Braves Briefing: Five Braves make “All-MLB” team
The regular season domination by the 2023 Atlanta Braves continues to get recognition, as five Braves were named to All-MVP teams last night at the Hank Aaron Award honor ceremony.
Spencer Strider, Ronald Acuña Jr, and Austin Riley were named first team All-MLB, with Ozzie Albies and Matt Olson being named to the second team (beaten on the first team by Marcus Semien of the Texas Rangers and Freddie Freeman of the Los Angeles Dodgers, respectively.
But the biggest honor of the night – well, one of the two given out – went to Ronald Acuña Jr. He and AL MVP Shohei Ohtani were both presented with the Hank Aaron Award, given out to the most exemplary offensive player in each league.
And Ronald dressed for the occasion.
The slugger wore a custom Braves red suit, embroidered with his own #13 as well as Hank Aaron’s iconic #44.
Talking about why Atlanta prioritized acquiring Ray Kerr via trade from the Padres, we noted how his curveball is an absolute weapon.
How long until pitchers and catchers report?
57 days. Atlanta’s expected to ask pitchers and catchers to report on Monday, February 12th, in advance of their first spring training game on February 24th against the Tampa Bay Rays. An official announcement of the reporting date will come in January.
Here’s the odds for the top 10 teams to win the 2024 World Series according to FanDuel
With yesterday’s acquisition of starter Tyler Glasnow, the Los Angeles Dodgers continue to improve their betting odds of winning the World Series.
Los Angeles Dodgers – +460
Atlanta Braves – +650
New York Yankees – +850
Houston Astros – +900
Texas Rangers – +950
Philadelphia Phillies – +1000
Baltimore Orioles – +1500
Toronto Blue Jays – +1600
Minnesota Twins – +2000
Seattle Mariners – +2000
In a pretty unique honor, Braves hitting coach Kevin Seitzer was named MLB’s Coach of the Year by Baseball America.
Usually, it’s managers or players getting honored at the end of the year, so it’s pleasant to see one of the lesser-known individuals within the organization get recognized.
The 2023 Braves will go down as one of the greatest offenses of all time. They became the first team in MLB history to record a slugging percentage over .500. They tied the record for most home runs in a single season with 307. However, the team that they tied — the 2019 Twins — had the advantage of playing in the juiced ball era. The 2023 Braves are the real home run kings, and nobody can argue that. They also had a wRC+ and OPS+ up there with the 1927 Yankees. 2023 was a season Braves fans will never forget, and Kevin Seitzer was a critical reason why, but this has really been a long time coming.
Seitzer has been instrumental to the Braves success since joining the organization in 2015. He’s helped develop all of the young talent that graces the field at Truist Park, and he’s also turned around a number of careers, like Orlando Arcia, Jorge Soler, Travis d’Arnaud, and countless others. There are few hitting coaches as good at what they do as Kevin Seitzer, and it’s why most people have come to expect struggling players that join the Braves to figure it out.
Up next is the newly acquired Jarred Kelenic. The former sixth overall pick has all the tools in the world to be successful, and the Braves are betting that once Kevin Seitzer gets his hands on him, he’ll begin to realize more of that immense potential.
