Braves Recent Winning In Spite of Poor Offense Instead of a Resurgence

Let us know if you've heard this discussion point before: The Atlanta Braves' bats aren't doing well. There are only so many different ways to say it. Might as well just come out and state the obvious from the beginning. What's less of an obvious point is how they won eight of their last 12 games with so many bats performing as poorly as they are.

Three key bats have been carrying most of the weight, while others have managed to be timely. The latter bats have only strung together a couple hits, but they happen to get them at opportune moments.

There's an argument to be made that timely bats are better than anything. However, consistent bats bring consistent timely hitting.

Here are the sluggish bats in the Braves' lineup over the last 12 games in ascending order by OPS, with batting averages included:

• Michael Harris: .152 average, .457 OPS
• Ozzie Albies: .188 average, .491 OPS
• Alex Verdugo: .233 average, .536 OPS
• Sean Murphy: .250 average, .586 OPS
• Austin Riley: .240 average, .598 OPS
• Marcell Ozuna:  .234 average, .645 OPS
• Drake Baldwin: .214 average, .655 OPS

Believe it or not, Riley was doing better during the losing streak than he has been since. He had a .767 OPS during the seven-game losing streak.

Not all of these stats are created equal. Some of these guys have still had their moments as of late. Ozuna has 12 RBIs over his last 12 games, Baldwin has seven and Riley has five over that same time. Albies played a role in the sweep of the Mets last week. Verdugo had a couple of solid moments, too.

There are more examples of timely hits than those listed - we can split hairs all day if you want this to be a 3,000-word research paper. You get the idea, though. There are moments, but no consistency with these moments.

Meanwhile, here are the bats carrying the weight this month:

• Eli White: .353 average, .882 OPS
• Matt Olson: .288 average, .959 OPS
• Ronald Acuña Jr.: .409 average, 1.212 OPS

Yeah, that’s right. The first baseman that the fans fault for not being his predecessor is one of the few getting things done. Olson's 162-game RBI pace since June 1 is 153, which would be a career high. If he continues this pace for the remainder of the regular season, he will reach 40 home runs.

Olson also turned up the dial since the seven-game losing streak ended. He's batted .326 with a 1.003 OPS, two home runs and 12 RBIs in his last 12 games. Hate to break it to some of you, but while he can have his own share of inconsistencies, this guy is good and performing when needed most.

Acuña doesn't need much more of a deep dive. He's an MVP winner who is playing, once again, like an MVP winner. White might be the most surprising one with how poorly the outfield has looked outside of Acuña. To his credit, his two-run home run against the Brewers on June 9 to snap the aforementioned losing streak put the game away. His sample size is much smaller, but he gets the credit for doing his job.

This is stating the obvious, but consistency will have to come about across more of the lineup if the Braves want to get back on track. Two or three bats slumping can be absorbed with good performances by the others. The reverse isn't the case.

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