Earlier this week, the Atlanta Braves defeated the Boston Red Sox, sweeping the two-game series and picking up much need wins as they had returned home from a west coast swing which they would go 1-5 and that would include Atlanta losing their three-game set with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
And while the Braves are among teams with the best records in Major League Baseball at 22-12, as a result of their recent trip out west, they dropped from first in the National League Est to second, sitting two games behind the Philadelphia Phillies.
On Friday, Steak Shapiro and Sandra Golden were joined by Atlanta Braves’ legend, Chipper Jones, and the trio who shared with the middays’ host his thoughts on how Braves’ players currently having struggles at the plate, can turn things around.
“You want to refrain from trying to give too much information to where he’s up there thinking about four or five different swing thoughts at the same time,” Jones told Shapiro and Golden, referring to Braves’ first baseman, Matt Olson, who is currently batting .200 with three home runs and 16 RBI this season in comparison to a .250 batting average with eight home runs and 25 RBI through the first 25 games last season.
Jones added that prior to talking with Olson or any of the Braves’ players about things that may be able to help them out with their swings, he always has a conversation with Atlanta hitting coach, Kevin Seitzer, to gage what conversations have already been had so that if he has any helpful suggestions or advice to add, it is not something already said.
“Look, hitting is contagious, you saw it last year. So is not hitting,” Jones told Shapiro and Golden, later adding that players tend to “press” the more they struggle and sometimes the turnaround can be as simple as a break from the game.
“Not a true day off, but like a day off at the park where you come in, you don’t even put your spikes on, you watch the game and you’d be surprised how refreshed,” players can be by doing so Jones said.
Click link above to hear the conversation in its entirety:
