There is no sugarcoating it, the Atlanta Braves have been struggling on offense this month. Only three teams have scored fewer runs in the month of August and only five teams have a lower wRC+. The Braves will need to change course if they want to win their division because they have a tough remaining schedule.
Tonight could go a long way in proving the offense is not dead if they could tag tonight’s starter, Roki Sasaki, with a decent amount of runs.
There have only been four Braves players with a wRC+
above league average in the month of August, and interestingly Walt Weiss continues to bat two of them low in the lineup. Austin Riley has a wRC+ of 110 this month, and Mike Yastrzemski has a 123, yet they are nowhere near the heart of the order. It may behoove Weiss to consider shaking up the lineup and shift the hot hands up to secure more at-bats and help knock in more baserunners. Almost a full month of a struggling offense should be enough data to make a change.
The Braves are scheduled to face Roki Sasaki who has only faced five hitters on the roster in his young career and none of them in more than three at-bats. Ozzie Albies has done well having two hits to include a solo HR. Austin Riley is 1-2. Matt Olson, Sean Murphy, and Michael Harris have yet to record a hit against Sasaki in very limited action, although Olson has walked twice.
With Jim Jarvis being optioned it has taken away the daily question of who would get the start at SS. The main question these days is who is going to get the start at DH.
For some reason Riley and Yastrzemski are still low in the order despite being in the top four in wRC+ on the team over the past month. Another interesting move is that Harris has been moved down for Mauricio Dubón to hit cleanup.
The Dodgers will be coming in blind against AJ Smith-Shawver as only two of them have ever faced him. One is backup catcher Ben Rortvedt who is hitless in two at-bats, and Alex Call who has a .400 average in five at-bats.
Fortunately for Smith-Shawver and the Braves, the Dodgers have not exactly been hot offensively either this month. They are nineteenth in runs scored and twentieth in wRC+.
Turns out neither of the two players on the Dodgers that have faced Smith-Shawver will be getting the start tonight. The only difference in the lineup from last night is that Alex Call will be replaced with Teoscar Hernández in left field with Alek Thomas jumping up one spot to seventh in the order.
It is surprising to say the least that there will be a Dodgers lineup this late in the season with only three hitters with an OPS over .750.
First pitch is at 7:15 EDT.
