Bryce Elder Excels as Braves Continue Splendid Start to Season

In the latest edition of the Hammer Territory Podcast, Shawn Coleman and Stephen Tolbert break down a strong start from Bryce Elder in a shutout win over the Athletics. Another big factor was Mauricio Dubon, as the Braves continue receiving big moments from unexpected sources as they are now 3-1 on the season. Plus, some positive injury updates for Spencer Strider and Sean Murphy.

FASTENAL

Fastenal - Industrial Supplies, Innovative Solutions. Want to learn more? Visit Fastenal.com

FOX ONE

Start your 7-day free trial today at FOXOne.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Speaker 1: No to the Hammer Territory Podcast. My name is Sean Coleman.

Speaker 1: I hope wherever you are and wherever you are listening,

Speaker 1: you were having a great, hey start to your week,

Speaker 1: and if you are a braveman, it's a great start

Speaker 1: to the season. And that's why we are real to

Speaker 1: be with you tonight on the Hammer Territory Podcast. Yesterday

Speaker 1: you got to listen to the half of the Hammer

Speaker 1: Territory Podcast whose teams are still in March Madness. As

Speaker 1: a matter of fact, they're about to face each other. Unfortunately,

Speaker 1: tonight you're stuck with the half whose teams unceremoniously exited

Speaker 1: March Madness this past weekend. But what makes the sting

Speaker 1: a little less is when the baseball team that we

Speaker 1: all love is performing well and with me, of course,

Speaker 1: as always one of the best when it comes to

Speaker 1: breaking down the braves at Stephen Tolbert, Stephen, how are

Speaker 1: you doing this evening, sir?

Speaker 2: What's up buddy? So three and one? You know we're

Speaker 2: gonna talk about We're gonna go through kind of a

Speaker 2: lot of the details and dive in a little bit

Speaker 2: on what's happened in this three and one start, But

Speaker 2: thirty thousand feet. Three and one is three and one,

Speaker 2: and you know, it is an easier part of the schedule,

Speaker 2: and we talked about how the Braves need to take

Speaker 2: advantage of that by playing well early, and lo and behold,

Speaker 2: they have so far so good. You know, you win

Speaker 2: three out of every four games you're gonna win I

Speaker 2: mean one hundred and twenty games or something like that.

Speaker 2: So it's obviously not a sustainable pace over one hundred

Speaker 2: and sixty two. But this is what you need to

Speaker 2: do in the lighter part of your schedule. And you

Speaker 2: know this is these are teams that Braves haven't beaten

Speaker 2: the last couple of years. They've had a hard time

Speaker 2: beating teams that maybe aren't the best, so including this

Speaker 2: Oakland A's team that they beat tonight. So really good

Speaker 2: start to the season. We're gonna dive in. But three

Speaker 2: and one is three and.

Speaker 1: One, absolutely, And what makes it even better than just

Speaker 1: being three and one is the fact that, at least

Speaker 1: so far, what rightfully was our biggest concern coming into

Speaker 1: the season has actually been our biggest strength and our

Speaker 1: biggest factor to our success. That's going to be the

Speaker 1: topic of when we mix it up engineered by fastenov

Speaker 1: all right Stevens, So let's get right into it. There

Speaker 1: have been a few factors that have played out well

Speaker 1: for the Braves. You know, they've had some good luck,

Speaker 1: they've had some good defense. But what has stood out

Speaker 1: so far for this Braves team is pitching, and starting

Speaker 1: pitching has been the strength. Chris Selle was his normal

Speaker 1: dominant self, but when it comes to Ronaldo Lopez, he

Speaker 1: put a lot of questions to bed with how good

Speaker 1: he looked. Grant Holmes pitched well enough to win. The

Speaker 1: bracer has had an unlucky game and perhaps the most

Speaker 1: impressive performance of the season so far. Bryce Selder came

Speaker 1: out and absolutely delivered against one of the best lineups

Speaker 1: in the majors in the Oakland, Sacramento, Las Vegas the Athletics.

Speaker 1: It's been a great, great development so far this season

Speaker 1: to see the starting pitching do what it's done. I

Speaker 1: believe four earned runs allowed in what twenty two twenty

Speaker 1: three innings. To put it in perspective, the Braves through

Speaker 1: their first four games have produced two shutouts. This is

Speaker 1: only the fourth time in the history of the franchise, well,

Speaker 1: at least since eighteen ninety eight that the Braves have

Speaker 1: had multiple shutouts within the first five games of a

Speaker 1: single season. That's how impressive it they've been. I'm not

Speaker 1: saying that they're going to stay this impressive, but when

Speaker 1: it comes to how important it was for this team

Speaker 1: to get off to a good start, this pitching has

Speaker 1: delivered time and time again.

Speaker 2: Yeah, listen, I mean twenty three innings I think from

Speaker 2: the starters, six innings, six innings, five innings, six innings.

Speaker 2: So yeah, twenty three innings, four earn runs and four games,

Speaker 2: which are gonna win a lot of baseball games if

Speaker 2: you're starting pitching gives up on average a one run

Speaker 2: a game. You know, three of those games the Braves,

Speaker 2: he either gave up zero or one run. You know.

Speaker 2: Obviously Sale and eld are both shutouts, and Ronaldo gave

Speaker 2: up one first time through. It has been fantastic. Now

Speaker 2: there's still some stuff behind the curtains. You know, if

Speaker 2: you look at Ronaldo's stuff, you know, the velocity was good,

Speaker 2: but the way kind of his pitches graded out, we

Speaker 2: need to see more. I thought Grant was hit or miss.

Speaker 2: I actually thought Grant got unlucky. Pretty good. This stuff

Speaker 2: wasn't actually that bad. I thought he got more unlucky

Speaker 2: than anything. And even then he gave up three runs

Speaker 2: in five and it's not lucky pitched poorly. I thought

Speaker 2: Sale looked fantastic. I thought Bryce Elder looked fantastic tonight.

Speaker 2: So and listen, it is not the best competition yet,

Speaker 2: but the A's can hit. I mean, we watched this

Speaker 2: A's team last year destroy teams. I mean they would

Speaker 2: go into games and hit four or five homers easy.

Speaker 2: And you know it's early in the season. They haven't

Speaker 2: got off to the start they wanted. They've had a

Speaker 2: tough schedule, but the pitching has been fantastic to four games.

Speaker 2: Now we need to keep seeing it. I would like

Speaker 2: a few more strikeouts. It's it's a little bit too

Speaker 2: much contact driven for me at the moment, which tends

Speaker 2: to fluctuate pretty heavily in terms of results. When you

Speaker 2: strike a lot of people out, the the up and

Speaker 2: down of it isn't as quite as bad. So I

Speaker 2: do want to see a little less contact. But four

Speaker 2: runs in four games, I mean, you can't argue it's

Speaker 2: just been fantastic start, and obviously they got their fifth

Speaker 2: guy will go tomorrow. We'll talk about more than at

Speaker 2: the end of the show. But yeah, it's been a

Speaker 2: great start for the rotation. You're muted, beautiful guy.

Speaker 1: It's been a hey, hey, hey, new season, same old Sean.

Speaker 1: What can you say? But what I will say is

Speaker 1: this is that when it comes to Bryce Elver, I

Speaker 1: think that way we need to focus on him a bit.

Speaker 1: It's not as if the stuff was just, you know,

Speaker 1: light years ahead of what it was last year. And

Speaker 1: I know people had talked about he picked up a

Speaker 1: take of velocity at the end of last year, and

Speaker 1: in the spring training it seemed like he got up

Speaker 1: to ninety three a few times with his fastball. What

Speaker 1: really stood out to me is the effective pitch mix.

Speaker 1: I feel that he'll have to look at the numbers

Speaker 1: here in just a second, but I feel that he

Speaker 1: definitely mixed in his change up a bit more than

Speaker 1: he did last year. He only used it ten percent

Speaker 1: of the time. Tonight, it felt like it was a

Speaker 1: bit more spend that first inning. I believe that he

Speaker 1: got two of the outs on his change up, and

Speaker 1: he was just able to throw strikes. He was throwing

Speaker 1: strikes early in the count. He was kind of keeping

Speaker 1: the hitters off balance, and some of those he's still

Speaker 1: located some of those pitches where you don't want to

Speaker 1: against very good hitters. But because of the fact that

Speaker 1: he was able to, you know, kind of change their

Speaker 1: eye level with different pitches throughout the advance, they seem

Speaker 1: to be a bit off balance, at least a little

Speaker 1: more than we usually see in these Bryce Elder matchups.

Speaker 1: This tonight he looked more like we saw, you know,

Speaker 1: for instance, when you go back to last year when

Speaker 1: he had that outstanding start in San Francisco, he wasn't

Speaker 1: as good as he was that day, but he looked

Speaker 1: close to it, much better than we saw many starts

Speaker 1: last year. So I think a bit more confidence in

Speaker 1: his pitch mix in terms of keeping hitters out smarting

Speaker 1: hitters a bit more often. That seemed to be the

Speaker 1: key Tony and it certainly worked.

Speaker 2: Yeah, a lot of sliders, a lot of slider I

Speaker 2: think he threw more sliders than he threw fastballs tonight,

Speaker 2: and he definitely threw more sliders and change ups. He

Speaker 2: only threw i think four for seing fastballs, which is

Speaker 2: what he needs to do. He's got a very hittable

Speaker 2: forcing fastball through a lot of sliders, a lot of

Speaker 2: change ups, a lot of sinkers. He's got a little

Speaker 2: cutter that he's playing with that I don't love. I

Speaker 2: appreciate how little he used it. He needs to be

Speaker 2: a slider, change up, sinker guy, and that's where he

Speaker 2: stays out of the middle of the plate. Now he's

Speaker 2: gonna walk people. He's always walked people. He has bouts

Speaker 2: where he can't control the breaking stuff specifically, and tonight

Speaker 2: he had his command and a lot of times and

Speaker 2: Brad and Scott if talked about this a bunch, you

Speaker 2: can tell how Bryce Elder starts going to go pretty

Speaker 2: early by his command because if he's walking guys, he's

Speaker 2: just not good enough to get out of that consistently.

Speaker 2: But he, I mean, his command was on point. I

Speaker 2: don't think I think he maybe had one walk tonight.

Speaker 2: Five strikeouts to one walk. And again, you know with Bryce,

Speaker 2: you're not gonna get a ton of strikeout, You're just not.

Speaker 2: I mean, he does pitch to contact. He's a guy

Speaker 2: that's trying to get you to hit his pitch, which is,

Speaker 2: you know, about two inches off the plate, keep it

Speaker 2: off the barrel. There are days it goes well, and

Speaker 2: there are days it doesn't, and today it went very well,

Speaker 2: and you're right, it did remind me a little bit

Speaker 2: of that San Francisco start. Was that last year? Yeah

Speaker 2: that was last year. Yeah it was early in the season.

Speaker 2: Last year was in the middle of one of the

Speaker 2: braves worst straight that was when they were lost like

Speaker 2: ten in a row or something like that. But he

Speaker 2: pitched fantastic, So really really encouraging start from Bryce, and

Speaker 2: you know they're gonna need Bryce quite honestly. I mean

Speaker 2: until Stryder comes back, but even after Strider comes back,

Speaker 2: they're gonna need a fifth starter. Very curious to see

Speaker 2: what the other guys look like. And fint has certainly

Speaker 2: looked good in his first relief outing. But I guarantee

Speaker 2: you Bryce Elder is gonna throw eighty plus innings this year,

Speaker 2: probably more than one hundred if he stays healthy, just

Speaker 2: because of the injuries they've already had. So they're gonna

Speaker 2: need Bryce to be, you know, at least give them

Speaker 2: a chance to win every time he goes out, and

Speaker 2: he did that more tonight, So hats off to Bryce.

Speaker 1: Yeah, a little bit less usages of the fastball just

Speaker 1: looked at the numbers from the start over at Baseball Savon.

Speaker 1: What stands out is the overall velocity was a little

Speaker 1: bit slower, thirty five percent slider, thirty five percent sinker,

Speaker 1: seventeen percent change up, So a tick up in the

Speaker 1: change up usage, right, even with the slider sinker, which

Speaker 1: I think is good.

Speaker 2: You know, that's a good breakdown for him. What did

Speaker 2: you say, you said thirty five.

Speaker 1: Thirty five percent sinker, thirty five percent slider, seventeen percent

Speaker 1: change up. Yeah, and I think the other eight percent

Speaker 1: was fastball, Yeah.

Speaker 2: The cutter and the four scene. Yeah, that's a good

Speaker 2: that's a good mix for him.

Speaker 1: Yeah. But what also seemed encouraging was the fact that

Speaker 1: again the velocity was a bit down, the web percentage

Speaker 1: was a bit down. He had a twenty nine percent

Speaker 1: we have four out of fourteen swings on the slider,

Speaker 1: twenty three percent of the sinker. But the drop he

Speaker 1: had noticeably more drop vertical drop with his pitches this

Speaker 1: year than last year. So he's getting that movement. So again,

Speaker 1: if there was more drop, yet he had the control

Speaker 1: that he had tonight, that speaks to the confidence in

Speaker 1: his control. And that's what you need from the type

Speaker 1: of picture that Bryce Harralder is. He's not going to

Speaker 1: blow people away, right, He's not going to be able

Speaker 1: to overpower people with velocity. He's going to be able

Speaker 1: to do it by controlling the movement of his pitches.

Speaker 1: And so tonight if he had a bit more drop

Speaker 1: in tonight's start than he averaged last year, but it

Speaker 1: was one of his more impressive starts that we can

Speaker 1: remember in terms of control. That's really encouraging moving forward.

Speaker 2: Yeah, and listen, keep the ball in the middle of

Speaker 2: the plate and dull walk people, right, That's that's that's

Speaker 2: his secret sauce. And when he's when he when his

Speaker 2: command is off, it's not always off out of the zone.

Speaker 2: It's often off in the middle of the zone. And

Speaker 2: so that's where he gets in trouble where he can't

Speaker 2: command the pitch on the lack the way he needs to.

Speaker 2: And that's what he did tonight. He was on the

Speaker 2: corners all night long. I mean I watched every pitch

Speaker 2: he threw, and like the number of times he was

Speaker 2: in the middle of the plate was just very rare.

Speaker 2: He just did not give them a lot to hit,

Speaker 2: but he was close enough where he wasn't walking people.

Speaker 2: It's a fine line, and it's why Bryce goes through

Speaker 2: these massive ups and downs because he has to live

Speaker 2: on that fine line. But when he when he does

Speaker 2: it like he did tonight or when he did in

Speaker 2: San Francisco last year, this is what you get. You

Speaker 2: can get a guy that can actually shut a light

Speaker 2: up down because he's just on the corners all night

Speaker 2: long and the pitch, every pitch is moving somewhere or not.

Speaker 2: I do like that he stayed away from the four

Speaker 2: seamer and it was more slider, change up sinker. I

Speaker 2: think that's where he needs to be and that's what

Speaker 2: he did tonight. So as long as he's living in that,

Speaker 2: not in the middle of the plate and not walking people,

Speaker 2: you know, as long as he's there, he's good.

Speaker 1: Absolutely. And I could tell you this a source that

Speaker 1: you get. As long as you trust, you know, you'll

Speaker 1: be good. He is fasten All. Steven tell our listeners

Speaker 1: a bit more about fasten.

Speaker 2: All, fasten All Industrial supplies and avasive innovation, innovative solutions.

Speaker 2: Want to learn more, visit fastenoll dot com.

Speaker 1: And so when we talk about fast and All, we

Speaker 1: talk about innovative solutions right. Well, for the Braves, the

Speaker 1: thing that stands out for them is unexpected sources of success,

Speaker 1: unexpected solutions, if you will. So far this season, Stephen,

Speaker 1: we're going to get into some things that they can control.

Speaker 1: But one noticeable thing, and I think it's worth talking

Speaker 1: about because we've been on the bad side of it

Speaker 1: so often over the past two years, but Braves are

Speaker 1: having a bit of luck go their way this year, right,

Speaker 1: the way that things are working out in terms of

Speaker 1: you could I know you for a fact have said

Speaker 1: on social media at least two or three times so

Speaker 1: far this year that exact scenario is something that would

Speaker 1: have happened completely against the Braves last year instead of

Speaker 1: four of them. For instance, Michael Harris's ground ball up

Speaker 1: the middle that likely would have been a double play

Speaker 1: to Bobby wit Junior, but instead went off Carlo est

Speaker 1: of his leg and then Marisio Debond's blue pit you

Speaker 1: know tonight that gave the Braves. You know that the

Speaker 1: three run lead. Those type of things you don't expect.

Speaker 1: It's good to at least see that be a positive regression.

Speaker 1: Look is a bit more on the Braves side so

Speaker 1: far this year.

Speaker 2: Yeah, and the thing that we questioned are a couple

Speaker 2: of the things that we've questioned coming into this season

Speaker 2: have been the things that have driven the team. I mean, listen,

Speaker 2: the number one question we had was the rotation, and

Speaker 2: the rotation has been fantastic so far. Now it's one

Speaker 2: turn through. We're not even one turn through yet. They

Speaker 2: still got another one tomorrow. But you know, through four games,

Speaker 2: the rotation has been just on, I mean, in arguably fantastic.

Speaker 2: It just has. Now. Yes, the results, the numbers behind

Speaker 2: the results are telling a slightly different story that it

Speaker 2: might not be quite this good and it's not going

Speaker 2: to stay this good. They're not going to average one

Speaker 2: and run a game given up by the rotation. But

Speaker 2: the rotation through four games has been really good. The

Speaker 2: other question we had coming into the season shortstop. I mean,

Speaker 2: that's been a question for like three years now, and

Speaker 2: Marisa Debon has looked really good. I know, Brad Scott

Speaker 2: talked about on their show about how you know they

Speaker 2: they they kind of pretty quickly went to Matteo on

Speaker 2: Sunday to get Mauricio off his feet, and Nick guys

Speaker 2: were like, you know, let's let's see more of Mauricio.

Speaker 2: You know, we definitely want to rest players, but I

Speaker 2: don't know if we need to be resting players three

Speaker 2: games into the season. And you could tell a difference tonight.

Speaker 2: I mean, when they get to the bottom of the

Speaker 2: bottom of the order, there's at least a guy that

Speaker 2: can do a little bit of damage. Now, I don't

Speaker 2: expect Mauricio to be a you know, all star level hitter,

Speaker 2: but he's a guy who can come up and get

Speaker 2: a hit for you. Like, it's not like a Nick

Speaker 2: Allen situation where you like, you need a you need

Speaker 2: an actual miracle from God for this guy to get

Speaker 2: a hit. Like that's what it felt like a lot

Speaker 2: of times last year. I can't tell you how many

Speaker 2: times last year they'd get two guys on and los

Speaker 2: a hole. Here comes Nick Allen and like the inning's

Speaker 2: just over. And this year they get a couple of

Speaker 2: guys on at the end of the bench or at

Speaker 2: the end of the lineup, Mariso du Bond comes up

Speaker 2: and he's he's driven in. I think he's already got

Speaker 2: five or six rbi or five ar Yeah, he had

Speaker 2: three tonight. I know he had a two run double

Speaker 2: on opening Day, So you know shortstop has been good.

Speaker 2: I thought, I think Yaz and left has been fantastic.

Speaker 2: The rotation has obviously been very good. You know, the

Speaker 2: parts of the team that we know are gonna be

Speaker 2: good Akunya Olson, Riley haven't fully gotten there yet, but

Speaker 2: like the parts that we weren't sure about have played

Speaker 2: extremely well in the first four games of the year.

Speaker 2: And you know, it's gonna balance out a little bit.

Speaker 2: The top guys are gonna are gonna start producing more

Speaker 2: and and some of these questions are probably gonna stay

Speaker 2: questions as we move through the season. But through four games,

Speaker 2: it's been really good.

Speaker 1: Yeah, Risio Devon. Tonight was the first Brave shortstop Stephen

Speaker 1: since August twelfth of twenty twenty three to have three

Speaker 1: plus hits and three RBIs in a game. Like it's

Speaker 1: been two and a half years since a brave shortstop produced.

Speaker 2: That was was that the Orlando the Mets game?

Speaker 1: Was I forget? That was Nicky Lopez. The crazy thing

Speaker 1: is is that, Okay, before tonight, it was two and

Speaker 1: a half years, but it happened on eight twelve, two

Speaker 1: thousand and eight, or two thousand and three, twenty twenty three.

Speaker 1: The previous time before that that had happened was Orlando

Speaker 1: Arcia four days earlier. So that's probably the game that.

Speaker 2: You're thinking, that's the one I'm thinking of.

Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, So Mauricio Debon again not saying that

Speaker 1: he's going to, you know, for every four games, give

Speaker 1: you five RBIs. But again we talk about that high

Speaker 1: floor and that's the other thing that stands out about

Speaker 1: this team. Yeah, some that are not in their control

Speaker 1: are definitely going their way. But the reason why that

Speaker 1: is is because they are doing They're being so efficient

Speaker 1: when it comes to things in their control, right, they're

Speaker 1: playing to their strengths. I mentioned it, and Steven you

Speaker 1: talked about it as well before the season. What's going

Speaker 1: to stand out early in this schedule is the Braves

Speaker 1: are going to consistently have the better offense as well

Speaker 1: as the better bullpen. That means is they get further

Speaker 1: in games they should have the advantage. I think that

Speaker 1: they've outscored their opponent so far, like what twelve to three,

Speaker 1: eleven two or something like that, from the seventh Inny

Speaker 1: to one. Coming into tonight, they had the second best

Speaker 1: WRC plus of any team so far this season. From

Speaker 1: the seventh and eighty to one in games. That stands

Speaker 1: out as being an advantage. The defense has played extremely well.

Speaker 1: You've seen multiple great plays from Dubon Harris and others.

Speaker 1: To defense is playing efficiently well and the pitching twenty

Speaker 1: eight strikeouts to eight walks. This team is not making

Speaker 1: that many mistakes, so when something unlucky happens because of

Speaker 1: what they're they are so efficient on what they can control,

Speaker 1: limiting walks, limiting mistakes, putting together good at bats, being

Speaker 1: able to overcome leeds, latent games. The luck that other

Speaker 1: teams have don't stand out as much, but the luck

Speaker 1: that you have stands out a bit more so. While

Speaker 1: we're talking about things outside of their control or being

Speaker 1: in their favor, it's because they're minimizing it on the

Speaker 1: other side of things by doing so well with things

Speaker 1: that are in their control. The efficiency of this team

Speaker 1: in the areas that you may not consider so important

Speaker 1: is also what is standing out. They are playing highly

Speaker 1: efficient baseball, and if that's going to be a trademark

Speaker 1: of this team, that could be a very very good

Speaker 1: way to silence some of the questions and really get

Speaker 1: some answers as to how you can win frequently.

Speaker 2: Yeah, it's actually really funny when you think about it,

Speaker 2: because you know, we just talked about the areas of

Speaker 2: the team that we thought would be question marks coming

Speaker 2: into this season performing so well early, and one area

Speaker 2: of the team that I thought would be a massive strength,

Speaker 2: which has been the base running, is probably the area

Speaker 2: they perform worse. Uh, the first one I think they've

Speaker 2: I think they're like dead last and fangrabs BSR, which

Speaker 2: is their base running value so far this season because

Speaker 2: and they got thrown out on the basis three more

Speaker 2: times tonight. So like it has been, it has been

Speaker 2: a very weird season where even it's only four games in,

Speaker 2: where things we weren't sure about have performed well and

Speaker 2: things we thought would be strengths have gotten off to

Speaker 2: slow starts. And you can talk about the base running,

Speaker 2: you can talk about Ronald, although Ronald was on base

Speaker 2: four times tonight and he hit one off the wall,

Speaker 2: and he had one on Sunday that I can't believe

Speaker 2: didn't leave the park. I thought that was a homer

Speaker 2: for sure. So you know, by process, Ronald has looked

Speaker 2: better than maybe the results. But you know, Riley has

Speaker 2: been okay. I think he had three hits on opening Day,

Speaker 2: but they were all pretty soft singles. Olsen had a

Speaker 2: rough day the other night with three strikeouts and a

Speaker 2: pretty big error that got covered up by Dom Smith's

Speaker 2: walk off Grand Slam. But you know, the parts of

Speaker 2: the team that we thought would be really good and

Speaker 2: driving this team have not fully shown up yet in

Speaker 2: the base running in some of their stars and the

Speaker 2: parts we weren't sure of have been fantastic. So so

Speaker 2: that does you know that that does scream small sample size, right,

Speaker 2: We need to say that multiple times. There's four games

Speaker 2: in you know, damn near anything can happen in four

Speaker 2: baseball games, and you certainly don't want to be drawing

Speaker 2: any conclusions. And that's why we're not. You will not

Speaker 2: hear any of us draw any conclusions anytime soon. We

Speaker 2: got we got to get so many more games behind

Speaker 2: us before we ever start getting to any actual true

Speaker 2: signal of what's happening. There's just gonna be a lot

Speaker 2: of noise for the first month until we get some

Speaker 2: games behind us. But you know, it's it has been

Speaker 2: an odd start of the year where where you know,

Speaker 2: some surprise contributions and maybe some surprise non contributions. But

Speaker 2: you know, they're three and one, and that's all. I

Speaker 2: would have taken three and one all day long. It

Speaker 2: doesn't matter. You could have told me nothing else. If

Speaker 2: you just said they're three and one and do you

Speaker 2: care how they get there, I would have said, Nope.

Speaker 2: As long as there's no catastrophic injury that's happened somewhere

Speaker 2: in there, I'll take three and one, and that's where

Speaker 2: they are.

Speaker 1: I actually am going to disagree with you, respectfully on

Speaker 1: the thing.

Speaker 2: Here we go, here we go.

Speaker 1: I will draw one conclusion. That one conclusion is this,

Speaker 1: it's always better if unexpected sources or sources that may

Speaker 1: not necessarily last are going in your favor when those

Speaker 1: expected or reliable sources are not. And what I mean

Speaker 1: by that is is that, hey, as you know, Maurisio

Speaker 1: Debaun and Michael Harris and others maybe slowed down a bit,

Speaker 1: maybe things. That's the starting pitching starts to struggle a bit.

Speaker 1: That's when our offensive studs start to get going. So

Speaker 1: them not getting going, but other parts hoping us win games.

Speaker 1: That's what matters, and it puts us in a really

Speaker 1: good position. But what else also continues to strengthen your

Speaker 1: position is when you get good news on potential reinforcements

Speaker 1: coming back a bit quicker than expected. More on that

Speaker 1: in just a moment after a word from our sponsors.

Speaker 3: This episode is brought to you by Fox One. Go

Speaker 3: get that new app. Stream baseball, stream football, stream World

Speaker 3: Cup action.

Speaker 1: You'll be watching.

Speaker 4: Oh definitely, I can't wait. I actually want to try

Speaker 4: and get to a game. But well, and there, I'll

Speaker 4: still have my Fox one app. I'll have MLB, the shows,

Speaker 4: the great shows that Fox has, college football that I love,

Speaker 4: college basketball, they have it all. This really is the

Speaker 4: app that you can get all of anything you want

Speaker 4: to watch on an app. Fox one has it and

Speaker 4: they are.

Speaker 3: Great at yeah, the big sporting events. And by the way,

Speaker 3: the World Cup is June eleventh, July nineteenth. You can

Speaker 3: get a free seven day trial.

Speaker 1: Of Fox one.

Speaker 3: So go check that out and you can start your

Speaker 3: seven day free trial today. Offers are subject to change.

Speaker 3: Go to Fox one for complete terms and conditions. Fox

Speaker 3: one streaming now.

Speaker 1: So, of course Steven is as many know, we had

Speaker 1: thirteen games in thirteen days. It's a great way to

Speaker 1: start the season if you're a fan. Getting nightly baseball,

Speaker 1: but of course there was a bit of uncertainty when

Speaker 1: it comes to how the Braves would position their starting

Speaker 1: staff for this series against the Athletics. More on that

Speaker 1: in just a moment, but let's start with some notable

Speaker 1: off the field news that came today, some updates from

Speaker 1: Walt Weiss and the Braves organization, and no spoilers because

Speaker 1: I'm gonna let Steven break it down, but I will

Speaker 1: say this the great thing. It's all positive.

Speaker 2: Yeah, it is all positive. So we got big updates

Speaker 2: on Sean Murphy, Spencer Streider, and Hassan Kim today. So

Speaker 2: Sean Murphy's gonna go out to Rome on Wednesday, and

Speaker 2: they weren't sure yet if he's gonna do a rehab

Speaker 2: assignment or if he's just gonna take BP with him

Speaker 2: and then start a rehab assignment the next day, but

Speaker 2: essentially this week. And we're still in March, by the way,

Speaker 2: we're not even to April yet, and Sean Murphy is

Speaker 2: already going on or rehab assignment in March late March.

Speaker 2: Is fantastic news. That is much quicker than we thought

Speaker 2: we thought. You know, I kind of thought he would

Speaker 2: be like rehab assignment near the end of April and

Speaker 2: then coming back sometime in the you know, beginning the

Speaker 2: middle of Men. So you know, that's almost like a

Speaker 2: full month earlier than I thought. With Murph. Kim is

Speaker 2: a little behind Murphy. They're not quite sure yet on Kim,

Speaker 2: he's still you know, he's not as far along with

Speaker 2: the hand, but it looks like he's going to do

Speaker 2: a rehab assignment in April as well, and I think

Speaker 2: probably sooner than later, which is even for him, is

Speaker 2: probably a couple of weeks ahead of schedule.

Speaker 4: And then.

Speaker 2: Spencer Strider was actually throwing today and felt, fine, he's

Speaker 2: gonna throw another bullpen. They they were the language they

Speaker 2: used was they were cautious to give a timeline yet.

Speaker 2: But one thing Alex said is that because it was

Speaker 2: such a a it was a low grade strain for

Speaker 2: his oblique, that he's not really having to deal with

Speaker 2: all the other stuff like you know, Sean Murphy a

Speaker 2: couple of years ago, like couldn't even like sneeze without

Speaker 2: being in pain because he had such a severe oblique strain,

Speaker 2: and Strider's not had to deal with any of that,

Speaker 2: and so he's already pitching, which you know, they do

Speaker 2: have a certain timeline on it, because if it gets

Speaker 2: too far past when he was stretched out in spring training,

Speaker 2: then he's gonna have to kind of start over a

Speaker 2: little bit on some of his build up, Whereas if

Speaker 2: they do it earlier than that, he might still be

Speaker 2: able to kind of pick up where he left off.

Speaker 2: It's just gonna depend on the timing. But he's already throwing,

Speaker 2: which you know, for an oblique strain, you know, if

Speaker 2: it's bad enough, he you know, guys could sit for

Speaker 2: a month before they can do anything. So the fact

Speaker 2: that Strider is already throwing just tells you how mild

Speaker 2: that's that oblique strain was. Murphy's about to do a

Speaker 2: rehab assignment, Kim's gonna do a rehab assignment. So it

Speaker 2: was three pieces of really good news on three very

Speaker 2: significant players all in a row today. And you know,

Speaker 2: we got to actually get him all the way through

Speaker 2: in a rehab assignment back on the field and performing

Speaker 2: and stay healthy. But good news is better than bad news,

Speaker 2: and we got three pieces of good news today.

Speaker 1: And again I want to point this out, you know,

Speaker 1: because I think we've talked about it a little bit

Speaker 1: over the off season. But let's let's check some boxes

Speaker 1: when it comes to Sean Murphy in particular. Right, you

Speaker 1: want to talk about someone who for the past what

Speaker 1: two and a half years, ever since the All Star

Speaker 1: Break of two thousand and after the All Star Break

Speaker 1: of twenty twenty three, he's been playing with some version

Speaker 1: of this hip injury, right, and so he finally was

Speaker 1: able to fully address it this offseason Like that, that

Speaker 1: was the big story, was that they discovered a pretty

Speaker 1: serious injury. They were able to help him recover, so

Speaker 1: he should come back healthier than he's been in multiple years.

Speaker 1: Check that box. He's got every reason to be motivated. Yeah,

Speaker 1: a lot of people question him, you know, let's just

Speaker 1: be honest. You know, he's got a young catcher and

Speaker 1: Drake Baldwin who has basically become the focal point for

Speaker 1: the organization at the position. But he also has plenty

Speaker 1: of opportunity to really reposition his career to go in

Speaker 1: the right direction, and he's going to be able to

Speaker 1: do it by focusing more on offense than he has

Speaker 1: before since he's going to be sharing the position with

Speaker 1: Drake Baldwin. A motivated and healthy Sean Murphy is definitely

Speaker 1: someone that can be an offensive difference maker, So getting

Speaker 1: him in his back back to be another solution at

Speaker 1: keeping both him and Drake Baldwin fresh as the DH

Speaker 1: catcher combo. I know I said multiple times last year,

Speaker 1: I didn't think that was the most ideal setup for

Speaker 1: this season because I felt that it made sense to

Speaker 1: go out and get a higher level of bat to

Speaker 1: be kind of in that mix as well. But with

Speaker 1: all that we've experienced a healthy and motivated version about

Speaker 1: Drake Baldwin and Sean Murphy. That's a better case scenario

Speaker 1: than I think many would have thought, especially with Profar

Speaker 1: being suspended. So even if people have negative opinions of

Speaker 1: Sean Murphy with how he's performed over the past few seasons,

Speaker 1: there is still a realistic outcome this year where Sean

Speaker 1: Murphy not only comes back, he not only comes back motivated,

Speaker 1: but he's a difference maker. He's the type of additional

Speaker 1: bat for this lineup that we preach offseason. We had

Speaker 1: hoped they had added that certainly is in the realm

Speaker 1: of possibilities for a healthy Sean Murphy.

Speaker 2: Yeah, and listen, it just helps the Braves tremendously if

Speaker 2: Sean Murphy gets back to what he was a couple

Speaker 2: of years ago, not only on the field, which is

Speaker 2: you know, those benefits are obvious. The better he plays,

Speaker 2: the better the team is, but it also just gives

Speaker 2: the team more option and flexibility in the off season.

Speaker 2: You know, Sean makes a lot of money. He makes

Speaker 2: fifteen million bucks and he's gonna make fifteen million bucks

Speaker 2: I think for the next three seasons, and the only

Speaker 2: way the Braves can get off of that and you

Speaker 2: know if they want to, is if he plays well

Speaker 2: and if he's healthy. If he's not healthy and he's

Speaker 2: not playing well, then the Braves don't even have the

Speaker 2: choice to get off of that contract even if they

Speaker 2: wanted to. When he plays well and he looks good,

Speaker 2: then you have all the options available to you. I'm

Speaker 2: not saying the Braves need to trade Sean Murphy. I'm

Speaker 2: saying the better he plays, the more options they have,

Speaker 2: and options are just make life easier. And then add

Speaker 2: on top of the fact that if Sean Murphy goes

Speaker 2: out and has a really productive season, it's just massive

Speaker 2: for this offense. I mean, you know, I do think

Speaker 2: Drake is the future of the position for the team

Speaker 2: because I think Drake is a substantially better player than

Speaker 2: even I thought Drake could be. Drake is kind of

Speaker 2: Drake is very quickly approaching, like a level of player

Speaker 2: that I never dreamed Drake Baldwin would be. And if

Speaker 2: that's the case, then he's the future of the position.

Speaker 2: But you still need a DH for this year because

Speaker 2: Dreks profiles is an idiot. You still need a catcher

Speaker 2: because you know, Jonaheim has had a pretty rough kind

Speaker 2: of spring and start for the Braves, like he's he's

Speaker 2: a he's a backup, and you know he's having a

Speaker 2: DH against lefties because the Braves don't really have anybody else.

Speaker 2: But if Sean Murphy is there, Jonaheim's not DH and

Speaker 2: versus lefties, Sean Murphy is so yeah, it's massive, And

Speaker 2: you know, I think I do you know, Kim coming

Speaker 2: back is not as critical because Debond's present. I think

Speaker 2: Murphy coming back really helps the DH spot. It helps

Speaker 2: the catcher spot. You can't you can't. Baldwin can't play

Speaker 2: one hundred and sixty games. He just can't. So you

Speaker 2: need a really quality back up and then Strider coming back.

Speaker 2: As you know, everybody knows what that means. That just

Speaker 2: means more depth to the rotation that could desperately need

Speaker 2: more depth. So these are very odd There are very

Speaker 2: obvious reasons why this is good news today, but specifically

Speaker 2: Murphy coming back being healthy producing the way he I

Speaker 2: know he can just opens up so many options for

Speaker 2: the Braves this season next season just makes life so

Speaker 2: much easier.

Speaker 1: So that is definitely a source of good news.

Speaker 2: Yep.

Speaker 1: But here is where I want to like really put

Speaker 1: it to the test. Could this year be different? The

Speaker 1: other thing that stood out over the past couple of

Speaker 1: years is that when the Braves have had an opportunity

Speaker 1: two in a luxury spot make it even better, then

Speaker 1: you see it as they failed so many times. And

Speaker 1: what a meaning that is is that they're three and one.

Speaker 1: Tomorrow you have Jose Swarez and likely Martin Perez for

Speaker 1: the Braves against Aaron Saville of the Athletics. More than that,

Speaker 1: in just a moment, it's clearly going to be a

Speaker 1: game where whichever offense comes alive I think earliest, whichever

Speaker 1: offense starts the loudest is going to have the advantage.

Speaker 1: But if you do that, you start four in one

Speaker 1: with Chris Sell then going on the mound against Luis Severino,

Speaker 1: which you have to feel would be a favorable matchup

Speaker 1: for you on Wednesday, and all you need is for

Speaker 1: your offense to come along. That feels like a great

Speaker 1: opportunity for this Braves team. Can they do it? Is

Speaker 1: what stands out about tomorrow's game now, Jose Jose Swarez,

Speaker 1: Martin Perez. I'll say this, if the Braves pitch your

Speaker 1: shut out with Jose Swarez on the mound, I will

Speaker 1: make a gain guarantee. I guarantee that Steven Tolbert will

Speaker 1: drink an expired glass of milk. If the Braves produce

Speaker 1: a shutout with Jose Suarez on the mount, again, an

Speaker 1: expired glass of milk.

Speaker 2: All that aside milk.

Speaker 1: The point that I'm getting at is that, yes, the

Speaker 1: Braves are probably not going to have that good of

Speaker 1: pitching success tomorrow. Aaron Savell is who is on the

Speaker 1: mound for the Athletics, and it's crazy. Savell has only

Speaker 1: faced the Braves three times, but it was all last

Speaker 1: year on June nine. In June, but also back to

Speaker 1: back appearances for the Cubs in September. He had some

Speaker 1: success nine point two innings, pitch two point seventy nine

Speaker 1: Era A, ten strikeouts to two walks, did give up

Speaker 1: two home runs. It's going to be the key of

Speaker 1: the Braves to get going early in a matchup where

Speaker 1: pitching's not going to stand out. It's going to come

Speaker 1: down to the offense. Stevens.

Speaker 2: Yeah, so they announced, well, White's right after the game,

Speaker 2: did announce that Suarez is going to start. There was

Speaker 2: question to whether Perez or Suarez. They obviously they had

Speaker 2: option did her Fuintez today, which I guess as news

Speaker 2: we also need to cover. The Braves did option frontes.

Speaker 2: You know, he pitched four innings on Sunday, so he

Speaker 2: wasn't going to be available to pitch for four days anyways.

Speaker 2: And clearly they Braves were using him as a way

Speaker 2: to get an extra arm the first four days of

Speaker 2: the season and then option him when we get to

Speaker 2: this point where they need a fifth starter and they

Speaker 2: need another reliever. And I you know, I think they

Speaker 2: actually handled it pretty well. I you know, there was

Speaker 2: a lot made about Didier making the opening day roster.

Speaker 2: It was very clearly it was a strategic thing more

Speaker 2: than a you know, prospect that's just you know, banging

Speaker 2: on the door and has to come up right now.

Speaker 2: I think they were doing it to make sure they

Speaker 2: get an extra arm for the first four days, especially

Speaker 2: with your uncertainty in the rotation, It just makes sense. Obviously.

Speaker 2: The question is going to be, now, how long does

Speaker 2: Didier stay down? At what point does he come up?

Speaker 2: I will say this now that Suarez, Elder, and Martine

Speaker 2: Perez are all on the roster. None of those guys

Speaker 2: can be optioned. All of those guys are out of options.

Speaker 2: So the the way you're you're getting someone up for

Speaker 2: one of those guys is either an injury or a DFA.

Speaker 2: Now listen, Suarez and Perez could probably be dfa'ed pretty easy.

Speaker 2: The Braves have shown a I mean an understandable level

Speaker 2: of hesitancy to ever get rid of Bryce Elder. I

Speaker 2: do think he would get claimed at a heartbeat a Waivers,

Speaker 2: so I don't think that's coming. But I think they

Speaker 2: could dfa Perez z if they want to get Ditty

Speaker 2: your up. But that's gonna be what we watch for

Speaker 2: the next probably two or three weeks, is how long

Speaker 2: do they keep the kid down? You look fantastic in

Speaker 2: his relief outing. But yeah, tomorrow's Suarez. I you know,

Speaker 2: I'm not excited about the pitching matchup. You're one hundred

Speaker 2: percent right. The offense can make this, you know, academic

Speaker 2: they really we really haven't seen like an explosion from

Speaker 2: the offense yet. Like they did hit three homers an

Speaker 2: opening day and that game was a kind of a laugher.

Speaker 2: For sale is pretty no stress. You know. The Saturday's game,

Speaker 2: they they got they took advantage of a closer that

Speaker 2: clearly wasn't healthy and right and scored six in the

Speaker 2: ninth inning. But offensively was a pretty poor day Sunday.

Speaker 2: You know, they hit a lot of hard balls. I

Speaker 2: thought they actually hit better on Sunday than it did

Speaker 2: on Saturday, but that's baseball for you. And then tonight

Speaker 2: it was kind of you know, it's just kind of

Speaker 2: a offensive game. They scored three runs in the first

Speaker 2: and score again till I think the eighth. So the

Speaker 2: offense is still kind of finding their way. A lot

Speaker 2: of it is Akunya, Olsen Riley haven't fully gotten going yet.

Speaker 2: But you're one hundred percent right, if that, if the

Speaker 2: offense can just come out and make Tomorrow's game academic

Speaker 2: and then you got Chris Sale going on Wednesday the

Speaker 2: Businessman Special for a potential sweep. That's getting greedy. And

Speaker 2: that's what you need to do right now when the

Speaker 2: schedule's light, get greedy, go for a sweep. You gotta

Speaker 2: win tomorrow of course to go for the sweep on Wednesday.

Speaker 2: But yeah, the offense needs I would really love to

Speaker 2: see the offense come out tomorrow and just I mean

Speaker 2: just hit the shit out of the baseball for like

Speaker 2: a day like that would just we haven't seen that yet.

Speaker 2: That's the one thing we haven't seen yet is just

Speaker 2: the offense score like twelve and just make it a laugher.

Speaker 2: So I'm gonna speaking into existence that the offense is

Speaker 2: going to come out tomorrow and put up double digit runs.

Speaker 1: Yeah, the bullpens night got the job done. But if

Speaker 1: you can come out tomorrow and the offense can do

Speaker 1: their job early and you know, make it to where

Speaker 1: you know, maybe it could be you know, kind of

Speaker 1: a even if he does struggle a bit, make it

Speaker 1: a bit of a smooth start. You can maybe get

Speaker 1: you know, five six seven innings from U Suarez as

Speaker 1: well as Prez tomorrow and get the win, then you've

Speaker 1: got sell on the mound on Wednesday. The other thing

Speaker 1: that that does is it keeps your bullpen fresh, and

Speaker 1: I think so far that you're pretty happy with keeping

Speaker 1: your bullpen fresh. And after this series without an off day,

Speaker 1: you're going out West and you're facing properly your toughest

Speaker 1: opponent of the early season in the Diamondbacks over the weekend,

Speaker 1: and then you've got the Angels out west as well,

Speaker 1: so being able, there's a big difference between going out

Speaker 1: West without any rest days and having a fresh bullpen

Speaker 1: then one that's been overused in the previous two games.

Speaker 1: So offense, the pitching staff has done its job so far.

Speaker 1: Not we're not gonna We're not going to add a

Speaker 1: negative to this show. This is not meant to be

Speaker 1: negative at all. It's just saying the pitching so far

Speaker 1: has been the big source of success. Let's go ahead

Speaker 1: and get one in our in the win column based

Speaker 1: off an offensive explosion. I think they're fully capable of

Speaker 1: doing it. And it starts with the studs getting going

Speaker 1: and getting going early.

Speaker 2: Yeah, and stop making outs. On the basis that's two

Speaker 2: things I want to see the offense explode. No more

Speaker 2: outs on the bases. I'm very curious to what Suarez

Speaker 2: looks like. If Martin Perez get's in the game, what

Speaker 2: he looks like. I can see it being a bit

Speaker 2: of a bullpen game, kind of maybe Suarez for like three,

Speaker 2: Perez for a few, and then the bullpen. Like you said,

Speaker 2: the bullpen hasn't been used a ton, so they could

Speaker 2: do that. You just gotta be careful when you're still

Speaker 2: got seven more games on the back end of this

Speaker 2: stretch before you get to an off day. So yeah,

Speaker 2: how they get through tomorrow's game, bullpen wise, is gonna

Speaker 2: be fascinating. And it does help that you got your

Speaker 2: a skull in the next day, but it still matters.

Speaker 1: Hey, just get the job done. That's what we ask

Speaker 1: You've done it so many times before, why not do

Speaker 1: it one more time? But again, a great start to

Speaker 1: the season overall. I think not only would anybody take

Speaker 1: three and one, but the path in which we've got

Speaker 1: to three and one, I think many would be surprised,

Speaker 1: but thankful that's how we've got it done. Stephen, anything

Speaker 1: else from you as we wrap up this edition of

Speaker 1: the Hammer Territory podcast.

Speaker 2: No college basketball is over for me? And you, buddy,

Speaker 2: you know we got we got big brother uh pretty

Speaker 2: hard this weekend. Scott, Scott and brad or Or fighting

Speaker 2: it out in the final four this weekend. But it's

Speaker 2: over for me and you. But baseball season is here.

Speaker 2: The Braves look good early and I can't ask for

Speaker 2: more than that.

Speaker 1: Man, I'm just I mean, I'm excited. It's not only

Speaker 1: fun to be able to watch Braise baseball, but you know, again,

Speaker 1: knock on wood for the first time in a while,

Speaker 1: being able to actually watch Braise Baseball with the anticipation, Hey,

Speaker 1: this this.

Speaker 2: Did you just say knock on wood and then knock

Speaker 2: on your head?

Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, gotcha.

Speaker 2: I like that. I like that.

Speaker 1: Great way to end the show. Nothing but positive show

Speaker 1: from the one and only Stephen Tolbert, who, by the way,

Speaker 1: you can find on x slash Twitter at the inter

Speaker 1: Square Outliars myself at Stat's sac on x slash Twitter.

Speaker 1: Hammer Territory across all forms of social media, part of

Speaker 1: the Foul Territory family of podcasts. Braves, A's One More

Speaker 1: Time Tomorrow, Aaron Seville Versus Jose Swarez, Martine Prez, take

Speaker 1: your pick. The offense needs to come alive and then

Speaker 1: on Wednesday you've got Chris Hill on the mound once again.

Speaker 1: Until next time, hope you have a great dunt in

Speaker 1: a great day and hope with school of anticipation for

Speaker 1: another Braves win. Until next time, Go Braves. We'll talk

Speaker 1: to you again soon here on the Hammer Territory podcast