NORTH PORT, Fla. -- Spring Training numbers might not always matter. But now that Statcast gathers data from every Grapefruit League and Cactus League game, we have more opportunities to have fun with these numbers.
Here is a look at some of the most interesting stats, metrics and trends produced by Braves players thus far:
Radar gun king
Robert Suarez entered Monday having thrown three pitches 100 mph or harder, and the 10 four-seamers he had thrown averaged 99.2 mph. This is in line with what we saw from the top offseason addition last year, when his heater averaged 98.6 mph. So far so good for the veteran reliever, who notched a National League-best 40 saves for the Padres last year.
Radar gun prince
Suarez is the only Braves player to generate a triple-digit reading on the radar gun thus far. But Didier Fuentes (Braves' No. 3 prospect) opened some eyes on Saturday, when he registered 98-98.8 mph with seven of the 20 fastballs he threw against the Orioles. The 20-year-old right-hander induced a whiff with seven of the 10 swings taken against his four-seamer. Yeah, just one of his four strikeouts came against a player who has reached the Majors and he was facing a split-squad lineup. But the combination of his velo and four-seam whiff rate are the kinds of numbers that draw attention this time of year. It seems safe to say Fuentes will be better prepared if needed in the Majors again this year.
Crushed it
If you still haven’t come around to liking exit velocity, just look at this category as the one where we look at who is knocking the snot out of the ball. It’s Ronald Acuña Jr. ... right? Wrong. The hardest-hit ball by a Braves player this spring has been the 112.8 mph groundout by DaShawn Keirsey Jr. on March 1 against the Twins. Hey, at least you had part of the name right with that initial guess.
This is not the most interesting statistical information you’ll read about Keirsey in this story. I promise.
Anyhow, Acuña’s 112.4 mph, 395-foot single against the Twins on Feb. 22 ranks as the second-hardest-hit ball by a Braves player thus far. How do you record a 395-foot single? I don’t know. But if I could hit a ball 112.4 mph, I’d probably admire it just like Acuña did before it hit the left-center-field wall.
Crushing it
Everyone is capable of crushing a pitch from time to time, right? But Drake Baldwin has been putting a hurting on most every ball he puts in play. Baldwin entered Monday having put 14 balls in play. Seven of those had an exit velocity of at least 100 mph, and all but one of them came off his bat at 95 mph or higher. His lowest exit velo was a 93.7 mph flyout to center field.
Any ball hit 95 mph or harder is considered to be a hard-hit ball. So, if Baldwin maintains this 92.9% hard-hit rate, the NL Rookie of the Year Award he garnered last year might not be the only trophy on his mantle by the end of this season.
MIP or MVP?
Ask many of the Braves who they are most excited about seeing during the upcoming season and Michael Harris II is the common answer. Harris had MLB’s worst OPS (.551) during last season’s first half, and then was one of the game’s best offensive threats (1.139 OPS) for the first month after the break. What has prevented the 2022 NL Rookie of the Year from being consistent?
Well, Harris was drafted out of high school in 2019. So, he played pro ball for a couple months that year and COVID erased the Minor League season in 2020. He experienced his first and only full Minor League season in 2021 and then was in the Majors by May 2022, with just two months of experience above the High-A level.
It has taken time for Harris to learn things like plate discipline. He’s never had a walk rate above 4.9 percent and he walked just 2.5 percent of the time last year. So, there’s reason to be excited about the fact he walked in three of his first 18 plate appearances this spring.
Or maybe we should just be excited about what stolen-base guru Antoan Richardson can do to help Harris, who swiped his second and third bags of the spring during Monday’s 9-5 win vs. Minnesota. A 30/30 season seems quite possible for the Braves outfielder.
Speaking of Keirsey
The 28-year-old outfielder hit .107 with a .317 OPS in 88 plate appearances (74 games) for the Twins in 2025. How many non-pitchers have hit less than .110 with an OPS lower than .320 over at least 70 games and 80 plate appearances in a season? Just one. That’s right. Keirsey isn’t just the Spring Training exit velo king.