Spencer Strider takes on Reese Olson in today’s Braves vs. Tigers matchup. Olson only has 10 MLB innings in his career, but they’ve been good ones: 2.70 ERA, 2BB, 9K. He’s also a Georgia boy and was drafted right out of high school back in 2018. He has 4 pitches, a fastball that can hit 96-97 and a slider, sinker, and change. All 4 are grading out as plus pitches thus far.
Strider is looking to rebound and also cure a little PTSD for Braves fans who have recently seen his triple digit fastball dip down to 93-94. His last 5-6 starts have been less Striderman that what we’ve come to expect and I sure do hope the Tigers are the cure all.
Braves Lineup
Marcell Ozuna, who’s dealing with a minor ailment, gets another day off and Kevin Pillar gets a rare start against a RHP. Eddie Rosario gets the DH.
Is it Time to Try Something Else?
Eddie Rosario has never been a strong fielder and he’s always been a streaky hitter, but there’s a lot more to take in here lately. Eddie has been chasing balls out of the zone like teenage boys chase girls on spring break. Now that the bottom 4th percentile, it might be time to change it up a bit. Sam Hilliard can do a lot of things well that Eddie cannot. He can play superb defense, has a great arm, top-tier speed, and can hit the ball really hard. It’s always so odd to me when Snitker completely cuts a guy off. Yes, his BABIP was absurdly high and he was striking out at a high rate. Yes, there was a skid were Ks racked up and he deserved to ride the pine a bit, but since then, Hilliard hasn’t seen one single AB. Meanwhile, Eddie Rosario built up his OPS to .754 and it dropped to .709 in 5 days. My question is simple? Why cut Hilliard off completely? Rosario is so much worse in the field and if Hilliard had 4-5 starts in a row and flopped, then at least AA would know what he needs to target at the trade deadline.
FREE SAM HILLIARD!
Just met Riley at Comerica Park…already nakes this a worthwhile trip
I hope meeting you gets him going again…been a rough few days for my guy!
Indeed…free Sam Hilliard!
MLB.tv by defaulted loaded the Tigers pregame, as the Braves were already in weather delay, and man…I didn’t watch/listen for long, but I did not enjoy what I did get.
The Detroit crew are atrocious
Agreed. Although I think the combo of Joe and Chip might’ve been the most toxic broadcast I’ve ever witnessed.
Report from Flushing: Scherzer coughs up a 5-1 lead, leaves after 3.2 IP down 6-5.
Game PPD. Doubleheader tomorrow.
Ended up watching the A’s/Rays game last night with ours being kaputted and it was really something. If y’all haven’t been following it, A’s fans held a ‘reverse boycott’ last night in protest of the ownership tanking the team and then (ham-handedly, thus far) trying to move to Vegas, using fan apathy—fan apathy which, of course, they created—as a supposed pretext. Anyhow, the fans who organized this got nearly 30k at the game last night, and all through the game you could hear fans chanting clear as day on the TV broadcast: stuff like “SELL THE TEAM,” “F**K JOHN FISHER” (he being the owner), etc. Was really something else. And they actually won!
A’s ownership is apparently trying the Rachel Phelps method of getting the team to move to a more preferred location like what she tried with the Indians in Major League until she was foiled by Rick Vaughn, Willie Mays Hayes and Jake Taylor.
Hey, break up the A’s — 7 wins in a row.
Went to a Sunday game in Oakland (vs. Houston) a few weeks ago and there were about a dozen anti-ownership banners (“Kaval = Liar,” “Sell, Sell,” “Fisher Out,” “Empty Seats By Design,” etc.) in the right-field stands. (A’s lost 10-1 in front of 8,809 Sunday fans.)
Was kinda surprised they were allowed to do that, but it made for a rather unique day at the ballpark, one filled with steaming enmity.
I certainly have no horse in the race & I’m not invested in the A’s situation one way or the other, however… While I genuinely feel sorry for the A’s fans — and I had some heartfelt conversations out there — it wouldn’t break my heart to see them move to Vegas. Just seems like that franchise is going nowhere in a dump of an outdated ballpark in a mostly indifferent market.
MH2 is back, baby! Strider’s gotta figure it out now with the lead.