{"id":65077,"date":"2025-06-30T07:23:34","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T07:23:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=65077"},"modified":"2025-06-30T07:23:34","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T07:23:34","slug":"three-braves-takeaways-profars-return-from-ped-suspension-offensive-malaise-strider-improving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=65077","title":{"rendered":"Three Braves takeaways: Profar\u2019s return from PED suspension, offensive malaise, Strider improving"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

ATLANTA \u2014 These Atlanta Braves do barely enough to make the optimistic portion of their fan base hold out hope for another midseason turnaround and postseason drive like other teams have done in recent years.<\/p>\n

But Atlanta lost 2-1 at home Sunday to the Philadelphia Phillies in the rubber game of the series, which left the Braves 7-6 after 13 NL East games in 13 days, a stretch they had said would be important. They are in the same position they were two weeks ago.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not a good position \u2014 seven games under .500 with the fifth-worst record (38-45) in the NL. Sitting third in the division, 10 1\/2 games behind the Phillies and nine behind the New York Mets.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve still got a lot of room to improve, myself especially,\u201d said Braves starter Spencer Strider, who pitched well enough to win Sunday if the bats provided more than a modicum of support. \u201cRight now, we\u2019re not sitting anywhere near where we want to be or where I think we should be. I think everybody feels the same way.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of confidence that we\u2019re going to continue to improve. We\u2019ve just got to do the work for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

They went 5-2 against the Mets in the past two weeks, but 1-2 each against the Phillies and the fourth-place Miami Marlins, who are just one game behind Atlanta.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve played some really good baseball, and then I think we left a few games out there that I think we could have won,\u201d said third baseman Austin Riley, who had a leadoff single in the fourth inning and was still at first when the inning ended. \u201cLeft a few out there. And with where we\u2019re at, you\u2019ve got to capitalize on those moments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sean Murphy\u2019s 451-foot homer in the second inning was his second mammoth shot in as many days, after a 455-foot grand slam Saturday, and gave the Braves a 1-0 lead.<\/p>\n

\n

Sean Murphy takes off \ud83d\ude24<\/p>\n

It’s the @Braves first GRAND SLAM of the season! pic.twitter.com\/M3FnC58zb0<\/p>\n

\u2014 MLB (@MLB) June 29, 2025<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But Phillies starter Ranger Su\u00e1rez otherwise handled them with ease for the second time this season, limiting the Braves to four hits, one run and one walk with eight strikeouts in seven innings, after pitching six innings of a May 27 shutout against them at Philadelphia. The Phillies went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position Sunday, but the Braves didn\u2019t even advance a runner to second base until the ninth inning.<\/p>\n

Profar returns Wednesday<\/h2>\n

The Braves are off Monday before a three-game home series starts Tuesday against the Los Angeles Angels, when left fielder Jurickson Profar will be back in Atlanta\u2019s lineup Wednesday after serving an 80-game PED suspension.<\/p>\n

Profar, the Braves\u2019 only significant free-agent signee last winter, played just four games before being slapped with a suspension after testing positive for a banned substance.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s coming off a career-best season in which he hit .280 with 24 homers, 85 RBIs and an .839 OPS for the San Diego Padres, more than 100 points above his career .725 OPS. He did that at age 31. So, between the spike in power in his 11th\u00a0season and the positive PED test, no one seems to know quite what to expect from Profar, other than he\u2019ll almost certainly provide more offense than what the Braves have been getting from platoon left fielders Eli White and Alex Verdugo.<\/p>\n

\u201cHope so. We\u2019ll see,\u201d Braves manager Brian Snitker said. \u201cAgain, he\u2019s had a lot of time off. He\u2019s getting the reps and all that (at Gwinnett), and we\u2019ll plug him in there (Wednesday).\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if adding one player could make a significant difference for a struggling lineup, Snitker said, \u201cYeah, I think so. It\u2019s happened before. One established guy that can lengthen your lineup can be a big deal. Especially him being a switch hitter and the matchup thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Profar was 0-for-5 with two strikeouts Sunday for Triple-A Gwinnett, but has hit .326 with three homers and a .991 OPS in 12 games, with eight walks and six strikeouts.<\/p>\n

Riley said Profar would help lengthen a lineup that\u2019s been getting a lot of production from leadoff man Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr. and Matt Olson, but no one else consistently.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

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Jurickson Profar played just four games for the Braves this season before being suspended 80 games for a PED violation. (Orlando Ramirez \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cObviously, he\u2019s a talented hitter,\u201d Riley said of Profar. \u201cEspecially when you\u2019ve got a guy like Ronnie (batting leadoff) and Oly (batting second), flipping that to get them more ABs in situations that are big \u2014 that can help a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

After saying two weeks ago he intended to bat Profar second, Snitker changed his mind due to the good results the Braves are getting with Olson behind Acu\u00f1a.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we can move (Profar) around in kind of the middle of the order,\u201d Snitker said. \u201cThe fact he\u2019s a switch hitter and all that\u2019s gonna work out good. Because I do kind of like the Olson thing behind Ronald, I think that\u2019s real. (Profar) is gonna have to get out here and put your eyes on him, let him play a little bit, see where he\u2019s at.\u201d<\/p>\n

Strider progressing<\/h2>\n

Strider allowed five hits and two runs in seven innings, his longest start since September 2023. He had three walks and four strikeouts, the first time he recorded fewer than six strikeouts in nine career starts of seven innings or more.<\/p>\n

While he\u2019s not blowing away hitters with upper-90s heat at the top of the strike zone like he did before April 2024 elbow surgery, Strider has improved steadily with his fastball velocity while honing secondary pitches.<\/p>\n

He has a 2.25 ERA in his past four starts \u2014 an MLB-leading 33 strikeouts in 24 innings during that span \u2014 after posting a 5.40 ERA in his first five starts. That\u2019s especially important now, with ace Chris Sale not expected back before mid-August after fracturing his rib cage on June 18.<\/p>\n

The Braves need Spencer Schwellenbach and Strider to be at their best at the top of the rotation, because the back end is highly suspect.<\/p>\n

Most of Strider\u2019s swings-and-misses Sunday came on sliders, and he induced a slew of groundouts in innings other than the fifth. That\u2019s when the Phillies scored twice on an Otto Kemp RBI double, followed by the go-ahead run on a sacrifice bunt and sacrifice fly \u2013 the kind of run Atlanta rarely manufactures with its poor situational hitting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t execute well enough,\u201d said Strider, always his harshest critic. \u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s any more nuance to it than that. I simply did not execute as much as I needed to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of the Braves\u2019 just-completed stretch against NL East teams, Strider said: \u201cI think we had some great moments, and I just think the consistency, if you ask anybody, is the thing we\u2019re still searching for. There\u2019s no excuses, and I don\u2019t think you\u2019re going to find any. The belief that we are a better team is in the clubhouse for sure, at least I hope so with everybody in there. And at some point, that\u2019s gonna have to translate into results. That\u2019s the nature of the business, everybody knows that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s myself more so than anybody. I\u2019ve lost six games now, I think, so I\u2019ve certainly not kept up my end of the bargain here. But I know everybody in there wants to be the guy and wants to help the team win, and I think that they\u2019re going to exhaust everything they have to try to get that done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking up in the standings<\/h2>\n

The Braves were in third place in the division and eighth in the NL wild-card standings on June 16. Thirteen games later, they are third in the division and eighth in the wild-card standings. They were 7 1\/2 games out of the third and final wild-card spot on June 16, and they are eight games out of that final wild-card spot after Sunday\u2019s loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still hanging in there,\u201d Snitker said. \u201cI looked at where we are; we\u2019re still giving ourselves a chance. We just need to continue to try and win series. We haven\u2019t been eliminated yet or anything. Still, a lot of good can happen. I\u2019m a firm believer in that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plenty of their fans believe, or hope, the Braves can turn things around like they did in 2021, when they were 52-55 on Aug. 2 and went on to win the World Series, or in 2022, when they were 10 1\/2 games behind entering June and won a sixth consecutive NL East title. But this feels different.<\/p>\n

This team doesn\u2019t exude the kind of confidence and swagger that those Braves teams did before those turnarounds, when they had some big personalities on the roster and the coaching staff, with the boisterous and revered former infield instructor and third-base coach Ron Washington.<\/p>\n

These Braves haven\u2019t teased with a significant stretch of high-scoring, power-surging games that hint at a breakout to come. And an offensive outburst is what it\u2019s going to take to get this Braves team into the thick of the playoff race with a sustained stretch of winning.<\/p>\n

The Braves were tied for 24th in scoring average in June and had 10 fewer runs than the Colorado Rockies in the same number of games. And that\u2019s with 22 of the Braves\u2019 104 runs for the month coming in two games \u2014 a disastrous 11-10 loss to Arizona in which they blew a 10-4 lead in the ninth inning on June 5, and a 12-4 win against those Rockies during a home series where the Braves won the first two and got embarrassed 10-1 in the finale.<\/p>\n

Besides those two double-digit scoring games, the Braves averaged 4.3 runs in their other 24 June games, including seven in which they scored one or no runs, three of those in the past four days. They were tied for 24th \u00a0in homers in June with 23 in 26 games, barely half of the 45 apiece for the Mets and Chicago Cubs, and 18 fewer than the Angels.<\/p>\n

The Braves were 25th in average (.234) for the month and 28th\u00a0in OPS, ahead of only the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Guardians. Think about this: The Pittsburgh Pirates (.677) had a higher slugging percentage in June than the Braves.<\/p>\n

Why, Riley was asked, do the Braves still believe they can turn it around?<\/p>\n

\u201cThis game will knock you down if you keep letting it,\u201d Riley said. \u201cYou gotta keep pushing back, and guys are gonna do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Top photo of Spencer Strider: Mady Mertens \/ Imagn Images)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

David O’Brien<\/strong> is a senior writer covering the Atlanta Braves for The Athletic. He previously covered the Braves for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and covered the Marlins for eight seasons, including the 1997 World Series championship. He is a two-time winner of the NSMA Georgia Sportswriter of the Year award. Follow David on Twitter @DOBrienATL<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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