The Atlanta Braves started the season with a lot of buzz, mainly due to the addition of Justin Upton. Whenever anyone would talk about the Braves the first things that would come to mind was; the Upton brothers and their bullpen. Thrown into that mix is the amount of strikeouts that the Braves produce on any given night. They have 325 strikeouts on the year, which is about 30 more than the second closest team in the NL.
Most people automatically put strikeouts and losing teams in the same mold, when in reality, it should not be that way. The Atlanta Braves strikeout a lot, everyone knows that and everyone gets it. The fact of the matter is, that if they are scoring five-plus runs a game, the strikeouts aren’t going to matter. In fact, the Braves won a game earlier this year where they struck out 17 times and still managed to win. On the other hand, they have lost a lot of games due to the high strikeout numbers as well.
One of the main reasons the Braves strikeout numbers are so high has a lot to do with B.J. Upton. He has 44 strikeouts to date. Along with him is Dan Uggla who is known for striking out, at 45 this year. The difference between Upton and Uggla is that Uggla still gets on base at a .324 tilt. Upton on the other hand has an OBP of only .241.
A good example of why a team can strike out and still be successful is the 2012 Oakland Athletics. For those of you unaware of what happened, i’ll fill you in. Last season the A’s struck out an American League record 1,325 times. This is a ridiculous mark but yet they still managed to make the playoffs. I think this in itself says a lot about k’s. Strikeouts are a problem for a team like the Houston Astros, who lead Major League Baseball with 360. The reason it is so much worse for this team is because they don’t have any power in their lineup.
The Braves on the other hand have a plethora of batters with high strikeout numbers but also big power bats. Freddie Freeman, Justin Upton and Jason Heyward all have the potential to hit a homerun at any point in the game. The Astros on the other hand do not have this luxury.
In conclusion, the strikeout numbers are bad; yes, but they aren’t going to decide the fate of this ball club. If the Braves can cut down on their strikeouts slowly over the season, they have a great chance at making a deep playoff run. Playing the devils' advocate a bit here but the same could be said opposite. If this team keeps their strikeout rate this high, once the playoffs start, it seems almost impossible for them to make a deep playoff run. Only time can tell with this one.