Three games into his new place in the Atlanta Braves’ batting order, Nate McLouth is starting to find a rhythm at the plate. Since being moved down to the #8 hole in the lineup, McLouth has gone 6-11 with three doubles, two runs, an RBI and a walk. He has hit .545 with a .583 OBP and .818 slugging %.
What is amazing about this tear, is that McLouth has raised his average from .212 to .270 in three games. He is also third on the team right now in batting average, trailing Brian McCann and Chipper Jones (excluding David Ross).
One of the problems with the Braves so far, is that they have had only one or two guys hitting at a time. The other problem is that their hitters are not getting on base. They own the worst OBP in the National League. There are only three teams with a worse OBP than the Braves in the entire MLB (Tampa Bay, Minnesota and Baltimore).
These two elements compound the problem that the Braves have of not having many RBI opportunities. So, when a hitter is hitting, like McLouth, he has no one to knock in.
The positive thing for the Braves is that McLouth has found his stroke. All it took was almost getting hit intentionally by Ted Lilly to get him going. Hopefully, these three games are just a snippet of what is to come.
Original Story:
http://www.tomahawktalk.com/2011/04/d...
