The Atlanta Braves put together another successful week with series victories against the St. Louis Cardinals and Arizona Diamondbacks.
As one would expect, the Braves had a number of players contribute throughout the week. Austin Riley had a solid week including a home run and a game-saving defensive play on Saturday night.
Marcell Ozuna continues to lead the league in walks and picked up eight more this week. Alex Verdugo’s strong start with the Braves continued as he surged with a four-hit game on Sunday.
Sean Murphy hit three home runs as he and Drake Baldwin continue to create a formidable catching duo. Dylan Lee picked up his first career save in the team’s thrilling extra-inning victory on Saturday night. The Braves even got a good start out of Bryce Elder.
Right-handed reliever Daysbel Hernández had an effective week out of Atlanta’s bullpen. On Monday against the Cardinals, he picked up with win after tossing a scoreless eighth inning. He followed that up with 1.1 scoreless innings – entering in the eighth inning again – and picked-up with win in the series clincher on Wednesday against St. Louis.
Hernández was again summoned for the eighth inning on Saturday night against the Diamondbacks and held Arizona in check in what wound up being a wild win in extra innings.
There’s a lot of dark red on his Baseball Savant page, which is a good thing, and he seems to be sliding into the role that Joe Jiménez had as the top high-leverage righty set-up man.
For the week, he tossed 3.1 innings without allowing a run. He gave up one hit while walking three and striking out three and inducing two double plays.
This week, the Battery Power Braves Player of the Week goes to outfielder Eli White.
While Verdugo had more hits and Murphy had more home runs, White may have taken hold of the starting job in right field while scoring seven runs, driving in seven, stroking two doubles and hitting two home runs – including the no-doubt-about-it game-winning blast in the bottom of the eighth inning on Wednesday.
White also went deep on Saturday as the Braves rallied for the win. In addition, he drew four walks in four starts and appeared in the first two games against the Cardinals as a pinch-runner for Ozuna, scoring Monday’s deciding run in the Braves come-from-behind victory.
If White can continue to provide positive offensive production, he and Verdugo will have stabilized a Braves outfield that’s struggled mightily in the season’s first month.