Atlanta Braves
Record: 91-71 (Second place in NL East, six games behind Philadelphia. NL Wild Card Champions).
Batting Leaders:
Batting Average: Omar Infante (.321)
Home Runs: Brian McCann (21)
RBIs: Brian McCann (77)
On-base Percentage: Jason Heyward (.393)
Pitching Leaders:
Wins: Tim Hudson (17)
Strikeouts: Tommy Hanson (173)
Innings Pitched: Tim Hudson (228.2)
ERA: Tim Hudson (2.83). Bullpen- Billy Wagner (1.43)
WHIP: Tim Hudson (1.15). Bullpen- Billy Wagner (0.87)
Saves: Billy Wagner (37)
Highlight of the Season: On October 3, the Braves clinched their first postseason berth since 2005, when they defeated the Phillies 8-7 at home. Also aiding them was a 3-0 Padres loss to the Giants, which prevented Atlanta from having to play a one-game playoff.
Another highlight worthy of consideration was their miraculous 10-9 comeback victory on the Cincinnati Reds on May 20. The Braves trailed the Reds 9-3 entering the bottom of ninth, before scoring seven times to win the game, which was capped by Brooks Conrad's game-winning grand slam.
Lowlight of the Season: A 3-2 loss to the Giants in Game 4 of the Division Series on October 11, which ended their season.
The Lowdown:
The Braves entered the 2010 season with reason for optimism. After all, they had one of the game's brightest young stars in Jason Heyward ready to enter the big time, and they also featured a rock-solid starting rotation that could keep up with just about anyone in the National League. Heyward made his presence known right away with a towering home run in his first major-league at-bat on Opening Day, and the Braves, behind his leadership, took off from there.
Atlanta's season did have some roller-coaster moments, though, as an injury suffered to Chipper Jones late in the season put their chances for a postseason berth in jeopardy. However, a late-season collapse by the San Diego Padres helped the Braves reach the postseason for the 15th time in 19 years. Even though they did not last long once they reached the postseason, the Braves still made Bobby Cox's final season one to remember.
Offense:
Atlanta's offense was the very definition of average last year. They finished 13th in runs scored (738), 14th in batting average (.258), fourth in on-base percentage (.339), 18th in slugging (.401) and 20th in home runs (139). While they didn't feature an overwhelming amount of power (Brian McCann led the team with just 21 homers), they featured a couple of decent contact hitters, as Martin Prado and Omar Infante each hit over .300. Atlanta's lineup was also anchored by the bat of rookie Jason Heyward, who finished his freshman campaign with a .277 average, 18 home runs, 72 RBIs and a phenomenal .393 on-base percentage. Unfortunately for him, the Giants' Buster Posey was able to capture NL Rookie of the Year honors for putting up equal numbers at a more demanding position (catcher).
Aside from the aforementioned three, the Braves featured mostly mediocre performances from the majority of their lineup.
Final Grade: C+
Pitching:
The Braves were able to reach the postseason largely off the strength of their pitching staff, which finished third in the majors in ERA (3.56), fifth in WHIP (1.27), seventh in "batting average against" (.246) and dead-last in home runs allowed (126). Leading the way were a trio of very solid starters in Tim Hudson, Tommy Hanson and Derek Lowe. Hudson provided veteran leadership in the rotation once again, leading the team in victories (17), innings pitched (228.2), ERA (2.83) and quality starts (25). Behind him was 24-year-old Tommy Hanson, who had a fine sophomore season, finishing with a 3.33 ERA and a WHIP of 1.17 in spite of his 10-11 record. Derek Lowe rounded out their pitching triumvirate, providing a stable backbone in the rotation. Lowe finished with a 16-12 record, and just missed tossing 200 innings by just 6.1 innings. Although he's aging, Lowe is still a good veteran presence to have in a rotation.
In the bullpen, Billy Wagner put on a fantastic final performance, garnering 37 saves while recording a WHIP of 0.87 and an ERA of 1.43. While the Braves will certainly miss his presence closing out games next year, they have a capable duo of Peter Moylan and Johnny Venters who are more than capable of assuming the closer's role. Moylan led the team with 85 appearances last year, and he finished with a solid 2.97 ERA with 21 holds. Venters meanwhile, was just a tad better, finishing with a 1.95 ERA, 93 strikeouts and 24 holds in 83 innings. The seemingly ageless Takashi Saito was also terrific out of the 'pen last year, recording a 2.83 ERA, 1.07WHIP and 69 strikeouts in just 54 innings.
After taking a glance at Atlanta's pitching staff, it's pretty easy to see how and why they made the playoffs.
Final Grade: A+
Wild Card: Bobby Cox
The Braves were able to send off legendary manager Bobby Cox in style last year, as they reached the playoffs for the 15th time since he took over the helm in 1990. Cox will definitely go down as arguably the best manager of the last 30 years because of his unbelievable consistency. When you make the playoffs for 14 years in a row, you are making a lot of right moves within your organization, and you are certainly getting the most out of your players in spite of the turnover that's always present within MLB organizations these days. He was also still able to maintain patience when the Braves hit a dry spell between 2006 and 2009, before guiding them back to the playoffs one last time this year. New manager Fredi Gonzalez might be good, but he has some large shoes to fill now that Cox is gone.
Final Grade: A+
Overall:
You can't complain too much about this team not going deeper into the playoffs because Cox was able to get the most out of each and every player on this roster. Even though they really benefitted from San Diego falling apart, they were still able to take advantage of that opening provided by the Padres to reach the playoffs.
Final Grade: A
Check back soon for the report card on the Cincinnati Reds!
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