The Atlanta Braves' Biggest STRENGTHS and Reason for Optimism in 2026

Despite everything going against the Atlanta Braves right now, there is still a ton of talent left on this team that is capable of doing big things in 2026. You are Locked on Braves, your daily Atlanta Braves podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. Hey, and welcome back to Lockdown Braves, part of Lockdown Sports Atlanta, where we cover your favorite Atlanta sports teams each and every day. Also part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, the number one sports podcast network. I'm your host, Jake Mastriani, been covering the Atlanta Braves in both written and now podcast form for over 10 years. And this is Lockdown Braves, your daily connection to all things Atlanta Braves. Yesterday, we looked at the negatives, and it was a negative day, so it was a good time to do so. Today, we're going to try to spin some positives. We're going to look at the strengths of this team and why you should still be very optimistic about your Atlanta Braves going into 2026. We'll also get some more of the reaction from the ProAr news and other news that we have from the Braves and around Major League Baseball on today's episode of Locked on Braves, which is brought to you by MLB The Show 26. Visit MLB theow.com/lockedon and use code locked on to unlock a pack for use in Diamond Dynasty. You can pre-order it now. It'll be available on March 17th on PlayStation 5, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch, rated E for everyone. You're planning on getting that game anyway. Help the show out as well. Make sure that you use our code and use that link. But jumping into today's episode in the topic, we're going to be looking at the Braves strengths going into 2026 because I think there are still a ton of strengths. We'll look at some of yours as well. And we'll also talk about why I think this team still has a good chance despite everything that just seems to be going wrong with this team and that the the the forces to be are just dead set on not letting us ever be happy again. As somebody told me the other day, it just it felt like Alex Andopoulos, you know, had to sell his soul for the 2021 season. It's been nothing but bad since then. I don't believe that. And I do think that this team is still very much capable of doing really good things in 2026. And I'm going to give you my top five reasons why. Number one is Ronald Akuna Jr. seems primed for another big year for an MVP type of year. And you know, I say that just with rosecolored glasses on, but he did look much better coming back from the ACL injury this time. whether you know because maybe they did wait a little bit longer, maybe he's just more prepared for the recovery process and knew how to handle this time. Whatever the case may be, without a doubt, he was much better after coming back from the second ACL injury. He had a 161 wrc plus last year in 95 games. Hit 290 with 21 home runs. He says right now he feels 200%. He looks it. I mean, I am I'm as excited as I can be about a Ronald Akuna Jr. MVP type of season coming into it. And look, not even to put that level of expectations on him. I don't think he has to be a nine-we player. I think he's I know he's capable of that, but even if he just comes in and he's a he's a six-our player, you know, he's in that MVP conversation, that is going to do wonders for this team and this Atlanta Braves offense. It's going to allow everybody else to just kind of settle into their position. Ronald back in the leadoff spot. You're just going to have him doing his thing from the top, getting on base. I think we're going to see him running a lot more. And I think that's going to completely just, you know, change the dynamic of this offense. It could be one- nothing from the jump. He's getting on base 40% of the time. I think he's going to be stealing 60% of the time. He's going to be putting he's going to be putting more pressure on the pitchers now that they know or at least we think that that we know he's going to be running a lot more. We saw how much of a benefit that was in 2023 for some of the other hitters in the lineup. Ronald one one player does not make you a great team. See Mike Trout. But having Ronald Kuna Jr. and having him back to that MVP level is just going to do tremendous job in just elevating the floor of this team and what it could be. So my number one reason for optimism and I think the number one strength of this Atlanta Braves team is Ronald Akuna Jr. having him back, having him fully healthy, the way that he looked coming back last year now having the offseason, I guess you could say he had the offseason to recover. He played winter ball. He's going to be playing in the World Baseball Classic. The guy doesn't stop playing baseball, but you know, obviously more removed from that, feeling more comfortable, feeling more confident like he did going into that 2023 season. I'm expecting a big year from Ronald. And at the very least, we get to watch him. And that's fun. And that's a reason to be optimistic and happy about the upcoming season. Number two for me is the back end of the bullpen. And we're going to look at some numbers here in a minute, too. The back end of the bullpen was actually pretty solid for the Braves last year. Didn't seem like it at times, especially not in the first half with Iggy's home run issues, but you now have two really good relievers for the eighth and ninth innings. and Suarez and reliever. You essentially have two closers for this for the eighth and ninth innings or however Walt Weiss wants to utilize Suarez. I know there was some hints the other day that maybe you're just going to use Suarez in high leverage situations. So, you know, might come in in the I doubt he'd bring him in before the seventh inning, but you might bring him in in the in the seventh inning in the big spot or maybe you save him for that eighth inning. Whatever the case may be, you now have two legitimate closer stud type pitchers in the back of your bullpen as a glaciius. You throw in Dylan Lee with that and as long as both Lee and Iggy get those home run issues under control that plagued them at times last year that that 789 group right there of Lee Suarez and a Glaciius I feel very very confident in that you get a lead to those guys that they're going to be able to close it down. So that's that's one of my key areas of strength. I'm trying to keep it optimistic here. I've let it be known that I do have some worries about the depth in that bullpen and that something does happen to one of those three key guys. Then I think this bullpen could just potentially collapse. But we're thinking optimistically. We're looking at the strengths and knowing what we know right now. Those three in the seven eight n closing games out. I feel very very confident in that group getting things done and being maybe a little bit we're always going to be stressed at the end of the games. That's just how how fans live and die by it. But I'll feel much more confident at the end of games now with those groups with that group of of pitchers right there and Lee, Iggy, and Suarez. All right, I got a couple of more strengths to get to. We'll get to some of yours as well. We'll look at some of the stats from last year at strengths we hope carry over into this season. We'll get into all that here next. College basketball is non-stop. Big games, tight spreads, momentum swings every single night. From early tip offs to late night west coast shootouts, there's always action on the board. 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You're going to get more content from myself and Lindsay Crosby. You can get all access episodes. You get text access to me and Lindsay and so much more. Go to lockdowns.supcast.com to join our everyday dare program and unlock the all access tier. You can find the link in the show notes. We're being optimistic today. We're looking at the strengths of the Atlanta Braves going into 2026. I talked about my number one is Ronald because I think he's primed for a big year and at the very least we get to watch one of the most exciting players to ever put on a Braves uniform. And number two, the back end of the bullpen. You know, the big offseason acquisition, Robert Suarez feels like ages ago, but that really just solidified, you know, him bringing Iggy back and Dylan Lee gives you a really good trio at the back end of games. Number three for me is just the overall depth of the roster. AA clearly prioritized improving the depth of this off this offseason rather than significantly going out and making some significant moves, impact moves outside of Robert Suarez. Like I just said, I would consider that an impact move for the bullpen. But in terms of the the roster and the lineup, there wasn't an impact move in my opinion. Mic Strimsky, Mauricio Don, Hassan Kim, all solid pieces, but not impact players and certainly not, you know, any of the top free agents out there. Certainly not a a huge blockbuster trade. Again, like those moves, good players, happy with them, but I think you all know what what I'm saying. Those were moves to improve the depth on this team and he did that and he and I think he did a good job of it. You couldn't predict what all has happened since then with the Kim injury and now the ProAr suspension, but I think he did a great job of building out the depth and you're already seeing that with those things that I just mentioned with Hassan Kim getting injured. Okay, step in Mauricio Dubond if he'll in at shortstop with Proofar going down. Okay, well you have Mike Drimsky who's, you know, going to be out there primarily in left field. You have a Jonah Heim who you brought in who might get some some time in the DH spot. Uh, it might open up some some of bats for others too, like a a Ben Gaml, maybe a Dominick Smith who they just brought in, maybe an Eli White who you already had. But I felt like the I felt like he did a good job of creating more depth to prepare for these types of things. And again, you don't want to be dealing with all these injuries and the suspension on March 4th or even before March 4th. That, you know, that's not that's not what you were hoping for. But I do think if this team ever gets to a fully healthy status, it is going to be a very deep team. It's just unfortunately right now you're already having to use that depth. You know, Dubon should be uh on the bench. Jonah should, you know, be on the bench. All these guys shouldn't be guys that you're having to count on right now. And you also have more flexibility in the DH spot. And it's looking like Walt Weiss, at least early indications that his lineup construction might be a little bit more analytically driven. And you're going to be able with the options that he has, you're going to be able to mix and match, guys. You're going to have be able to have legitimate lineups for right-handed pitchers and legitimate lineups for left-handed pitchers. I think they still need to find another right-handed bat, maybe an Andrew McCutchen. Maybe they just stick with an Eli White or a Kyle Farmer, but you at least are going to have options now. and you're going to have options in game to be able to to bring guys in. So, for instance, on opening day, it's a left-handed starter and Cole Reagan's most likely you're not going to start Mike Striky. You're maybe going to you might have to now depending with the probar suspension, but most likely you're not going to start a Mike Stripky. So, late in the game when Ro Reagans is out, you got a tough right-handed reliever in, you're going to be able to call on a Mike Striky off the bench. So, you're just going to be able to do a lot more things, especially once you get Murphy and Kim back. So, I I do really like the depth of this team. Again, it's just very unfortunate that you're having to already go into that depth before the season even begins. But again, hopefully we get to a place where you have at least most of your guys healthy and you have that depth on display and you're able to mix and match your lineups uh that are hopefully going to produce better results and keep guys fresh. I think that's an important thing too as well that it sounds like Weiss might be a little bit different on Brian Snicker and giving some guys rest here and there. So that's number three for me. Number three strength for the Braves is their depth. Number four for me, speaking of Walt Weiss, is this coaching staff. While I was not thrilled with the decision to stay inhouse to go with Walt Weiss, it really had nothing to do necessarily with Walt Weiss himself. I just felt like it was a great opportunity with the way the last two seasons have played out to just go outside the box and do something different to shake things up. That was always my point with the the coaching hire and why I leaned that way. It's nothing against Walt Weiss's as a manager. But instead of doing that, they stayed in house with Walt Weiss and they shook up the rest of the coaching staff and and those hires, I think they knocked it out of the park. At least as far as what we can see from an outside perspective and and what I've heard from, you know, fans and people who cover these these teams that these coaches are coming from that these were all just great hires. Tony Manelino from the Orioles, he was the interim coach last year. So, he has that experience there when Walt Weiss gets ejected because it sounds like we might see that a little bit more this year. Almost every player that they've talked to has mentioned that Walt Weiss is going to be a little bit more fiery, that he might be more of a Bobby Cox type. So, those of you who have been missing that, sounds like that could be back this year. But Tony Manselino, you also saw him, he was featured a good bit in the first episode of Behind the Brace. If you haven't checked that out, go do so. I loved everything that I was hearing from him. And when I was in Sarasota, obviously a lot of Orioles fans there, uh, because that's their their home spring training park, I was talking to a fan there and they, you know, they hated to see Manelino go. They they loved him, was hoping that he would stick around. And you almost or you do hear that sentiment from every fan base from who the Braves from which the Braves poached a coach from. You know, Mets fans were not happy to see Jeremy Hefner and Anton Richardson go, especially Richardson. Um, Tommy Watkins was beloved in Minnesota. Tommy Watkins, the new third base coach, which you heard haven't heard much about. Um, but for everything you hear from Minnesota, was a great coach there, was a great, you know, clubhouse guy, energy guy. So, that's another great hire as well. We've talked at length about Antoine Richardson. I did a whole podcast on it, why why I think he's going to be able to help elevate this offense with the base running and hopefully stealing some more bases. And then Jeremy Hefner going in 2025 was considered one of the best pitching coaches in all of all of baseball. you know, the Mets have a bit of a down year pitching wise. A lot of that, you know, due to injuries, but still just a some great hires. And so, while you did stay inhouse, you shook things up everywhere else on the coaching staff, and you went out and got some really respected coaches at the places that they were like guys that that organization didn't really want to see go in case of the Mets. I don't know what they were they were doing over there, but these were were highly respected coaches regarded as really great great coaches in their spots that they were the Braves were able to bring them in. You surround them with Walt Weiss. Look, be let's be honest. I mean, Brian Snicker, great coach going into the Braves Hall of Fame, won a World Series, but many people would tell you, and I know Snit would would say this too, a lot of his success was because of the staff that he had around him. You look at a Walt Weiss, you look at a Ron Washington, you look at an Eric Young Jr., you know, an Eddie Perez, all the guys that he's had on that coaching staff, you know, sometimes it is just who you you build around you. And I think the great Braves have done a fantastic job of building a great coaching staff around Walt Weiss. Year two of Tim Hires, we need to see a little bit bit there. Um, but you're also going to be getting more help from Chipper. He said he's going to be more involved this year, too. So, I think that's a positive. So, I I think maybe I should have moved this one up higher is that the more I talk about it, I think one reason to be really optimistic about this upcoming season is this coaching staff. Um, I know that's not, you know, it's not the not the thing that I guess fans really want to gush over or that's going to really get them excited about an upcoming season, but I am I am very excited about this coaching staff and the job that I think they're going to do. And then number five for me, I talked about the depth overall more so on the position player side, but number five for me was also the depth of starters. And this might seem a little hypocritical since on yesterday's podcast when we talked about the weaknesses, I talked about I think it was number two overall for me, my my second biggest reason for concern and weakness was the rotation just because there are so many question marks. But there's not a lack of guys. There is certainly not a lack of guys. is there's just question marks on these guys, right? But every team is going to have to battle attrition in their starting rotation. There's going to be many teams that throughout the year they're they're throwing out fourth, fifth spot starters on the regular. That is just the world that we live in today in in starting with starting pitching that every rotation is going to have to be dealing without outside of the the Dodgers and their their fifth, six, and spot starters are Sai Young winners, but every team is going to have to be dealing with attrition in the starting rotation and the Braves are already dealing with it. But I feel pretty confident in the fourth, fifth spot starters that the Braves have right now and that they already have a long list of guys that can make starts for you. I believe it was 18 19 guys the Braves had to use as starters. Last year, you know, the year before that, I believe it was 13. You you need somewhere from 11 to 15 guys to make a start for you every year. And I think the Braves have that. Again, these aren't ne I'm not saying all these guys are necessarily great. I'm just saying they at least already have guys who you know can fill in and make starts for you and hopefully can come in and make some quality starts for you. You have Sales Strider, Lopez, Holmes, Elder Wentz is the guys that you're primarily going to be counting on, but then you also have a Martine Perez. You have a Jose Suarez, assuming you can, you know, keep both of those guys around. You have a Carlos Carrasco. I'd probably put him at the bottom of this list, but you do have him at least for now. And then you have prospects like Ddier Fuentes, J.R. Richie, Lucas Braun. That's 12 right there that I just mentioned. And like I said, you you normally in a good season, you're going to need somewhere between 11 and 15 starters throughout the year. Then you also have some more young guys that could be ready later on like an Owen Murphy, like a Garrett Bowman, a Luke Sard, and then you hope to get some guys back in the second half like Spencer Swelenbach, AJ Smith, Shaw, Hursten Walder. You're I wouldn't be counting on it, but you're hoping you can get those guys back at some point in the second half. That's 18 starting pitchers that you have in your organization right now that you have some level of confidence. Again, I don't want a ton of starts from Jose Perez or Carlos Carrasco, but if you had to in a pinch as a spot starter, you could do that. And for everybody else on there, you know, Martin Perez, Joey Wentz, you know, Fuentes, Richie Braun, I have some level of confidence that those guys can come in and give you some quality starts. But point being, overall point that I'm making here is that I don't I don't know that there's too many teams that have 18 starting pitchers that they they feel some level of confidence in could start a game for them in the upcoming season. And the Braves have that. So again, we can we can argue and we can debate on whether or not this is great depth in the starting rotation, but they definitely have a ton of depth in the starting rotation. Let's look at some stats from last year as far as some some good things the Braves did. we're hoping to see continue over this year. On the offensive side of things, the Rays were third in walk rate last year. We saw them have a much more patient approach and take their walks. Hopefully that continues with the increased power coming back. They still hit the ball extremely hard. They were 10th in hard hit rate. They were 11th in barrel rate. They were seventh in X velocity. They still hit the ball extremely hard. Uh they were ninth in batting average when ahead. So continuing to to pour it on when you're up. And then they were ninth in batting average with two outs. And didn't that feel like it a lot last year? Not that they had a lot of clutch two out hits, but they'd get that runner at third with less than two outs. They wouldn't come through, but then with two outs, they would they would get it done. They'd wait to two outs for some reason. Uh, you know, however you get it done, you get it done. But, you know, would rather would rather you get it done with less than two outs. Uh, and then average on first pitch, they were six. Look, this is an aggressive team. It it has been for many years now. And it and it works, but you have to have that game plan. They have again sixth in batting average on first pitch last year. Go up there looking for a pitch, attack it, and you don't get it or you miss it, then you battle back in the count. And I thought we saw some some good things with that last year with the Atlanta Braves. On the pitching side of things last year, the pitching staff was ninth in Kernai. They were fourth in quality starts. I had to double and triple check this one. They were fourth in quality starts last year. I would not have guessed that. Everybody else who was top 10 in that category last year won at least 80 games and six of the teams in the top 10 in quality starts last year made the postseason. So, incredible job by the Braves starters in going deep into games and keeping them in the game. That offense obviously really hurt. Uh average in late and close situations. They were fourth but 28th in walks. Walks really killed Braves pitching staff last year. They did a great job in late close situations, not giving up a ton of hits, but they hurt themselves with a lot of walks. Uh average in the seventh inning or later, they were fifth and just ninth in walks. So, like I said alluded to at the beginning of the episode back into the bullpen was was actually pretty good for the Braves last year. Their average with no outs was six. They had the sixth best batting average against with no outs, but one out, two outs, they weren't able to get off the field. That's where it really hurt them last season. And then the first pitch of an a bat they had the ninth lowest batting average against or yeah ninth lowest batting average against. So that's an area where they also shined last season. All right. Next we'll get into the comments from everyone about Jerick Proar. Wall Weiss, Matt Olsen, Spencer Strider all spoke about it on Wednesday. We'll discuss that here next. Today I am thrilled to be talking about our sponsor MLB. The show 26. The greatest game in baseball is back with its newest installment. Baseball fans are going to have a hard time pulling themselves away from the game. Myself included. 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And if you're a gamer and a baseball fan, or maybe you just want to enjoy America's favorite pastime in a new and exciting way, you are going to absolutely love MLB The Show 26. Play as your favorite team and franchise players and see if you have what it takes to win your own World Series. Visit MLB The Show.com/lockedon. Use the code locked on to unlock a pack for use in Diamond Dynasty. An internet connection is required for that. But if you're buying the game anyway, help us out. Use the code, use our link, and you will get to enjoy MLB the show starting on March 17th. You can pre-order it now, but it'll be available on March 17th on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S, and X, Nintendo Switch, and the game is rated E for everyone. All right, wrapping things up here with a little bit of news. Everybody did speak on ProFAR on the ProAR situation uh on Wednesday. Uh Walt Weiss, you know, use the word disappointing a lot. uh you talked about avoiding the distractions that that was his message to the team you know on day one of spring training avoiding the distractions and this is just another case of that sounds like all of the players are kind of holding back expressing their feelings until the grievance is settled and look I know we want we want Chris Sale to come on there and say Proofar is a bum he let us down how could he do this we're we're done with him that's just not gonna happen and honestly I don't I don't know that it should happen I know we feel like we want that to happen as fans because we're frustrated and that's how we're feeling, but I just I don't think the players are going to come out and do that and I don't think they have to. Um, you know, it it might be good if one of the leaders just did take the charge on that like Chris Sale. I think he's probably the leader that you would look to and, you know, say we're extremely disappointed in Jerick Proofar. Um, you know, right now they're all just saying disappointing, but they're not saying who or what they're disappointed in. Although you can read it in their tones and what they're talking about. Um, but I think a lot of them, you know, are waiting till the appeals process is over. Nobody really expressed any personal feelings on it or on jerks and profar. Credit to Mark Bowman. You know, he's been a lone wolf for a good bit now. As far as the beat writers for pressing, you know, on some of these questions and trying to get them to, you know, invoke some sort of personal feeling on it. I think he's done a pretty good job over the last couple weeks as well just kind of asking those questions. He even asked about the radar gun for Spencer Strider and all of that. Uh so so props to to Mark Bowman for doing that. Um Weiss talked about it, you know, creating more opportunities. We discussed that in yesterday's podcast. Uh and then a lot of the players, you know, Cell, Strider, Riley, and Olsen all interviewed, talked about it, all kind of had the same sentiments as Walt Weiss. They all used the same language. You know, we're we're going to move forward. We're going to keep working and preparing for the season. Uh and it's still the same goal. You heard that from almost every player. you know, we're going to keep working. Uh we're going to avoid distraction. You know, we've dealt with a lot of adversity already on this team. Uh we're just going to keep working and we have the same goal in mind. You know, it was that that same kind of rhetoric that you heard from every player out there. Uh so, we'll see again what happens in the coming days if you know the appeals process goes through. Maybe it changes. Maybe you actually get a player to to speak their real feelings on it. I think you know how they feel. They feel the same way we do where they're they're disappointed at Proar. They can't believe he let this happen again and it hurts the team. But what else are you going to do but you know try to flush it as quickly as you can. Put the distraction aside and move forward. So I think that's what the players are trying to do and and as fans we have to to do that as well. Provar is gone. Don't even don't even think about him. He's just not part of this team anymore. Uh Micah Striky got pulled from the lineup on Wednesday. Trying not to overreact here, but with the Braves luck here lately, that's not good. Hopefully, nothing major. If we we get an update on that, I'll let you know as the recording of this at, you know, for the 12:01 p.m. Central here. We don't have an update on why he was pulled from the lineup. Uh Ben Gaml replaced him, so maybe there's a maybe there's a bit of a sign for you on Ben Gaml getting a shot of being the next next man up there. Uh but again hopefully nothing major for Mike Gstrimsky. Hopefully just precautionary. The Braves did make a couple of roster moves. They optioned Roly Munoz to Gwynette and they reassigned Garrett Balman and Owen Murphy to minor league camp. So the big league camp is now sitting at 59 players. You could still see those guys in spring training. It's just now they're at at minor league camp, but they could still appear in games. You've already seen players at minor league camp appear in spring training games. So it doesn't mean they're just completely gone. Uh but it it means they're not making the roster on opening day. At least not right now. Uh, as far as some news around Major League Baseball, Hunter Green having an MRI on his elbow. Hate to hear that. Junior Kimro playing for the Dominican Republic had a 110 mile per hour single. Single, 112.5 mile per hour single, 108, what I what am I even saying? Single, a 110 single, a 112 single, a 108 home run, and a 118.5 single. Funny that the lowest exolocity was the home run. Launch angle does matter. Uh, and then Team USA opened their game with a Bobby Wit single, a Bryce Harper double, an Aaron Judge two-run single, and then Kyle Schwarber with a walk. This World Baseball Classic is going to be so much fun seeing all these all-star teams going against each other. I cannot wait for things to get started this week. Uh, it wasn't just Jerick Proar. Uh, Rioan Roas of the Phillies also tested positive for PED and was suspended 80 games. He's also appealing. Not as big of a loss to the Phillies as Proofar is to the Braves. Uh but again, it wasn't just ProFar that got suspended on Tuesday. And then Francisco Lindor played catch for the first time since his hammate surgery. I think it's unlikely he's ready for opening day. But the Braves don't play the Mets until June. That was absolutely insane as I was looking through the schedule. Lindor should definitely be back and have his strength at that point. All right, that will do it for this episode of Unlocked on Braves. Thanks so much for joining us today. Hit that subscribe button if you haven't already. Hit the thumbs up button, leave us a comment down below. Uh, make sure that you follow us on social media at shortsort stopped at lockdon_bra onx. If you're on the audio side, you can help out, too. Just leave a fivestar review on Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast. You want to be part of our everyday program. Make sure you go to lockdowns.supcast.com. Appreciate all your support, all the things that you do here to support us at locked on braves. Got a lot of content coming your way as we get geared up for the season and obviously into the season. A lot of postcast. Lindsay's back. News, breaking news there. Lindsay is back. We'll be doing the postcast again this season. So again, make sure you subscribe here to Lockdown Braves and Locked on Sports Atlanta for that. Thanks for making us your first listen of the day. Go check out Locked on MLB for your second listen of the day. and we'll talk to you next.

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