BRAVES NEWS
Wisler throws six no-hit innings as Braves beat Diamondbacks
Despite the fact that Freddie Freeman is probably waking up really sore after flipping over a railing and landing smack-dab on top of an empty seat, the Braves have to be feeling pretty good about last night’s performance against the Diamondbacks. Dansby Swanson made a couple of excellent defensive plays, the Braves were hitting the ball pretty well off of Arizona’s pitching, and Matt Wisler marked his return to the bigs by taking a no-no into the seventh inning. All in all, not a bad night’s work for the Braves in the desert.
Freeman has been shining during dark season for Braves
Speaking of Freddie Freeman, the production and effort that he’s displayed this season has simply been great. He’s currently on track for a career year, and it’s downright scary to think about where the Braves’ offense would be without him this season. Joe Lucia of The Comeback went into detail concerning Freeman’s great season and how he’s managing to shine during a dark period for the Braves.
...Freeman [is] mashing the bejeezus out of the ball and putting together a top-five year for any first baseman in baseball.
Wait a minute — Freddie Freeman, top five first baseman in the majors? The stats back it up.
Freeman’s 4.4 fWAR is second-best among all first basemen, behind just Chicago Cubs MVP candidate Anthony Rizzo. His 26 homers are the seventh-most among all first basemen, and that’s with qualifying part-timers Edwin Encarnacion and Carlos Santana at the position. Freeman’s .391 wOBA is fourth among all first basemen in baseball (behind Rizzo, Joey Votto, and Paul Goldschmidt), and his 145 wRC+ is third (behind Rizzo and Votto). It’s absolutely not a stretch to group Freeman with Rizzo, Votto, Goldschmidt, and Miguel Cabrera in that top tier of baseball’s first basemen.
Chipper Jones shares his opinion on Braves’ rebuild
Braves legend and future Hall-of-Famer Chipper Jones has moved back to the Atlanta area, and he decided to mark the occasion by having an interview with Jeff Schultz of the AJC. Naturally, the longtime former third baseman for Atlanta talked about the Braves and their rebuild, and while he’s impressed with what’s been going on so far, he knows that there’s still a long way to go and still “moves that need to be made.”
MLB NEWS
Matt Moore comes one out away from throwing historic no-hitter
Matt Wisler wasn’t the only pitcher who was flirting with a no-no last night. Matt Moore of the San Francisco GIants made it all the way into the ninth inning with his no-hit bid, and he nearly did something that no Giants pitcher has done since 1915: No-hit the Dodgers. Unfortunately, rookie sensation and NL MVP candidate Corey Seager hates that type of fun, so he broke up the no hitter with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Ouch.
Jarrod Dyson makes amazing catch vs. Marlins
The Royals have been making a decent run at getting back into the postseason race. The defending World Series champs have won nine out of their last ten and are only four games out of the second Wild Card spot. Granted, they’ve got a few teams ahead of them, but the fact that they’re even in the conversation is amazing. What’s also amazing is this catch that Jarrod Dyson made last night. Maybe in a decade or so, they’ll give him the Andruw Jones treatment and make a bobblehead to commemorate the moment.