The Braves are hanging onto playoff contention by a thread, and one of the franchise's all-time greats is at the end of his rope when it comes to his team’s offensive struggles.
Hall of Famer and occasional Braves broadcaster Chipper Jones was a guest on the Casa de Klub podcast recently, when the subject of his former team’s offensive struggles was brought up.
In 2023, a number of Braves hitters had career seasons, and their record reflected that. They hit 307 home runs, won a league-best 104 games and clinched the division with more than two weeks remaining in the regular season.
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But baseball is a game of adjustments and Atlanta’s hitters came back to earth in 2024.
The team’s .240 team batting average is 11th among 15 NL teams. In addition, the Braves have lost some major pieces: Ronald Acuna for the season back in June, Austin Riley since late August, Ozzie Albies last week. Those three players combined for 114 home runs in 2023.
But Jones offered no excuses when airing out his grievances.
“In a year like [2023], everything’s great. When the market corrects, like it is this year, you have to do other things,” Jones said. “Until recently, the last week or 10 days, the market has corrected and they have struggled, I mean big time. It’s hard to watch.
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“Working with the Braves for the last couple of years has been very frustrating. I can’t stand giving away outs. I can’t stand strikeouts. Can’t deal with a ‘guy on third, less than two outs, not hitting a ground ball to shortstop or second base to get that run in.’
“I can’t stand every once in a while not laying down a bunt for your best hitters. All these things help you accumulate numbers. They don’t care. ‘One hundred RBIs? So what. I wanna hit 40 dingers.’ This is truly a ‘chicks dig the long ball’ kind of era.”
The Braves are a game behind the Mets for the third and final wild-card spot in the National League with 18 games remaining.