zone or he\u2019s missing the strike zone completely and walking guys, the pen has to be ready.<\/p>\n

Quick snapshot:<\/p>\n

The arsenal:<\/p>\n

Four-seam fastball (92.8 mph, 28% usage)<\/p>\n

Changeup (85.1 mph, 24% usage)<\/p>\n

Cutter (86.3 mph, 15% usage)<\/p>\n

Sweeper (79.9 mph, 13% usage)<\/p>\n

Curveball (77.1 mph, 12% usage)<\/p>\n

Sinker (92.8 mph, 8%)<\/p>\n

How he attacks hitters:<\/p>\n

vs LHH: mostly full mix, changeups for chase when ahead<\/p>\n

34% four-seamer, 29% changeup, 16% curveball, 13% cutter, 5% sinker, 4% sweeper<\/p>\n

vs RHH: here\u2019s the kitchen sink, good luck<\/p>\n

25% sweeper, 20% four-seamer, 18% changeup, 17% cutter, 13% sinker, 6% curveball<\/p>\n

Sequencing:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

How to read a plinko chart: Each circle represents the usage of a pitcher\u2019s arsenal in a given count (color key below). The thickness of the connecting lines reflects how often each count occurs, helping show how a pitcher navigates an at-bat.<\/p>\n

Similar to last night<\/a>, it\u2019s another well-sequenced pitcher (thanks to calling pitches from the dugout) with underwhelming stuff. Nothing of Paddack\u2019s reaches even average marks on the FanGraphs Stuff+ model<\/a>, but they all tunnel well, he has pretty good locations and can sequence well enough to elicit above-average chase. <\/p>\n

Lefties feel like they have it easier, as they can mostly focus on three pitches (4S, CB, CH) versus righties, who could get any one of five pitches with some curveballs sprinkled in for good measure. <\/p>\n

Watch Mike Yastrzemski tonight. He\u2019s started to heat up at the plate (hits in three straight games) and is an absurd .391 with three homers and four RBI off of Paddack in just 23 career ABs. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Likely available:<\/p>\n

Used recently:<\/p>\n

The trio of leverage arms all pitched last night and should all be able to come back tonight if needed, although staying away from Robert Suarez<\/a> wouldn\u2019t be the worst thing in the world if possible. <\/p>\n

Potential limitations:<\/p>\n

Quick takeaway:<\/p>\n

With an off day on Thursday, Walt Weiss<\/a> has all the levers that might need pulling to secure a series win. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Likely available:<\/p>\n

Tyler Phillips<\/a> should be available, as he\u2019s had the same rest as the last time he threw 37 pitches. <\/p>\n

Used recently:<\/p>\n

Closer Pete Fairbanks<\/a> got himself into a pickle in last night\u2019s 8th inning and needed 26 pitches to get out of it. I\u2019m sure they\u2019ll call on him if needed to try and secure a series win, but I\u2019d have him down today. Closers have different rules, though. <\/p>\n

Potential limitations:<\/p>\n

Lake Bachar<\/a> likely needs one more day before he\u2019ll be called on for long relief, but that\u2019s okay since Phillips is available. <\/p>\n

Quick takeaway:<\/p>\n

Miami would likely love a strong start from Chris Paddack, but they can survive a five-and-dive if needed. Any earlier than that, though, and they won\u2019t have very many leverage options if it\u2019s close. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s honestly not a great matchup for Elder – Miami\u2019s a high-contact team that has enough pop to punish a hanging breaking ball and has a good running game.<\/p>\n

The Braves haven\u2019t done well with \u2018kitchen sink\u2019 guys that are well sequenced\/optimized, and that\u2019s without the dugout\u2019s assistance through calling plays. Let\u2019s hope that, similar to last night, Paddack leaves enough mistakes in the zone for Atlanta to make hard contact. <\/p>\n

The Braves are favored to win, and that\u2019s likely a reflection of the ceiling and floor of Elder vs Paddack. Give me Atlanta, provided we get the good version of Elder or we get the offense to make up for the bad version. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s Atlanta Braves baseball! Let\u2019s break down everything you need to know about tonight\u2019s matchup. First Pitch: 7:15…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":676570,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2395],"tags":[5,1816,778,58,4171,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-676569","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-marlins","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-marlins","10":"tag-miami","11":"tag-miami-marlins","12":"tag-miamimarlins","13":"tag-mlb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116411452744239958","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=676569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}