Braves Briefing: Not only does Atlanta hit a lot of homers, they hit them FAR

Much has been written about Atlanta's prolific offense, especially with regards to how many home runs they hit and how many first inning runs they score.

But not only are they hitting a lot of home runs, they're hitting them far.

451 FEET 😱@austinriley1308 crushed this baseball. pic.twitter.com/v8FwYCDLAW
— Bally Sports: Braves (@BravesOnBally) July 20, 2023

Austin Riley's 451 foot bomb on Wednesday night was Atlanta's 19th home run of the season to go at least 450 feet. In the Statcast era (so beginning in 2015), only one team had 19 home runs of 450 feet or more in a season - the 2021 Colorado Rockies. But not only was that their figure for a full season, they also have the advantage of playing half their games in Coors Field in Denver. At an altitude of 5,280 ft above sea level, fly balls travel an estimated 9.3% farther in Coors than other National League parks.

Ronald Acuña Jr leads the team with six such bombs, and the longest was from Travis d'Arnaud against Colorado in Truist Park, traveling 474 feet.

Yes the Braves hit a lot of homers, but they aren't cheap ones.

NL East Standings

Team	Record	Games Back	Action Today
Atlanta	61-33	--	vs Arizona
Philadelphia	52-43	9.5	vs Milwaukee
Miami	53-45	10.0	OFF
NY Mets	45-50	16.5	vs CWS
Washington	38-58	24.0	OFF

We Wrote It

Braves Today contributor Jake Mastroianni (host of Locked On Braves) continued his trade deadline previews with a look at how the Braves and White Sox might match up for a deal. After sifting through some of the higher-profile options, he settled on two guys that might not cost a ton in prospect capital to get done:

Aaron Bummer doesn't have the best numbers, but he has a 3.11 xERA with 28.5 percent strikeout rate and he's left-handed. He's under team control through 2025 at a cheap price, but you could probably get him for Jared Shuster or Dylan Dodd.
Joe Kelly is a name that a lot of Braves fans have been asking for. He has a $9.5 million team option for next year. The righty meets all the metrics with a 30.8 percent strikeout rate, 8.3 percent walk rate, and 3.01 xERA with a big fastball and wipeout slider. He's coming off injury, but as long as he proves healthy he's likely to draw a lot of interest at the deadline. If you consider you're getting a dominant reliever with an extra year of control, getting Joe Kelly for Shuster or Dodd seems like a fair deal.

Read the whole piece HERE.

What's next for the Braves?

Atlanta tries to salvage the series and avoid a sweep in tomorrow's afternoon finale, but it's no tall task: Spencer Strider (11-3, 3.66 ERA) and the Braves go up against Zac Gallen (11-4, 3.14 ERA), who is right behind Strider in the Cy Young conversation and is coming off of a start for the National League in last week's All-Star Game.

First pitch in the series finale is scheduled for 12:20 PM ET from Truist Park. The home broadcast, with Voice of the Braves Brandon Gaudin, is available inside Braves Country on Bally Sports South and is available on MLB.TV outside of the broadcast area. The radio call, with Ben Ingram, is available locally on 680 AM/93.7 FM The Fan or outside the Atlanta market on the Atlanta Braves Radio Network or MLB.com.

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