Braves takeaways: Why their approach to situational hitting must improve in 2026

New York Times

4 days ago

ATLANTA — Assuming the Atlanta Braves bring back hitting coach Tim Hyers next season, since firing the hitting coach in consecutive years wouldn't reflect well on organizational stability, there will be plenty of work to do in terms of changing many players' approach to situational hitting.
That was apparent yet again during the series loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, which ended Wednesday. The Braves stranded 14 of their 16 runners who reached base in Tuesday's 7-2 loss, when they went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
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They lost 5-4 on Wednesday to complete the sweep, the Braves' 13th loss in 17 games since the All-Star break.
Their woeful RISP work in the series continued a trend that began early in 2024 under previous hitting coach Kevin Seitzer. It's remained a major flaw for Hyers' hitters in 2025 — a season that's been disappointing on so many levels for Atlanta, a popular preseason pennant pick that now has the majors' fourth-worst record (47-66).
#Braves' Chris Sale will throw live batting practice Thursday. No set plan after that, re: whether he'd throw another live BP, but Snitker said he would probably make at least one rehab start before returning.
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) August 6, 2025
An injury-depleted rotation. A worn and fading bullpen. And hitters who fail to capitalize on scoring chances again and again.
Add it up, and the result is a debacle of a season, hardly the way Brian Snitker hoped to go out in what is expected to be the 69-year-old manager's final season at the helm.
The Braves are not good at advancing runners into scoring position, or at getting them in from third with less than two outs, or at most anything else involving situational hitting. They swing for the fences. They don't shorten swings with two strikes or put the ball in play when a strikeout is the one thing they need to avoid.
They have the third-fewest sacrifice flies in the majors. And on and on.
But arguably their most glaring offensive deficiency is hitting with runners in scoring position.
Only a few Braves have been good at it, and too many of them cost the team repeatedly in close games when merely decent RISP hitting would make a difference.
Just look at the Braves' record in games decided by one or two runs: 19-38.
That's not just a product of shaky relief pitching. Because the bullpen was good for much of the season before faltering under an increased workload, injuries, and reliance on journeymen signed on the cheap to plug holes.
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But the RISP hitting has been bad since the team's 0-7 start to the season.
The fact that the Braves used to do it so well not long ago has only made it more exasperating for fans to see them flounder repeatedly in those key situations for the past couple of seasons.
During a span of nearly 900 games from the beginning of the 2018 season through April 30, 2024, the Braves hit a robust .271 with a .355 OBP and .462 slugging percentage with runners in scoring position, the average and OPS (.817) both third-best in MLB in that span behind the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros.
But beginning May 1 last season, the Braves hit .236 with a .310 OBP and .383 slugging (.693 OPS) with runners in scoring position in 246 games before Wednesday. Their average in those situations was third-lowest in the majors, ahead of only the Seattle Mariners and Chicago White Sox.
In their 65 losses this season before Wednesday, the Braves hit an anemic .171 with a .505 OPS in RISP situations. Their .699 OPS with runners in scoring position this season is eighth-lowest in the majors, one spot behind the Minnesota Twins, who just blew up their team at the trade deadline by dealing away 11 players.
And that's with four Braves — Austin Riley, Sean Murphy, Matt Olson, Ozzie Albies — hitting a combined .290 with a .374 OBP and .453 slugging in RISP situations before Wednesday, which is solid if not consistent work from that group.
All other Braves had a dreadful .204 combined average and .612 OPS in 549 at-bats with runners in scoring position.
Eleven days after Grant Holmes exited a start with elbow pain diagnosed as a partial tear of the UCL, the Braves pitcher on Wednesday discussed his decision to opt out of surgery and enter a program of rest, treatment and rehab in hopes of returning a year or more sooner than he might from a Tommy John or internal-brace procedure.
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'If everything goes well, I'll be throwing simulated games at the beginning of November,' said Holmes, who would be out 12-16 months if he had surgery, but could be ready well before spring training if this program works.
Holmes, 29, met with two orthopedic surgeons, including renowned Los Angeles surgeon Neal ElAttrache and the Braves' team doctor, to get opinions. He said two of the three were more optimistic than the other about his chances of recovering from the partial tear without surgery.
There have been plenty of pitchers who've continued to compete at a high level after partial UCL tears and no surgery. Among the more notable ones were late Hall of Famer Roy Halladay, who won his second Cy Young Award four years after a partial UCL tear, Masahiro Tanaka and Ervin Santana.
Holmes said the doctors didn't cite specific pitchers who've thrived without surgery, but he said he found their stories.
'They didn't really point them out, but I obviously did my own research and saw some of those guys that had success with it,' he said. 'That was good, reading those articles. Obviously there are articles (about pitchers who) didn't have success. But I like to think I recover pretty well. And I've always had a rubber arm.
'So, I feel like I've got a pretty good chance. I mean, some people have pitched with a blown-up UCL. And mine's not blown up.'
Holmes was shown the MRI and partial tear. By then, it had been a few days since he left his July 26 start at Texas with discomfort, but not the numbness or tingling that pitchers typically describe after fully tearing the UCL. Holmes said at that point, he was already feeling much better.
He also never felt a pop in the elbow that pitchers describe from a complete tear.
After getting the MRI, Holmes began asking whether avoiding surgery was an option. After hearing it was, he decided that's the route he'd take.
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Whether he had Tommy John surgery now or in a few months, he was going to miss the entire 2026 season anyway. If in a few months the elbow is not progressing, Holmes said he could have surgery then.
But for now, he likes the idea of not missing any of next season, of being fully recovered well before spring training.
'If I can avoid the knife as long as possible, that's the route I want to take,' he said. 'I haven't had any surgeries yet, thankfully, and I'm trying to keep it that way.'
Besides doctors, Holmes also talked to three fellow Braves starting pitchers, all of whom have had Tommy John surgery years ago: Chris Sale, Spencer Schwellenbach and Spencer Strider, who had TJ surgery in 2019 and internal-brace surgery in April 2024, the latter sidelining Strider for 12 months.
'They said there's no harm in just waiting it out, seeing what happens,' Holmes said. 'So it was nice hearing that from other guys as well.'
Holmes said for now, he's mostly resting and getting treatment in the training room. The next step will be slowly working to strengthen the flexor and forearm muscles, and if all goes as planned, he'll resume throwing in six weeks.
Sale will throw live batting practice Thursday at Truist Park, the next step in his return to the rotation after being sidelined seven weeks with rib fractures.
The news wasn't nearly as positive for set-up reliever Joe Jiménez, who has spent the season on the IL recovering from October knee surgery. He had soreness in the knee during a recent bullpen session at the Braves' spring training headquarters in Florida and has been shut down for an undetermined period until the knee improves.
That decreases the chances of Jiménez returning to pitch at some point in late August or September, as he had hoped.
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With Sale, provided there are no setbacks, he could be back by late August. He might throw another live BP after Thursday, or move directly to a minor-league rehab start.
Snitker said Sale likely would make at least one minor-league rehab start before returning to the Braves' rotation. The 36-year-old lefty, who won the NL Cy Young Award last season in his first year with the Braves, was placed on the 60-day IL retroactive to June 19, so the earliest he's eligible to return is a couple of weeks.
(Top photo of Marcell Ozuna: Dale Zanine / Imagn Images)
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