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Ronald Acuna is on pace to join 2 Braves among the 5 youngest to hit 100 HRs....
Eddie Mathews is the 3rd youngest player in MLB history to hit his 100th HR at 22 years 292 days old. Jones is 5th, he hit his 100th at 23 years 62 days old.
Acuna turns 21 on Dec. 18th, he has 26 Hrs in a partial season. His rate of a Hr every 15.5 at bats would give him about 38 over a full season.
If he doesn't hit another HR this season and gets 38 over each of the next 2 seasons he'd have 101 at no older than 22 years 290 days old. That would put him as the 3rd youngest in history to 100 and would give The Braves 3 of the top 5 all time.
Andruw was the youngest in NL history to 300 Hrs, that is almost impossible to beat.
An interesting bit I noticed while checking these stats. Hank Aaron hit his 700th HR at 9 days older than Ruth hit his 700th, he did so 8 days further into his 21st season than Ruth hit his.
Comments
This kids is amazing. If the Braves can get an ace next year, and a closer...and a little bp help, and keep their core together, they'll go to the series. Acuna will lead the way. Future HOF.
It’s great to see the Braves being relevant again. Love the enthusiasm that the young players bring to the team. Acuna has been everything that he was made out to be, he’s going to be fun to watch in the playoffs and the years to come. It’s going to be interesting to see which starters are selected to pitch in the playoffs, think Newcomb and Touki will be the odd men out. If Vizcaino can get back to form, and Sobotka, Biddle, and Minter can throw strikes, our bullpen may be good enough for us to make a good showing in the playoffs. The Braves look set to be in contention regularly for the foreseeable future, should be exciting.
AA has made some great moves already. But it is time to get a real bullpen. If we had a reliable bullpen, we'd have run away from the pack long ago. I'm wondering if Swanson is the answer at short. His hitting just hasn't come around and he is near the bottom of the league in defense - fielding %. 2019 could be the critical year to decide on him. Maybe move Camargo to short and try Riley at 3rd if DS continues to flounder at the plate.
Swanson is a big disappointment so far. I agree a decision on his future value has to be made before long, certainly before his next contract.
@donm I couldn't agree more. The pen has been atrocious this year and cost us a lot of games. And the point about Swanson is well-taken. Camargo could move to short w/ no problem and the hole at 3rd could be filled relatively easily.
But here's a question. With the way pitching staffs are built these days, if you had to choose between an ace at the front end or a shut-down closer, which would you take?
@WCDawg Something about Dansby reminds me of Frenchy. Go ahead and move him and get on with it.
Touki could be a game changer out of the pen in the playoffs a la David Price as a rookie when Tampa made their World Series run. The rotation will be Folty, Gausman, Sanchez, Teheran. Adding Touki and maybe Newcomb to the bullpen could actually turn that unit into a strength. It’s going to be fun.
The relievers have actually held up better than I expected after being overused and being very shaky early in the summer.
I've looked at the 4 other teams that seem playoff bound in The NL, we are very close statistically in both pitching and hitting to The Brewers and The Cardinals, only The Dodgers seem to have a big edge in pitching.
Most of the top Starting pitchers are on teams like The Mets, The Phillies and Washington that will miss the playoffs.
@BoroDawg Yeah, I think at this point you have to consider Nuke for middle relief. I love the way Gausman eats innings. That will be crucial in the post-season. Unfortunately, Teheran is a weak link. I would consider replacing him in the rotation w/ Touki. I'm not joking. A gamble? Yeah, but this year, there's not a lot to lose. They're ahead of schedule.
Give me the closer. Even aces don't pitch complete games these days. I'd take a closer and a reliable set up guy. I'm not sure I agree that the hole at 3rd (if Camargo moved to short) could be filled "easily". I know they have high hopes for Reilly but he's still way unproven. I have hopes the youngsters (Allard, Toussaint, Fried, Soroka and a couple of others) can make a good rotation along with Folty, Newcomb, and a re-surgent Gausman. I have such mixed feelings on Teheran. Definitely not a # 1 (wrong mind set type guy I think) but maybe lower in the rotation. Tired of waiting for him to blossom. I think he is what his stats say he is....an up and down guy who can bunt good. Strangely, starting pitching doesn't concern me all that much.
Yeah, you can't discount the overuse of the pen. I really think that the starters these days are babied. Tom Verducci wrote a largely ignored but incredibly insightful piece several years back and showed statistically that starters in past eras who threw more innings remained healthier. I understand teams wanting to protect their investments, but I'm not sure that they're going about it the right way. I'll see if I can't find that article.
I'm right there with you. I still weep at the loss of Kimbrell. Starting pitching ain't what it used to be, for better or worse.
As far as 3rd goes..."relatively" easy.
I get what you're saying, but the Braves have some room for movement coming up. It'll be interesting.
Sorry guys, I couldn't find the source Verducci article, but this refers to it and also sources a study.
http://www.sportingnews.com/us/mlb/news/pitch-count-innings-limits-pitcher-injuries-study-tommy-john/r06itvd2g6xl1jmknl12g27lc
Going to have to disagree with ya’ll about replacing Swanson. His batting average isn’t where you would want it, but it’s not bad for a shortstop hitting in the eight hole of your lineup. His RBI total isn’t bad, and he’s a much better hitter late in the game and with runners in scoring position. I think he’s one of the most clutch players on the team and is a great base runner. Camargo’s a better hitter, but he has nowhere near the range that Swanson has, would probably lose as much on defense that you would gain on offense, imo.
@coastaldawg The weird thing about Dansby's errors are when they happen. They always seem to happen at terrible moments. I would move him if the deal was right, but that's only because we're pretty solid elsewhere in the field.