ATLANTA -- Ozzie Albies hit the first of three home runs on Opening Day and Dominic Smith hit one of the most emotionally stirring home runs possible in Saturday night’s thrilling comeback win.
But the Braves’ bid to begin the season with three straight wins was erased by Sunday afternoon’s 4-1 loss to the Royals at Truist Park.
But there was a lot to like and digest from Walt Weiss’ first series as Atlanta’s manager.
1. Back, back, back ... what?!
A portion of the Braves’ bid to begin the season with a three-game sweep died on the center-field warning track. Ronald Acuña Jr. was surprised when Royals center fielder Kyle Isbel comfortably secured his Statcast-projected 402-foot drive in the third inning. The ball had a 105.9 mph exit velocity and a 30 degree launch angle. Per Baseball Savant, balls hit with a 106 degree exit velo and 30 degree launch angle resulted in a home run 82.5% (33 of 40) of the time last year. Three of those balls resulted in doubles -- and just four were outs.
But Michael Harris II had even more reason to be frustrated in the fifth inning, when he hit a ball 108.5 mph with a 27 degree launch angle, and then watched Isbel catch it 396 feet from the plate. Balls hit with the combo of 109 mph and 27 degrees resulted in a home run 97.1% (33 of 34) of the time last season.
“We probably lost a few homers with the wind knocking the ball down,” Weiss said. “But that’s the way it goes.”
2. Bashing Baldwin
Drake Baldwin led the Grapefruit League with a 72.7% hard-hit rate, and six of the first nine balls he’s put in play during the regular season have fit into this category. (Statcast classifies a hard-hit ball as anything with an exit velocity of at least 95 mph.) That includes the 107.6 mph home run Baldwin hit in Sunday’s eighth inning.
Baldwin was used as the designated hitter on Opening Day, but he was behind the plate for the final two games of the series. He struggled against opposing basestealers last year, but the reigning NL Rookie of the Year has also made some strong defensive improvements since retiring just 13 of the 101 opponents who tried to steal against him in 2025.
Baldwin nabbed one of the two Royals who attempted to steal against him on opening weekend. He recorded a pop time of 1.90 seconds and a 78.8 mph throw that denied Issac Colllins’ bid to steal second in Saturday’s fifth inning. Both numbers were improvements on Baldwin's 2025 averages of 1.95 seconds and 77 mph, respectively.
3. Early encouragement
It’s just one series, but it’s encouraging that Albies, Harris and Austin Riley have each tallied four hits already. Harris owned MLB’s worst OPS (.551) at last year’s All-Star break and Albies (.606) was just a few spots above him. As for Riley, he, too, is looking to bounce back after two injury-marred seasons.
Weiss’ confidence in Albies, especially from the right side of the plate, was confirmed when the second baseman batted third in Friday’s series opener. But it’s worth noting that Albies singled in his first two at-bats against right-hander Seth Lugo on Sunday. The switch-hitting veteran’s early success enhances the hope that he can bounce back after a 2024 left wrist fracture burdened him for most of last season.
4. Fuentes’ season debut
The Braves’ bullpen will be fresh for Monday’s series opener against the A’s courtesy of the four solid innings that Didier Fuentes provided in relief of Grant Holmes. Fuentes allowed one run in the eighth, but he surrendered just two hits and recorded four strikeouts. The 20-year-old may be asked to make a couple more long-relief appearances as the Braves deal with the challenge of playing a game on 13 straight days to open the season.
If the Braves stick with the plan to send Fuentes to Triple-A Gwinnett in a couple of weeks, the young hurler can continue to work on his splitter, which is essentially his changeup. How much confidence has he gained with the pitch? Well, he used it 10 times and went to his slider just nine times during Sunday’s 56-pitch effort. He has steadily enhanced his usage since not even showing that offspeed pitch during his March 7 spring debut.
5. Will they run more?
Weiss has made it clear his club won’t rely on the long ball this year. But Atlanta's only stolen-base attempt thus far was the unsuccessful one Albies had on Friday.
“We had a caught stealing and that’s OK,” Weiss said. “I'm willing to trade a few outs here and there on the bases to create an identity. We want to put heat on people, whether it's in the box or whether it's on the bases. We have the personnel to do that.”