ATLANTA -- Matt Olson belted the most majestic of the three home runs the Braves hit during a six-run sixth that propelled them to an 11-5 win over the Guardians on Friday night at Truist Park. But Atlanta’s two most encouraging homers were drilled by the previously tough-luck duo of Ronald Acuña Jr. and Michael Harris II.
“Now, we see our guys starting to swing the bat, and we get a glimpse of how special this offense can be if it's hitting on all cylinders,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said.
Weiss’ first two weeks as Atlanta’s manager have gone as well as anybody could have expected. The rotation that was depleted by injuries during Spring Training ranks fifth in the Majors with a 2.85 starting pitching ERA. The bullpen leads the Majors with a 1.30 ERA. The staff as a whole has posted an MLB-best 2.25 ERA.
Could there be some regression? Maybe, but Spencer Strider could be activated from the injured list within the next couple of weeks, and the metrics indicate the staff hasn’t exactly been lucky. Atlanta entered Friday ranked third in the Majors with a .283 xwOBA. In other words, the strong results have aligned with the quality of pitching this staff has provided thus far.
But the better question is, how much better might the 9-5 Braves be offensively over the next few weeks and months? Atlanta entered Friday ranked fourth in the Majors with a .335 xwOBA. But Acuña, Harris and Austin Riley all had an OPS below .600.
Acuña and Harris are now north of that figure. Riley’s OPS improved to .598 after he tallied two hits for the second time in three days.
It always feels like it’s just a matter of time before a healthy Acuña gets on a roll. And while this season is still young, there was still some reason for the 2023 National League MVP to be anxious as he entered Friday hitting .204 with a .576 OPS. So it’s safe to say he felt relief when he singled home a run in the third and then finally ended his home run drought in the sixth.
Acuña’s sixth-inning leadoff homer came in his 52nd at-bat of the season. This was his second-longest homerless stretch to begin a season. He went 65 at-bats before finally homering in 2024.
“I’m so excited to hit a home run,” Acuña said. “Baseball is hard sometimes. You’re feeling good and things don’t happen. That’s part of the game. You just continue to play hard.”
While the traditional statistics highlighted Acuña’s slow start, some metrics indicated the tide was about to turn for both him and Harris.
Acuña entered Friday with a .265 slugging percentage and a .515 expected slugging percentage (xSLG). Based on the quality of his contact, this number should have been closer to the latter one.
Harris actually had an even greater discrepancy between his two numbers. His .298 slugging percentage was 274 points lower than his .572 xSLG.
So the 2022 NL Rookie of the Year felt his own sense of relief when he drilled a two-run homer over the right-center-field wall to cap Atlanta’s six-run sixth. It was his second homer and just his third extra-base hit of the young season.
“It’s always good to get good results out of a swing,” Harris said. “It’s a long season. I’ve had some bad luck early on, but it will turn around. I’ve just got to keep on swinging.”
As for Olson, he has spent the past couple of weeks conjuring memories of his 53-homer season in 2023. The veteran first baseman’s Statcast-projected 441-foot two-run homer in the sixth inning was his fourth dinger.
“We’re just out there having fun,” Harris said. “Everybody is trying to do a job, and everybody is trying to be a hero. You’ve just got to be the next man up to do the job.”