For most of the 2026 season, the Atlanta Braves have been at the prime of Major League Baseball.
However, their current stretch of play has left some concern. The Braves had misplaced six of seven video games in the center of June — their worst stretch of the season — earlier than a bounce-back collection win over the Brewers.
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Every workforce goes via tough patches throughout a 162-game season, however past the current dropping streak, different components might be trigger for concern.
Health Is the Braves’ Biggest Cause for Concern
Ronald Acuña Jr. is undoubtedly considered one of the most gifted gamers in the MLB. Unfortunately, staying on the area has been a continuing concern for him. Since his historic MVP marketing campaign in 2023, Acuña has solely played in 197 video games. Only twice in his profession has he performed over 150 video games.
This season, Acuña has sustained two separate hamstring accidents which have landed him on the IL. His first hamstring damage induced him to miss over two weeks, however Braves supervisor Walt Weiss is expecting his star outfielder to be out for an extended interval this time round.
Michael Harris II has dealt along with his fair proportion of accidents this season as properly. While he hasn’t been on the IL this season, Harris has been restricted all through the season with calf and again accidents.
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During Atlanta’s 7-5 loss versus the San Francisco Giants on June 16, Harris was removed from the recreation for again tightness. The excellent news is that he was listed as day-to-day reasonably than needing to go on the IL.
Drake Baldwin, who has been considered one of the greatest catchers in the recreation this season, missed over one month with an oblique injury. His absence was felt extra by the loss of Sean Murphy as Atlanta juggled catcher duties with each of them down.
Chadwick Tromp and Sandy León have been the catchers for the time being and so they weren’t nice. Together they mixed for simply 11 hits in 66 at bats.
Braves’ Pitching Depth Being Tested
Before the season began, Spencer Strider was placed on the IL and didn’t make his season debut till May 3. Strider had a tough outing on June 12 in opposition to the New York Mets the place he allowed seven runs in simply three innings. Weiss didn’t pull him from the recreation due to poor efficiency, however reasonably an arm damage.
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After giving up a leadoff stroll in the fourth inning, Weiss eliminated Strider from the recreation after simply 68 pitches. His fastball velocity dipped to underneath 90 MPH, which was an enormous concern. On June 15, Strider can be shut down from throwing for 4 weeks, however surgical procedure wasn’t required.
With Strider again on the shelf, Atlanta will flip to younger arms like rookie starter JR Ritchie. He changed Strider in opposition to the Mets and proceeded to throw 5 innings of shutout baseball out of the bullpen. However, he allowed 5 runs in opposition to the Giants in his most up-to-date begin and now has a 4.54 ERA on the season.
The Braves are additionally lacking different key arms corresponding to Spencer Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrep. The excellent news is Waldrep is shut to returning as Atlanta not too long ago optioned him to Triple-A following a rehab stint. As for Schwellenbach, he simply began throwing not too long ago and continues to be a methods from returning.
Another starter who’s making progress is AJ Smith-Shawver. He had Tommy John surgical procedure final season and is shut to starting a rehab assignment. While Atlanta could also be banged up, they’re shut to getting some much-needed arms again in the rotation.
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Was June Just a Bump in the Road?
The silver lining is the Braves are nonetheless first in the NL East and have the second-best report in the baseball as a complete. The tempo Atlanta was taking part in at to begin the season was troublesome to keep over a 162 recreation season.
As lengthy as the Braves are in an amazing place by the commerce deadline, they need to be in place to make strikes. The actuality is, Atlanta continues to be considered one of the favorites to win the World Series and a stoop like this was going to occur ultimately. The Braves have overcome accidents all through this season, however this has been a troublesome stretch of baseball.
The put up What Reasons Do the Atlanta Braves Have to Be Concerned? appeared first on The Lead.