My Statistical Retrospective on the season

zitothebrave

Connoisseur of Minors
Looking back at how the Braves played in the last season at the Ted is a mixed bag. I think we all knew the Braves would be bad, but I don't think anyone knew they'd be almost as bad as the Phillies.

Anyway getting past that, I'm gonna make multiple posts in this thread usually highlighting 1-3 players per post depending on how much I have to say.

First post is dedicated to the one and only Freddie Freeman. First off lets talk about career bests. Career Highest BB%,career highest iso, career high in hits, tied career high in doubles, career high in triples, career high in homers, career high in runs, and career high in SB. A true banner year.

Looking a little deeper, Freeman kept his immense skill of hitting line drives, but this year he started lifting the ball, his 40.5 FB% was 5 points higher than his career average. His HR/FB was up but it wasn't fluky. Most importantly he hit the ball with authority most of the time.

Areas of potential concern, he swung outside of the zone more often than career average, and he made less contact than normal, but I think that coincides with him putting more power behind the ball. Also he put the ball to the other side of the field too often for his newfound power. One thing to add, I think some of his issues there has to do with is the poor hitting around him and pitchers throwing around him a bit.

Next focus (and last for the evening) is Ender. Defensively no one was better for the Braves than him. He was great in centerfield and certainly helped out the boys around him. Cannot talk about him defensively enough. SO let's talk offense. Offensively he was very meh. Average was good, BB% was OK, K rate is good. He has no power so we knew that. A bit shocking that he isn't more of abasestealer, I'm guessing he struggles with reads. If you look at his numbers in AZ he basically did the same thing this year, which is encouraging because he's not experiencing a big slump because of moving from a hitter friendly park. What I would like to see change is less swinging at pitches outside fo the zone (around 33% consistently) and more swinging in the zone (around 62%) But when he does swing he makes contact, which means he has fantastic hand/eye which is great.

Overall there's lots to be optimistic with these 2, both should be very positive players for the BRaves for the next few years. More to come tomorrow, or the next day depending on how tired I am.
 
I thought everybody pretty much understood that Ender's stolen base number was a direct result of his slow recovery from his early season injury.
 
I thought everybody pretty much understood that Ender's stolen base number was a direct result of his slow recovery from his early season injury.

It's a consistent thing wit him though when you look at his Arizona numbers as well.
 
Ender has improved offensively ever year so far in the majors. I see that as a good sign. Especially ending the season with a big second half. I don't think he will hit that well over a full season but he might be a contender for a batting title.
 
The big question regarding both Freddie and Ender is how much of their second half surge is a hot streak and how much a product of genuine improvement by two very good players as they move into their prime. Most likely it is a combination of the two. But if it is mostly genuine they become MVP caliber players.
 
The big question regarding both Freddie and Ender is how much of their second half surge is a hot streak and how much a product of genuine improvement by two very good players as they move into their prime. Most likely it is a combination of the two. But if it is mostly genuine they become MVP caliber players.

Exactly why I think 81 wins in 2017 will be much harder than most believe. Even IF the team adds some significant FA or trade help (debatable) and the young guys of 2017 out-net the young guys of 2016 (probable), it's unlikely that Freeman and Inciarte play ALL of 2017 at the rate that they exhibited in the second half of 2016. And even if they do, you would still have to hope that age doesn't hurt guys like Kemp, Markakis, Flowers, Johnson, etc.
 
Exactly why I think 81 wins in 2017 will be much harder than most believe. Even IF the team adds some significant FA or trade help (debatable) and the young guys of 2017 out-net the young guys of 2016 (probable), it's unlikely that Freeman and Inciarte play ALL of 2017 at the rate that they exhibited in the second half of 2016. And even if they do, you would still have to hope that age doesn't hurt guys like Kemp, Markakis, Flowers, Johnson, etc.

But Ender had a very poor first half and Freeman was just so-so. If we look at full-season production, I think there is a decent chance both will give us more in 2017. The only guy I expect regression with respect to full-season production is Flowers.
 
Exactly why I think 81 wins in 2017 will be much harder than most believe. Even IF the team adds some significant FA or trade help (debatable) and the young guys of 2017 out-net the young guys of 2016 (probable), it's unlikely that Freeman and Inciarte play ALL of 2017 at the rate that they exhibited in the second half of 2016. And even if they do, you would still have to hope that age doesn't hurt guys like Kemp, Markakis, Flowers, Johnson, etc.

Yeah, Atlanta probably won't have the third best offense in baseball, but its extremely unlikely the offense will be as pathetic as it was in the first third of the 2016 season in 2017.

So that's where your wins might come from.
 
Back
Top