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Going into the first weekend of June, almost baseball experts and fans agreed that the Atlanta Braves (33-23) would be easily one of the top teams in the MLB and the leader of the NL East. Not many of these same experts believed that the Arizona Diamondbacks (34-23) would be one of the top teams in the league and tie the Los Angeles Dodgers (34-23) for first place of the NL West.
This is a testament to the efficient roster building that both the Braves and the Diamondbacks have created from free agency and their farm systems. They are some of the top teams in the league in batting, fielding, and pitching. It also helps that most of their stars are under the age of 30 years old.
As of Friday morning, the Braves are ranked third in the NL in runs accounted for (282), sixth in hits accounted for (485), second in home runs accounted for (92), fifth in batting average (.256), fifth in on-base percentage (.328) and second in slugging percentage (.458). A huge reason for the Braves’ incredible performance in the batting game is the play of right fielder Ronald Acuna Jr., who has accounted for a team-high 48 runs, a team-high 72 hits, a team-high 16 double-base hits, 11 home runs, 31 RBIs, 29 walks, only 34 strikeouts, a team-high batting average of .324, a team-high on-base percentage of .406 and a team-high slugging percentage of .554.
Five players for the Braves have accumulated a batting average of .250 as well as seven players that have accounted for an on-base percentage higher than .290. The Braves are an efficient hitting team that can get on base as well as account for big plays. Atlanta has six players that have accounted for 10 or more home runs.
First baseman Matt Olsen had accounted for 44 runs, 49 hits, 10 double-base hits, a team-high 17 home runs, a team-high 42 RBIs, 39 walks, a batting average of .233, and an on-base percentage of .357. Third baseman Austin Riley is picking up right where he left off his 2022 MLB All-Star season through the first two months of this 2023 MLB Season. Through 56 games this season, Riley has accounted for 31 runs, 57 hits, 11 double-base hits, 10 home runs, 29 RBIs, 22 walks, a batting average of .263, and an on-base percentage of .332.
The Diamondbacks are one of the best batting teams in the entire MLB this season thanks to the young stars throughout the field. Arizona ranks second in the NL in runs accounted for (287), second in hits accounted for (506), second in double-base hits accounted for (113), sixth in home runs accounted for (65), second in stolen bases (53), third in fewest strikeouts encountered (431), second in batting average (.262) and seventh in on-base percentage (.325).
Four players for the Diamondbacks have accumulated 30 or more runs this season with three of them being under the age of 30. One player that has been playing at a high level since the start of the season is 22-year-old outfielder Corbin Carroll. Through 54 games this season, Carroll has accounted for 35 runs, 54 hits, 14 double-base hits, nine home runs, 24 RBIs, 16 stolen bases, 23 walks, 43 strikeouts, a batting average of .287, and an on-base percentage of .372.
The over/under of the first game of the weekend is set at 8.5 runs, which is one of the highest-scoring games on Saturday. This series has the potential to be one of the best series on the weekend and a great kickoff to the month of June in the MLB. The first game of the series on Friday already started with a big surprise as the Diamondbacks took the first game with a 3-2 score at home.
This series is more than likely going to be a high-scoring series for the remaining two games. If the pitching performance is anything like Friday’s game, then it could be surprisingly low. To go along with the stout batting, both teams have reliable pitching units.
In Saturday’s matchup, the Braves are set to start Spencer Strider (2.97 ERA in 63.2 innings) while the Diamondbacks are set to start Ryne Nelson (5.37 ERA in 57 innings). Strider is the Brave’s second-most reliable pitcher on the team while Nelson has given up a significant amount of runs through their top four main starting pitchers.
On Sunday, the Diamondbacks will start their ace pitcher in Zac Gallen (2.72 ERA in 72.2 innings) while the Braves are set to start Michael Soroka (6.00 ERA in 6.0 innings). Gallen has been one of the big driving forces behind Arizona’s talented pitching team. The Brave’s bullpen has been hit with injuries lately with some of their starting pitchers out.
It is the pitching matchups that are likely to give Atlanta the win on Saturday to tie the series before ultimately being won by Arizona on Sunday.
Atlanta Braves | Head-to-Head | Arizona Diamondbacks |
Brian Snitker | Managers | Torey Lovullo |
Leaders | ||
Ronald Acuna Jr. (.324) | Batting Avg | Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (.309) |
Matt Olsen (17) | Home Runs | Christian Walker (12) |
Matt Olsen (42) | RBIs | Christian Walker (35) |
Ronald Acuna Jr. (.406) | OBP | Geraldo Perdomo (.377) |
Ronald Acuna Jr. (72) | Hits | Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (60) |
Spencer Strider & Charlie Morton (5) | Wins | Zac Gallen (7) |
Jesse Chavez (1.88) | ERA | Miguel Castro (2.22) |
Spencer Strider (106) | Strikeouts | Zac Gallen (82) |
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Michael Hanich is a sports journalist/analyst with a wide variety of experience in the newspaper and digital field. He has a love for all sports. The leagues that he covers are College Football, the NFL, the NBA, the NHL, College Basketball (men’s and women’s), the MLB, Lacrosse, Volleyball, and the WNBA.
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