Dale Murphy joined Dukes & Bell for his weekly segment with the guys, and talked about the bullpen woes, Austin Riley and where he thinks Ronald Acuña Jr. should be hitting in the lineup.
Murphy said, as a closer, you have to have overwhelming stuff when you're not at your best.
“I really like Luke Jackson," Murphy said. "As a closer you have to either have overwhelming stuff like Craig Kimbrel if you’re a little off to get away with being off. I don’t think Jackson’s stuff was where he wanted it. The thing about baseball you make a good pitch they get a broken bat single, you make a bad pitch and sometimes they pop it up. I think you might see Touki or Newcomb move to later in the game. I know they’ve pitched later in the game last few nights, but without a defined closer who knows.”
Murphy told the guys he thinks the Braves are looking at a move to shore up the pen.
“There’s not enough good words to say about him," Murphy said. “I see the possibility of him creeping up the lineup. I couldn’t be higher on the kid. The guy looks like he’s the part of a slugger. I think this is a 30 to 40 home run guy for the next 10 years.”
Murphy said while Acuña is hitting well at leadoff, he would like to see him settle into a different spot.
“I just see him as a three or four hitter someday," Murphy said. "You can’t argue about what he’s doing right now in that spot. People say Freddie is at three. I think Freddie could hit four as well. I think you should have Acuña at three and Freddie at four. I just think of him as an RBI guy, but you can’t argue with his success at leadoff.”
Murphy told the guys what it takes to bat in the middle of the lineup.
“It is an adjustment," Murphy said. "I hit third, fourth or fifth most of my career and probably hit fourth more. It just felt like if I had three average-to-good hitters in front of me it seemed I always had guys on base. Pyschology it’s different when you hit in the third or fourth spot. I don’t see Josh going back to number two.
