TalkingChop 52 mins ago
2021 MLB Draft: Previewing the Future Stars Series International Week
Photo by Alex Trautwig/MLB Photos via The Future Stars Series International Week kicks off from Fenway Park next week and features some elite prep talent, led by top bat Ian Moller. The Future Stars Series International Week event for top high school players is being held in Boston at Fenway Park from September 25 to September 27, featuring a game between the National and International teams. I’ll be there in person to cover some of the high school players expected to be selected very high in the 2021 MLB Draft. This is the fourth year for the event, and after producing first round...
Kris Willis / TalkingChop 2 hours ago 
This Day in Braves History: Greg Maddux extends scoreless streak to 29 innings
Thank you to Baseball-Reference and NationalPastime.com for helping provide the background information for these articles. This Day in Braves History: September 18 1928 - The Braves and Cubs combine for an NL record eight double plays. Chicago wins the game 8-3. 1962 - Hank Aaron hits his 40th home run while Tommie Aaron finishes with three hits and drives in three runs in a 10-5 win over the Dodgers. 2000 - The Braves defeat the Mets 6-3 as Greg Maddux extends his scoreless innings streak to 29 innings. One year ago - The Braves dropped a 4-1 decision to the Philadelphia Phillies. Zach...
Kris Willis / TalkingChop 4 hours ago 
The Daily Chop: Max Fried activated, Freddy Tarnok and more
Photo by Todd Kirkland/ As expected, Max Fried will start Friday’s series opener in New York. The Atlanta Braves will continue their road trip Friday when they open up a three-game series against the New York Mets. The Braves have just 10 games remaining in the 2020 regular season and will enter Friday’s game with a three-game lead over the Miami Marlins who lost 5-3 to the Red Sox on Thursday. After the three game series in New York, the Braves will return home for the final seven games which includes a four-game series against the Marlins. The Braves are 29-21 and would have the...
TalkingChop 18 hours ago
Braves reinstate LHP Max Fried from 10-day IL. Option RHP Bryse Wilson to alternate training site.
Carmen Mandato-USA TODAY Sports Braves have their ace back! The Braves have announced the return of starting pitcher Max Fried off of the injured list and back to the big league team. .@WellstarHealth injury update:The #Braves today reinstated LHP Max Fried from the 10-day injured list and optioned RHP Bryse Wilson to the club’s alternate training site. pic.twitter.com/yUfitaVuYj— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) September 17, 2020 Absolutely massive news as the Braves are entering the final stretch of the regular season with a slim 2.5 game lead in the division. They will need big...
TalkingChop 20 hours ago
Braves Throwback Thursday: Comparing the record-setting 2003 Atlanta lineup to current starting 9
Catcher Javy Lopez hit a career-best 43 home runs and slugged .687 for the Atlanta Braves in 2003. | Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Sporting News via via 2003 Braves set club record with 907 runs scored The Atlanta Braves led all of baseball in runs this season, having scored 286 times in 50 games, or 5.72 runs per game. Spread over a 162-game season (which 2020 is not), that’s 942 runs. That would be a team record, outdistancing the 907 (5.6 per game) scored by the 2003 Braves. The 2003 Braves clinched the National League East on Sept. 18, 17 years ago Friday. That team won 101 games...
TalkingChop 22 hours ago
Starting Nine: It’s the Season of Freddie and he’s challenging for hardware to prove it
Through Wednesday, Freddie Freeman is tied with the Padres’ Fernando Tatis Jr. for MLB’s fWAR lead at 2.9. | Photo by Todd Kirkland/ Plus, how the lack of off days in the postseason could hurt and help the Braves and a team Atlanta won’t want to see in Texas The Braves’ magic number is down to six before they can start packing their bags for Texas and the postseason bubble. While the expanded format and subtraction of travel days through the first three rounds could lead to some hair situations for the National League East leaders and its rotation, no offense is doing more...
Kris Willis / TalkingChop Sep 17, 2020 
Braves Mailbag: Mike Foltynewicz, Cristian Pache and more
Photo by Kevin C. Cox/ We had another great round of questions for this week’s Talking Chop mailbag, so let’s get right to it. If Hamels is solid enough and Foltynewicz looks like he did the second half last year, with Ian Anderson and Max Fried coming back, could the Braves go all the way with that? The rotation wouldn’t be top 10 or anything, but do you guys think that with our bullpen and lineup, that rotation could get us through? I keep hearing that Foltynewicz has gained weight, and that his fastball is touching the mid-90s. However, I have heard not one word about his...
Kris Willis / TalkingChop Sep 17, 2020 
This Day in Braves History: Denny Neagle gives Atlanta five 15 game winners
Photo credit should read JEFF HAYNES/AFP via Thank you to Baseball-Reference and NationalPastime.com for helping provide the background information for these articles. This Day in Braves History: September 17 1917 - The Braves beat the Pirates 4-1 as Honus Wagner plays in the final game of his Major League Career for Pittsburgh. 1930 - Wally Berger clubs three homers in a doubleheader against the Reds. Berger will finish the season with 38 home runs. 1941 - Stan Musial makes his major league debut against the Braves going 2-for-4 while driving in a pair of runs. 1965 - The Braves...
TalkingChop Sep 17, 2020
The Daily Chop: Loss to Orioles, Hamels debut, Freeman, and more
Photo by Rob Carr/ The Orioles took two of three from the Braves. The Braves lost to the Orioles on Wednesday, but maybe more importantly, Cole Hamels made a healthy debut for Atlanta. After nearly a full calendar year between starts, Hamels worked 31⁄3 innings. Though he did allow three runs, Hamels showed flashes of the stuff that made him an ace in Philadelphia, Texas, and briefly in Chicago last season. The Braves would benefit greatly from a healthy iteration of Hamels for the remainder of the season, so hopefully each start brings better results for the remainder of the...
TalkingChop Sep 16, 2020
Cole Hamels gives up three runs in Braves debut as Orioles win, 5-1
Photo by Rob Carr/ Here’s hoping that he continues to ramp up in time for October! Other than that, the Braves dropped the series to Baltimore. The Baltimore Orioles gave Cole Hamels a rude welcome back to Major League Baseball tonight. They scored three runs against him as they ended up eventually cruising to a comfortable 5-1 victory over our Atlanta Braves this evening. It turned out that the starter for Baltimore would end up being the main story for tonight’s game. During his start tonight, Keegan Akin was looking to prove that what happened in his previous start against the...
TalkingChop Sep 16, 2020
Braves at Orioles, September 16, 2020: Game Thread & discussion
Photo by Scott Taetsch/ The rubber match is coming up Alright, tonight’s game is about to get going. The Braves would love to leave Baltimore with their second series win of the road trip so far, and there’s no reason to think that they aren’t capable of doing the trick tonight against the Orioles. Plus, we’ll get to see what Cole Hamels has in store as he finally gets his 2020 season underway here in September. Hopefully we’ll have some good news to talk about once tonight’s game is done and dusted. PREVIEW | LINEUPS
TalkingChop Sep 16, 2020
Marcell Ozuna will play in the outfield for final game of Braves series against Orioles
Mary Holt-USA TODAY Sports Hopefully there will be no adventures in the outfield tonight. Tonight’s lineups are out, so let’s take a look at them — starting with the Braves: Tonight: @ColeHamels makes his #Braves debut!#ForTheA pic.twitter.com/1AwoDTqhAf— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) September 16, 2020 Keegan Akin is a left-hander, which means that Nick Markakis won’t be in the lineup. That also means that Marcell Ozuna will be staying in the lineup and playing left field. Ozuna is not a great defender by any stretch of the imagination, so they are clearly sacrificing defense...
TalkingChop Sep 16, 2020
Cole Hamels will finally start as Braves face off against Orioles
Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports It’s finally happening. Cole Hamels is set to take the mound while wearing a Braves uniform in a regular season game. Hello, everyone. Do you remember back in early December 2019 when we were in a blissful state of holiday cheer, the pandemic was the furthest thing from anybody’s mind in the United States, and the Braves had just got done signing Cole Hamels on a deal? It’s now mid-September and we are finally going to see Hamels pitch a game for the Braves. It’s really going to happen. He’s not going to be out there for a long time this evening,...
Kris Willis / TalkingChop Sep 16, 2020 
Braves release 2021 Spring Training Schedule
Photo by Mark Cunningham/MLB Photos via Here is to hoping that the 2021 spring schedule returns to normal. Major League Baseball released the Spring Training Schedule for 2021 with Grapefruit League and Cactus League play set to begin February 27. The Atlanta Braves will open the Grapefruit League season on the road against the Baltimore Orioles. Spring Training will continue through Tuesday, March 30 with the regular season scheduled to begin on April 1. Game times as well as radio and TV broadcast info will be released later. The Braves opened their new spring training facility in...
Kris Willis / TalkingChop Sep 16, 2020 
Braves activate Cole Hamels, option Jasseel De La Cruz to alternate site
Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports The time is now for the Braves and Hamels. As expected, the Atlanta Braves reinstated veteran left-hander Cole Hamels Wednesday and he will start tonight’s series finale against the Baltimore Orioles. To make room on the active roster, the Braves optioned right-hander Jasseel De La Cruz back to the alternate training site. De La Cruz was brought up for the first time to the Major League roster on Tuesday to add another fresh arm to the bullpen but didn’t get into Tuesday’s game. .@WellstarHealth injury update:The #Braves today reinstated LHP Cole...
TalkingChop Sep 16, 2020
Jasseel De La Cruz: Introducing the Newest Atlanta Braves Rookie
Photo by Mark Cunningham/MLB Photos via Jasseel De La Cruz is an interesting arm the Braves recently promoted, with a power fastball/slider combo that could play very well in a late inning role. Jasseel De La Cruz has made his first venture to the big league club, with the 23 year old right handed pitcher receiving a major league call up earlier today. De La Cruz has been around the system for awhile, first debuting as an 18 year old in 2015 in his home in the Dominican Republic. His numbers weren’t great but he was moved stateside to the Gulf Coast League after a season and a half...
TalkingChop Sep 16, 2020
The Daily Chop: Big win in Baltimore, De La Cruz promoted, playoff bubbles, and more
Photo by Rob Carr/ The Braves bounced back with a solid performance on Tuesday, evening the series with Baltimore. Major League Baseball announced its playoff schedule on Tuesday, sharing the newly-hatched plans for bubbles and expanded playoffs. The first two rounds will not include off-days, with the Division Series being played at alternate sites. The National League will play its bubble games in Texas (Houston and Arlington), while the American League will play in California (San Diego and Los Angeles). The format will speed up the series, but will place teams with shallow pitching...
TalkingChop Sep 15, 2020
Adam Duvall homered AGAIN as the Braves beat Baltimore 5-1
Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports The Braves did the thing where they scored more runs than the other team. The Braves got some strong pitching from Huascar Ynoa and co. and Adam Duvall homered yet again as the Braves took down the Orioles by the score of 5-1. You would be forgiven if you thought that starting Huascar Ynoa was going to be a recipe for disaster because, if for no other reason, that has just been the Braves’ curse this year. In some respects, the Braves’ rotation spots have been like the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher position in the Harry Potter series. For those...
TalkingChop Sep 15, 2020
Huascar Ynoa leaves start against Orioles early
Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports Uh-oh. Huascar Ynoa was having himself quite the evening on Tuesday. After being pressed into service due to the Braves, ahem, struggles in the rotation, Ynoa looked really good through four innings as he had given up just two hits and no runs while striking out five batters. Unfortunately, as we have seen basically all season long, the Braves rotation is just simply not allowed to have nice things for some reason in 2020. After the fourth inning, Darren O’Day was cranked up in the Braves bullpen and Ynoa was seen being tended to by the Braves’ training...
TalkingChop Sep 15, 2020
Braves vs. Orioles - 9/15 - Game Thread
Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports Join us as we follow along with the Braves’ second game agains the Orioles. Hello friends and as we reach the final stretch of the 2020 regular season, the Braves send Huascar Ynoa to the mound against the Baltimore Orioles. Preview Lineups Post The day as been a busy one. The Braves called up Jasseel de la Cruz to the major league roster to replace Touki Toussaint. What role he will play on the team down the stretch, if at all, has yet to be determined. Major League Baseball also finally announced its plans for the 2020 postseason including the use of...
