The start of the 2022 season for the defending World Series champion Atlanta Braves can only be described as inconsistent, but the resurgence of a pair of key bats in the lineup may be just what the Braves need as the end of May approaches.
In a win over the Marlins on Friday night, Marcell Ozuna hit a three-run bomb to give the Braves an early lead—his third home run in as many days and his fourth in the past week. Additionally, while he went just 1-4, Adam Duvall put a few good at-bats together, and Braves insider Grant McAuley told Beau Morgan and Chris Thomas on 92.9 The Game that Ozuna and Duvall can jumpstart Atlanta's offense moving forward.
“If this is the start of getting Ozuna on track with some consistency and also getting Adam Duvall to get comfortable again and go on one of those runs that we’ve seen both for and against the Braves, this lineup will start to really click in ways that it has not over the first five weeks of the season,” he said.
Overall, Ozuna is hitting just .224 in the heart of the Braves order surrounded by a pair of slumping sluggers in Matt Olson and Austin Riley. As for Duvall, he’s hovering just above the Mendoza line at .201, so if both guys can get back to consistently delivering at the plate, the Braves would be well suited to go on a run in the next few weeks.
With a favorable schedule over that time frame, McAuley believes Atlanta has a chance to gain ground in the NL East, especially as the Mets deal with yet another devastating injury on their pitching staff as Max Scherzer heads to the IL.
"As you go into a stretch where you’ve got 29 games against sub-.500 teams, this is where you start to make up some ground and this is where start to dig your heels in and say ‘alright look, this is the team that we are and we’re going to beat the competition and not play down to the competition’ which I feel like is part of what has been the Braves’ problem this year," McAuley said.
It’s important not the overreact in the early going of the MLB season, but if McAuley's prediction comes to fruition over the next few weeks, Braves fans would be able to take a collective sigh of relief.