1971 Recap: Atlanta rode a hot start all the way into the playoffs, although they were straight up average from July 1st forward (40-39). As you might expect from a team that did all its good action early, they faltered in the playoffs to an 88 win team.
1972 Outlook: Atlanta's got the same issue - aging - as the Twins and Yankees do. However, they still managed to pace the National League in wins and so can't be truly counted out until they are out.
Pitching
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Code:
Pitching Age BT W L WL % ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO WHIP H9 HR9 BB9 SO9
House, George 28 RR 23 9 .719 3.11 38 38 0 9 3 0 277.2 259 114 96 16 69 5 195 1.181 100.0 0.5 2.2 6.3
Sandoval, Julio 29 RR 13 15 .464 3.88 37 37 0 7 2 0 253.0 289 127 109 18 72 0 101 1.427 100.0 0.6 2.6 3.6
Carranza, Felix 27 RR 16 9 .640 3.92 35 32 2 8 1 0 238.2 247 108 104 28 75 4 138 1.349 100.0 1.1 2.8 5.2
Cari, Jake 26 RR 11 12 .478 3.56 29 29 0 3 2 0 197.1 200 88 78 17 71 1 105 1.373 100.0 0.8 3.2 4.8
Winn, John 28 SR 10 4 .714 1.32 62 0 55 0 0 31 102.0 73 18 15 3 21 2 98 0.922 100.0 0.3 1.9 8.6
Hollopeter, Steve 25 RR 4 6 .400 5.26 53 2 30 1 0 3 78.2 101 49 46 22 21 3 67 1.551 100.0 2.5 2.4 7.7
Evans, Roger 27 SL 3 1 .750 2.65 49 1 10 0 0 0 54.1 56 18 16 5 24 3 31 1.472 100.0 0.8 4.0 5.1
Lee, Sung-jin 34 RR 0 5 .000 4.50 37 0 21 0 0 5 48.0 47 27 24 3 12 1 27 1.229 100.0 0.6 2.3 5.1
Dean, Trevon 29 LR 0 0 .000 5.04 29 19 0 0 0 0 64.1 56 38 36 7 30 1 31 1.337 100.0 1.0 4.2 4.3
Rose, Colin 27 RR 2 1 .667 4.94 6 3 1 0 0 0 23.2 27 14 13 4 11 1 6 1.606 100.0 1.5 4.2 2.3
Baryshnikov, Mikhail 22 SR 2 0 1.000 3.00 6 1 4 0 0 1 12.0 8 5 4 2 6 0 8 1.167 100.0 1.5 4.5 6.0
Cokely, Seth 30 RR 0 0 .000 7.15 8 0 3 0 0 0 11.1 9 10 9 4 9 0 6 1.588 100.0 3.2 7.1 4.8
Morales, Tony 23 RR 0 0 .000 1.42 3 0 1 0 0 0 6.1 3 1 1 0 2 0 9 0.789 100.0 0.0 2.8 12.8
Diot, Mickael 34 RR 1 0 1.000 0.00 3 0 1 0 0 0 3.2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.273 100.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Code:
Starting Pitching GS Wgs Lgs ND Wchp LTuf WTm LTm tmW-L% CG SHO QS QS% GmScA Best Wrst sDR lDR RS/GS RS/9 IP/GS Pit/GS <80 80-99 100-119 >=120 Max
House, George 38 23 9 6 1 2 25 13 0.658 9 3 26 68% 57 88 11 23 6 4.5 5.6 7.3 108 3 5 22 8 142
Sandoval, Julio 37 13 15 9 2 6 19 18 0.514 7 2 20 54% 49 83 18 21 8 3.7 4.9 6.8 102 3 7 23 4 130
Carranza, Felix 32 15 9 8 2 3 20 12 0.625 8 1 20 63% 52 80 9 16 10 4.1 5.1 7.3 113 0 8 13 11 152
Cari, Jake 29 11 12 6 2 8 13 16 0.448 3 2 20 69% 52 83 12 10 13 2.6 3.5 6.8 103 0 15 10 4 135
Dean, Trevon 19 8 7 4 1 1 10 9 0.526 2 0 11 58% 47 72 10 7 9 3.6 4.7 6.8 105 1 6 8 4 130
Rose, Colin 3 2 1 0 1 0 2 1 0.667 0 0 1 33% 44 64 32 1 2 5.0 6.4 7.0 109 0 1 0 2 122
Hollopeter, Steve 2 1 0 1 0 0 2 0 1.000 1 0 2 100% 60 68 51 1 1 5.5 6.2 8.0 125 0 0 1 1 136
Baryshnikov, Mikhail 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1.000 0 0 1 100% 67 67 67 0 1 2.0 2.6 7.0 117 0 0 1 0 117
Evans, Roger 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1.000 0 0 1 100% 53 53 53 0 1 7.0 9.0 7.0 96 0 1 0 0 96
Code:
Relief Pitching GR Wgr Lgr SVOpp Sv BSv SV% SvSit Hld IR IRS IRS% ALi LevHi LevMd LevLo Run Emp <3O >3O 0DR 1DR 2DR 3+DR Out/GR Pit/GR
Winn, John 62 10 4 35 31 4 89% 36 1 37 10 21% 2.111 37 11 11 18 44 8 33 14 16 12 20 4.9 24
Hollopeter, Steve 51 3 6 5 3 2 60% 7 2 15 6 29% 1.046 11 26 26 9 42 9 18 6 13 12 20 3.7 19
Evans, Roger 48 2 1 4 0 4 0% 12 8 22 8 27% 0.905 13 24 24 14 34 14 7 13 12 7 16 3.0 16
Lee, Sung-jin 37 0 5 8 5 3 63% 10 2 19 9 32% 1.049 9 21 21 12 25 3 15 7 6 5 19 3.9 20
Dean, Trevon 13 0 0 0 0 0 0% 0 0 9 2 18% 0.634 1 8 8 6 7 1 6 2 4 1 6 4.4 21
Cokely, Seth 8 0 0 0 0 0 0% 0 0 5 2 29% 0.374 0 8 8 4 4 2 4 2 1 1 4 4.3 24
Baryshnikov, Mikhail 5 1 0 1 1 0 100% 1 0 3 0 0% 1.555 2 3 3 3 2 2 2 1 0 1 3 3.0 16
Diot, Mickael 3 1 0 0 0 0 0% 0 0 1 0 0% 0.758 0 2 1 1 2 1 1 0 0 0 3 3.7 17
Carranza, Felix 3 1 0 0 0 0 0% 0 0 0 0 0% 0.878 0 1 1 0 3 0 1 1 0 0 2 5.7 32
Morales, Tony 3 0 0 0 0 0 0% 0 0 0 0 0% 0.617 0 2 2 0 3 0 3 0 0 0 3 6.3 32
Rose, Colin 3 0 0 0 0 0 0% 0 0 0 0 0% 0.291 0 3 3 0 3 1 0 1 1 0 1 2.7 11
George House returning to form after a year away was the single largest reason why the Braves were able to shoot back into contention a year after finishing 82-80. House was basically 100% the player he was in his 21-8, 2.70 season in 1969 that ended on September 12th with a torn flexor tendon. A lot of guys never come back from those but House did more than come back. He probably deserved a better look at the Cy Young; then again, he wilted in September, finishing the year 1-4 with a 6.03 ERA.
Felix Carranza turned in a career year with 16 wins. He doesn't get as many Ks as you'd expect from a man who throws that hard (his fastball regularly gets into the low to mid 90s).
Julio Sandoval, I guess, rounds out the trio of guys who are guaranteed a job in 1972. Coming off of a real Jekyll-and-Hyde year in 1970 (2-9, 5.68 with the Mets, 8-4, 2.48 with Atlanta), Sandoval looked like the Atlanta guy in the first half (9-8, 3.01 through the end of July) and the Mets guy in the 2nd (4-7, 5.59 from August 1 on). If the Braves can find that guy who led the league in ERA in '69, look out.
Jake Cari played well enough that he will probably be in the rotation as well to start the season. He didn't do much to affect the team's late-season swoon in large part because he missed most of September with a sore elbow. Cari wound up with just 1 start and 5 IP the entire month. He's not exactly the greatest pitcher ever assembled but the Braves really could have used his combination of mediocre stuff, OK control, and (for a guy who has to play so much in Atlanta) something of an ability to avoid dingers. He'll be pushed by
Colin Rose, who is a knuckleballer - in fact, I believe I imported Phil Niekro and changed his name. Since then I may have goosed his abilities a bit because look, the 1970s need knuckleballs. He still hasn't been very good, sadly.
More than anything else, the Braves were saved in 1971 by their bullpen and especially their ace
John Winn. Winn could have won the Cy Young Award if there weren't multiple players with 24, 25 win seasons this year. Basically every time he pitched was a high leverage situation, as noted by that 2.11 average leverage index and that 37 of his 62 appearances were in that category, and virtually every time he pitched he shut opponents down. My only regret is that I maybe didn't use him enough, but with so many supposed stoppers around the league wearing out, I decided to use him more like Bruce Sutter than Mike Marshall.
Steve Hollopeter was supposed to be his big setup man but to be honest an awful lot of the fires Winn put out were lit by the former Met. He's still only 25 so one would hope that his sudden proclivity to give up dingers - 22 in 78 innings, an absolutely insane rate - will go away and he'll be an effective guy again. The Braves ended the season with 22 year old ballet artist
Mikhail "White Night" Barishnikov as their setup guy after spending the season in AAA Richmond as a starter. He may not have the stamina to start and the short relief stints allow him to unleash that devastating circle change.
Batting
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Code:
Batting Age BT G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS DP BA OBP SLG Pos
Coyle, Danny 35 RR 121 354 43 77 24 1 10 46 68 79 1 0 12 .218 .347 .376 2*
Gamez, Andres 23 RR 81 173 22 55 6 1 5 32 15 30 1 1 8 .318 .372 .451 2
Guest, Christopher 23 RR 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 /2
The Braves made a bizarre move last September, leaving themselves with no real catchers to speak of, and then got a little on the lucky side in finding
Danny Coyle on the scrap heap for 1971. Coyle is no longer the All-Star level catcher he was in the 60s and definitely is not the same guy who won a Gold Glove in 1966 but he worked decently well with the pitching staff, inserting some levity into the situation you don't normally see from a backstop, and hit well enough to not be a drain. Going forward you'll probably see either
Andres Gamez or prospect
Christopher Guest taking over. Gamez was so solid with the hitting that the Braves saw fit to use him as a pinch-hitter somewhere around 20 times (I only see substitutions and he subbed for Coyle a bunch too). Neither he nor Guest are anything special on defense, although between the two Gamez probably has the stronger arm. Guest hit .300 over 2 levels in the minors last year and wants you to know that he is Spinal Tap.
Code:
Batting Age BT G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS DP BA OBP SLG Pos
Chairez, Dante 27 LR 158 589 89 157 25 3 25 92 72 110 1 2 18 .267 .345 .447 3*
Martinez, Franklin 36 RR 94 104 12 26 5 1 4 15 3 20 0 1 1 .250 .279 .433 /3
Holden, Jeremy 26 RR 34 36 4 14 3 0 1 7 3 7 3 2 2 .389 .436 .556 /3
Dwyer, Kevin 32 RR 125 509 89 160 29 5 19 77 44 47 1 1 15 .314 .366 .503 4*
Villegas, Roberto 30 RR 16 41 3 8 3 0 1 2 1 7 0 0 1 .195 .214 .341 /465
Oddsson, David 23 RR 3 5 2 2 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 .400 .400 .600 /47
Luna, Vicente 35 RR 119 504 64 131 17 3 12 58 34 62 6 1 12 .260 .306 .377 5*/3
Medford, Mike 29 RR 45 123 13 25 3 1 4 14 17 30 1 0 1 .203 .317 .341 5/76
Clinton, Bill 25 RR 28 60 4 15 4 0 0 7 3 5 0 2 2 .250 .277 .317 5/46
Vallin, Jose 37 RR 7 8 3 3 0 0 1 4 2 2 0 0 1 .375 .455 .750 /53
Reid, Jon 26 RR 145 559 62 149 27 1 6 63 35 99 0 2 15 .267 .311 .351 6*4
Dietrich, Ryan 32 RR 57 129 9 23 2 1 0 8 9 23 1 2 5 .178 .243 .209 6
Dante Chairez is, unlike the rest of this team, just entering his own as a hitter. His HR total was off the pace from 1970 - only 25 vs 35 the year before - but 1971 was more about securing his position as one of the top sluggers in the league in his 2nd full season. That's pretty much exactly what Coyle did. He's no longer sitting games out against lefties so it seems unlikely that he'll hit in the .290s again but, well, there are tradeoffs. The two guys listed as backups to Chairez are pretty much exclusively pinch-hitters:
"Cranklin" Martinez, still a guy you can count on for clutch hits at the ripe old age of 36, and
Jeremy "Grab 'Em And" Holden, a man who was somehow drafted as a second baseman once upon a time. I say "somehow" because there's no way he could return there. He's got really, really good speed for a 1B/future DH though.
Kevin Dwyer lost a bunch of his power - from a career high 30 HRs in '70 to 19 last year - and didn't lead the league in hitting (.333 average in '70), but a second baseman who can hit well over .300 with 20 HR pop is still quite the asset to have. If anything, the Braves' biggest issues came when he was out of the lineup with a concussion for most of May. His replacements in
Roberto Villegas and
Ryan Dietrich (I guess technically Jon Reid, with Dietrich manning shortstop) were... not good. That's one reason why the Iceland national
David Oddson is so intriguing, not necessarily as a replacement for Dwyer but as a caddy.
Vicente Luna returned from a season that saw him play in just 70 games and seemed to age all at once. He simply doesn't look like the .300 hitting hot corner specialist he was before that 1970 injury. A .260 guy with average power is still... OK but the this is definitely a position where the Braves could stand to upgrade. One option is
William Jefferson Clinton, a native Southerner (from Little Rock, AR) who attended college at Oxford and who's much more of a defensive guy than someone who can really fill in with the bat. Perhaps his future is more of a utility guy.
At shortstop,
Jon Reid is... just fine. He's no real threat to win a Gold Glove, although he does have terrific range, and while he hits well for a shortstop, it's only for a shortstop. None of that is bad at all and for 1971 at least it meant one position they didn't have to worry about so much. Right now both of the guys listed below him on the organizational depth chart are nursing injuries suffered late in the season so even if they could technically be ready in 1972 they won't be in April.
Code:
Batting Age BT G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS DP BA OBP SLG Pos
Ward, Chris 25 LL 124 456 86 135 13 7 12 47 50 67 56 21 1 .296 .369 .434 7*/93
LePera, Andy 25 RR 76 253 37 74 11 5 2 19 22 18 0 0 4 .292 .348 .399 79
Augspurger, Kenny 29 LL 37 57 5 9 1 0 4 12 9 11 0 0 2 .158 .269 .386 7
Baugher, Bill 26 LL 22 22 1 2 1 0 1 2 1 6 0 0 0 .091 .130 .273 /7
Damon, Josh 30 RR 122 459 61 119 18 1 18 61 44 67 3 0 12 .259 .327 .420 8*
Gomez, Jose 30 RR 59 162 29 40 7 1 10 19 18 22 5 0 0 .247 .319 .488 8/97
Aday, Michael Lee 23 LL 7 7 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 /87
Riggs, Henry 36 LL 149 559 112 167 35 1 43 119 93 78 0 1 9 .299 .398 .596 9*
The Braves found themselves a bona fide leadoff man in
Chris Ward. In fact, the 25 year old 1st round pick in 1969 led the NL in steals, finished 9th in triples, and scored 86 runs in just 456 at-bats. He also grounded into just one double play all season long. That's pretty good! If there's a knock on his game, it's that in spite of all that speed he doesn't seem to take good paths to balls hit into the outfield and as such he might be a career corner outfielder. Speaking of guys who will always be corner outfielders,
Andy LePera debuted in the majors last year as a useful 4th outfielder and right-handed pinch-hitter. He doesn't have Ward's blazing speed and his power doesn't really profile as a starter but he's got some very useful tools for a bench guy.
Josh Damon has been circling around the Braves' CF spot for years but never really got the opportunity to play there full time until 1971. He really took advantage of his opportunity. He obviously won't be a decade-long starter the way former guy Ed Salyer was but then, when all is said and done Salyer finished with a .215 career average and Damon will almost certainly eclipse that.
Jose Gomez came over from the Cubs in June of 1970 and now basically fills the role that Damon filled previously. He's a former All-Star who's shown pop whenever he's been given a chance to play but otherwise he's really a 2nd-best type guy to Damon.
Time ticks on and yet
Henry Riggs continues to excel. He won his 4th MVP this season, made his 16th career All-Star Game, and became the first player in modern history to crack the 500 HR barrier (he currently has 523). He also has 2,753 hits, so don't be surprised to see him breaking the 3,000 mark over the next 3-4 years as well. Lest I sound like I'm making the case for a future HOFer who's past his prime, I should note here that he set career highs in runs scored (a league-leading 112), led the NL in slugging (.596), and was one off of his career best in HRs (43, which also led the league). The Gold Glove he won last year was more of a lifetime achievement / acknowledgement of his great arm; voters went back to normal this year with that.