Battery Power - August 19: Nationals vs Braves (Rained Out)Your one stop shop for everything Atlanta Braveshttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/52890/favicon-32x32..png2020-08-19T19:42:10-04:00http://www.batterypower.com/rss/stream/211405992020-08-19T19:42:10-04:002020-08-19T19:42:10-04:00Atlanta Braves vs. Washington Nationals postponed due to rain
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<p>The rain has chased tonight’s game away.</p> <p id="eqZIz6">The wait to see <span>Cristian Pache</span> playing for the <a href="https://www.talkingchop.com/">Braves</a> has been extended until Friday at the least. Mother Nature intervened in a major way on Wednesday night and once game time rolled around, the tarp was on the field. Since we’re in a weird season that’s been heavily affected by the ongoing pandemic, one thing that’s changed from a normal season is the amount of time that’s spent waiting for the weather to clear up. In a normal year, they’d wait around for this thing to clear up around the ballpark (which probably would’ve been a while) and they’d try to get this game going soon. </p>
<p id="QQxjNY">This isn’t a normal year. The weather would’ve taken a while to clear up and so instead of waiting, the game’s been postponed. </p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Tonight’s game vs. the Nationals has been postponed due to weather and rescheduled as a traditional doubleheader on Friday, September 4th, starting at 4:10 pm ET. <a href="https://t.co/oL1rqHfk11">pic.twitter.com/oL1rqHfk11</a></p>— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) <a href="https://twitter.com/Braves/status/1296225228671131651?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 19, 2020</a>
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<p id="zQLZGU">The Braves will make up the game in early September, which means that both the make-up game and the originally scheduled game on that date will now be seven innings instead of nine. That’s just another wrinkle for what’s becoming an extremely wrinkled season. With that being said, you will always take a rain postponement over a COVID-19-related postponement. Still, it’s a bit of a bummer to have a day go by without Braves baseball — especially when there was a hot prospect about to make his debut. I’m not talking about <a href="https://i.redd.it/qcabr4swzif31.jpg">the hot sauce, either</a>. </p>
https://www.batterypower.com/2020/8/19/21376563/atlanta-braves-vs-washington-nationals-august-19-rain-postponement-doubleheader-september-4Demetrius Bell2020-08-19T18:30:00-04:002020-08-19T18:30:00-04:00Braves vs. Nationals, August 19, 2020: Game Thread and discussion
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<img alt="Washington Nationals v Atlanta Braves" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/k9nKSsLD0NJsbXdYVc3MDUVtI5I=/0x0:4029x2686/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/67229616/1228098606.jpg.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>It’s time for Pache.</p> <p id="vsIuKl">Alright, it’s finally about to happen. The <a href="https://www.talkingchop.com/">Braves</a> are taking on the <a href="https://www.federalbaseball.com/">Nationals</a> and <span>Cristian Pache</span> will be making his debut tonight, and expectations are already sky-high when it comes to his defense. Additionally, let’s hope that <span>Kyle Wright</span> can finally put together a really good start. We’ve seen <a href="https://www.talkingchop.com/2020/8/19/21370119/fixing-the-braves-young-pitching-kyle-wright-touki-toussaint-bryse-wilson-ian-anderson-kyle-muller">the young pitchers take more than their fair share of punishment in recent weeks</a>, so maybe this will be the night that things actually turn around for both Wright and the rest of whatever the rotation turns out to be. Either way, there’s a lot of excitement and anticipation for tonight’s game and we’re glad that you’re going to be hanging out here.</p>
<p id="MP7Sh1"><a href="https://www.talkingchop.com/2020/8/19/21375446/atlanta-braves-washington-nationals-august-19-game-time-tv-channel-radio-streaming-cristian-pache">Preview</a></p>
<p id="Hm3wSI"><a href="https://www.talkingchop.com/2020/8/19/21376196/atlanta-braves-washington-nationals-august-19-lineups-cristian-pache-tyler-flowers">Lineups</a></p>
https://www.batterypower.com/2020/8/19/21376004/atlanta-braves-vs-washington-nationals-august-19-game-thread-and-discussionDemetrius Bell2020-08-19T15:41:17-04:002020-08-19T15:41:17-04:00Cristian Pache starts in left field for Braves against Nationals
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<figcaption>Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>Cristian Pache was the first one to let everybody know where he would be in Atlanta’s lineup tonight. The rest of the lineup soon followed. </p> <p id="Wbasmj">We got the first news of today’s lineup from <span>Cristian Pache</span>, himself. The debuting outfielder stated on a press call that he would be starting in left field and batting ninth in the lineup for the <a href="https://www.talkingchop.com/">Braves</a> this evening. Even though this isn’t really a huge surprise since we’ve been hearing from people like Jon Morosi that Pache would be starting tonight, this is one of those rare occasions where a player beat everybody to the punch when it came to announcing his position and lineup spot on the day of the game. </p>
<p id="JyAbtn">Here’s the rest of Atlanta’s lineup:</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Tonight: <a href="https://twitter.com/cristianpache25?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@cristianpache25</a> makes his big league debut!<br><br>Presented by <a href="https://twitter.com/TruistNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TruistNews</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ForTheA?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ForTheA</a> <a href="https://t.co/ALnCbpPUNx">pic.twitter.com/ALnCbpPUNx</a></p>— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) <a href="https://twitter.com/Braves/status/1296168024525987840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 19, 2020</a>
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<p id="RZoWF7"><span>Tyler Flowers</span> is going to be catching <span>Kyle Wright</span> tonight, and he’s not going to be as high in the lineup as <span>Travis d’Arnaud</span> has been recently. Freddie’s still in the second spot, Ozuna’s hitting third as the DH and <span>Ender Inciarte</span> has moved from his usual spot of ninth since Pache will be hitting there. </p>
<p id="3m3TbD">This is how the <a href="https://www.federalbaseball.com/">Nationals</a> will be rolling this evening:</p>
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<p lang="en" dir="ltr">We call it Hotlanta because Victor Robles was on fire last night.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NATITUDE?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NATITUDE</a> <a href="https://t.co/GKgZHhPFuS">pic.twitter.com/GKgZHhPFuS</a></p>— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) <a href="https://twitter.com/Nationals/status/1296166427305615360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 19, 2020</a>
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<p id="o5ZTf8"><span>Kurt Suzuki</span> is out of the lineup, as he’s been replaced by <span>Yan Gomes</span> at catcher. Additionally, Gomes is moving from DH to catcher tonight and <span>Eric Thames</span> will be replacing him as the DH for Washington tonight. <span>Asdrubal Cabrera</span> has moved over to first base and <span>Carter Kieboom</span> is going to be the third baseman for the Nationals this evening. </p>
https://www.batterypower.com/2020/8/19/21376196/atlanta-braves-washington-nationals-august-19-lineups-cristian-pache-tyler-flowersDemetrius Bell2020-08-19T14:00:00-04:002020-08-19T14:00:00-04:00Tonight is the night for Cristian Pache as Braves face Nationals
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<img alt="Atlanta Braves v Toronto Blue Jays" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/yInsHaKDtkQqS5Hy_lxKawiAvQ4=/0x0:4302x2868/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/67227926/1208456079.jpg.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>After being called up yesterday, Cristian Pache’s is reportedly set to make his major league debut tonight.</p> <p id="CJQcb5">Tonight’s game between the <a href="https://www.talkingchop.com/">Braves</a> and the <a href="https://www.federalbaseball.com/">Nationals</a> will serve as a rubber match between 2019’s NL East Champions and the team that won the big one last year. This should also be the day where <span>Cristian Pache</span> makes his heavily-anticipated debut at the major league level. Either way, there’s plenty of reason to tune in to the game this evening since you’re bound to see something interesting.</p>
<p id="6XnGii">The word going around is that <a href="https://twitter.com/jonmorosi/status/1296102411984154625">Pache will indeed be making the start tonight in left field</a>. I’d imagine that this means that we’ll see an outfield consisting of Pache in left, <span>Ender Inciarte</span> in center, <span>Adam Duvall</span> in right, and <span>Marcell Ozuna</span> serving as the DH. This is far from an ideal outfield look, but the Braves are shorthanded right now with <span>Ronald Acuña Jr.</span> on the IL and <span>Nick Markakis</span> staying out due to COVID-19 concerns. That’s limited the options a bit (especially in right field), so the Braves will have to make do with what they have at the moment. </p>
<p id="l63uZn">Either way, it’s still exciting that Critian Pache will be getting a shot to show off what he can do. While his natural position is center field, he’s earned a reputation for bringing excellent defense to the table at any outfield position that he’s at. Unless he just comes out of the gate with a couple of jitters, you can rest easy knowing that Pache is going to take care of things out there and even steal a few outs as well. </p>
<p id="E4YRoK">The defense will need to do their best to lift up their starting pitcher tonight, as <span>Kyle Wright</span> is getting another start. At a baseline level, the expectations for Wright are pretty low at this point. I think that all that we want right now is for him to at least get into the fifth inning. He’s done it once this season — he may have given up four runs and two dingers in the process of making it through six innings against the Phillies, but Kyle Wright does have what it takes. The common thread between Wright and the other Braves starters who have been struggling this season is a simple one: It’s all about command. If Kyle Wright has another start where his command falls off a cliff, then it’s likely that the Nationals are going to make him pay and he’s going to have another short stint. He’s been taking some major lumps this season, so hopefully tonight is a night where Wright can start turning the corner and making opposing batters struggle at the plate.</p>
<p id="rQFJhB">Meanwhile, the Nationals are also having some issues with starting pitching. Today was supposed to be <span>Stephen Strasburg</span>’s turn in the rotation, but he’s currently on the IL after suffering an injury in the first inning of his most recent start. As a result, <span>Erick Fedde</span> is set to make his third start of the season, but it’s really more like his fourth start since he was the one who had to step in during the first inning of their game on August 14 against Baltimore. Fedde pitched capably and guided the Nationals through the rest of the first inning and all the way through the sixth inning, Washington cruised to an easy win on that night, so Fedde will be entering tonight’s game with some confidence following that performance. </p>
<p id="iGqwXE">I’m sure that if you asked any Braves hitter, they’d probably rather see Fedde instead of Strasburg. Still, you’d also have to imagine that they’re going to take each at-bat as seriously as possible as if that was actually Strasburg up there on the mound. As usual, it’s highly likely that the Braves are going to have to score a bunch of runs in order to win since a solid start from their starting pitcher is seen as a luxury right now. We’d all love to see Kyle Wright pull out a gem of a start but if it doesn’t happen, the offense and the bullpen will have to continue picking up the slack like they’ve done more often than not this season. </p>
<p id="xoGbEU">The impending debut of Cristian Pache is already enough reason to tune in for tonight’s game. Combine that with a big divisional tilt and a volatile pitching matchup and you’ve got a recipe for a game that very likely won’t be boring. I’d imagine that we’re going to continue seeing both teams having big innings and it should come down to which team can properly take advantage of the chances that they will be afforded tonight. Hopefully that ends up being the Braves!</p>
<h3 id="B2ca8B"><strong>Game Info</strong></h3>
<p id="Iq4RLm"><strong>Game Date/Time: </strong>Wednesday, August 19, 7:10 p.m. ET</p>
<p id="PWosw7"><strong>Location:</strong> Truist Park, Atlanta, Georgia</p>
<p id="VqdDMJ"><strong>TV:</strong> Fox Sports Southeast, ESPN</p>
<p id="rfYFlq"><strong>Streaming:</strong> MLB.tv</p>
<p id="dbcxaG"><strong>Radio:</strong> 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan, WNNX 100.5, Braves Radio Network</p>
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https://www.batterypower.com/2020/8/19/21375446/atlanta-braves-washington-nationals-august-19-game-time-tv-channel-radio-streaming-cristian-pacheDemetrius Bell2020-08-19T08:00:00-04:002020-08-19T08:00:00-04:00Cristian Pache: A Statistical Profile on the Newest Atlanta Brave
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<figcaption>Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>Cristian Pache has been one of the most anticipated debuts of the past few seasons for the Braves, and now we get to see how the young player can translate to Major League Baseball</p> <p id="C7mzBM">The day has finally come in Atlanta, and the <a href="https://www.talkingchop.com/">Braves</a> have promoted their top prospect in center fielder <span>Cristian Pache</span>. Pache has carried huge hype over the past few years after being one of the Braves’s biggest signings in 2015 and has thus far lived up to the hype in becoming one of baseball’s biggest prospects. His carrying tool is his double plus defense and arm strength, both of which give him the ability to be a premiere center fielder with the glove, but questions have lingered about his offensive potential due to an unorthodox swing and just decent numbers in the minor leagues. We’re going to take a look at those numbers for Pache today and see how they tell the story of his professional development and where he needs to go to reach his potential. </p>
<p id="R3BBuT">There’s not a lot of doubt that Pache has the ability to be a superstar with the bat. He’s a premium athlete who has shown raw power and contact ability, but his swing mechanics and late development have made him more of a wild card going forward. Pache to his credit has never had a level where it was clear he was overwhelmed and wasn’t hitting, and you can see that in that his lowest batting average through any full season came last year at .277. This all despite him reaching Triple-A at age 20. There are still concerns over his hitting ability though, and they boil down to his numbers beyond just his raw slash line. </p>
<p id="7w16T2">Pache’s puts the ball in play at a well above average rate, with a career strikeout rate of 19.5% and he’s been consistent in doing so at every level he has played at. He struck out 24% of the time in Double-A in 2019, easily the highest rate of his career, but even that is quite good for a 20 year old and wasn’t much worse than the league average of 22.8%. That number is a bit deceiving however as there is plenty of swing and miss to his game. His swinging strike rate has been well worse than league average at every level with most seasons putting him in the bottom quarter of the league in that regard. Much of that is his approach at the plate, as he’s aggressive and thus doesn’t take many pitches in the zone, but it’s a concern and something that major league pitchers will try to capitalize on. This points to one of his biggest overall issues which is just patience on balls in the zone. Pache attacks most pitches in the zone and his good but not elite bat to ball skills will leave him coming up empty or making poor contact too often for a hitter to excel.</p>
<p id="aMGIY0">The plate discipline issue is one that Pache paid especially close attention to last season and the youngster saw a quick increase in his walk rate last season. This came with a bump to his strikeout rate as well, but he made contact at a high enough rate to justify the increase in walks. 2017 Pache, the one that played with Rome, was by far the best version of him from those peripherals but as he advanced pitchers started to challenge him more and take advantage of his tendency towards swinging at less-than-ideal strikes. His walk rate took a huge tumble in 2018 and he was well below 5% at both levels which put him in the bottom tenth of the league in walk rate. His walk rate doubled from 2018 to 2019 and because of this despite a slight drop in batting average his on base percentage exploded and he put up his best mark in that category since rookie ball. It’s still not over for Pache, as major league pitchers will test his patience at the plate and if he can’t lay off major league offspeed stuff the way he could in Double-A we could see yet another round of regression in his on base skills. This started to show up even towards the end of his Triple-A season as after a rough start at the plate he became more aggressive over his last half in Gwinnett. His walk rate plummeted down the stretch and after spending most of the year well above 8% his walk rate was around 5% for his last few weeks in Gwinnett. Pache also needs to improve dramatically when he does get on base as he is overall a below average baserunner and despite above average speed he only has been successful on 60% of stolen base appearances. </p>
<p id="1o6uJq">Overall his hitting has been decent and pretty steady, but where we’ve seen the most improvement from Pache is his power production. Pache came into the system skinny and his lack of appropriate lower body usage led to him struggling to hit the ball with authority early on. Through his first two seasons - 750 plate appearances - Pache did not clear the fence once and his ISO was well below .100 with it sitting at .062 in Rome. He’s continuously added strength and tweaked his swing to allow him to tap into his raw power and the improvement there has shown up quickly. He finally broke through in 2018, and not only did he just hit a couple he ended up finishing the year with nine home runs between High-A and Double-A. He ranked in the Top 25% of the league in HR/FB for the Florida State League and he only improved going into 2019. It’s no secret that the Mississippi Braves have a tough park and league to hit in, but Pache was up to the challenge by hitting a career high 11 home runs in 104 games. His HR/FB jumped again to 9.9% which put him in the 73rd percentile in the league. He was an extra base machine for Mississippi and finished his tenure there with 47 of them and a career high .196 isolated power. His jumped to Gwinnett saw him struggle and he only hit one home run down the stretch, which is not necessarily unexpected but it’s worth noting that he has not really shown power yet in his 26 games at the highest level. Pache’s raw power has really never been a question and it’s always been a possibility that he could grow into true superstar potential, but the real thing holding him back is not power, it’s not strikeouts, and it’s not walks. Pache has one of the worst batted ball profiles you’ll see out of a top tier prospect. </p>
<p id="Os9Fuj">The biggest obstacle for Pache now and for his career is his swing, and it leads him to hitting a lot of ground balls. For a guy with the ability to hit home runs the way Pache can it’s concerning to see him spend most of his career with a ground ball rate above 50%. Pache has made improvement in that category and spent all of last year with a ground ball rate below 50%, but the ground ball tendency is a lesser of the worries. His ground balls tend to not be hit with much authority as he’s constantly rolling over balls to the pull side and features a pull rate of well above 50%. While this will help him hit more home runs, with his tendency to hit ground balls it makes him also very susceptible to major shifts that can limit him on the offensive end. His fly ball rates have only once been above 30%, and often when he does hit fly balls they aren’t very effective. More than a quarter of his fly balls last season were infield pop ups and he’s never had a season in which his infield fly ball rate was below 20%. His extreme launch angle ranges impact his offensive potential, but fortunately he does make up for it with a fantastic line drive rate. His line drive rates have gone up every single season he’s been in professional baseball, from below 15% in rookie ball to peaking at 25.8% across both levels last season. His batted ball profile is improving and he’s hitting the ball effectively more often as he advances, but he still tends to frequently slide into major ground ball slumps. Even more concerning than the launch angle is the quality of the contact when he does hit it. His hard hit rates are significantly below average, last year saw him have a hard hit rate of only 25.6% and a soft hit rate above 20%. This is a significant improvement over 2018 when he had a hard hit rate of 20% and soft hit rate of 27%, but it’s still not good.</p>
<p id="1ONrUs">All in all, Pache’s statistical profile creates a cloudy picture. He clearly can make contact, he can draw walks, and he can hit for significant power but he sometimes struggles to do all of these things together. Last year was a milestone for Pache, as he clearly broke through and he posted a career high OPS of .802, but there’s still so many lingering questions that he has to answer. Pache’s glove has been major league ready since he was 18, but the bat is still well behind and he’s not going to be an average major league hitter right out of the gate. He’s a clear offensive upgrade over the alternative and he’ll continue to improve, but there are enough holes in his game that major league pitching will consistently expose his flaws. He’s a project, there’s no question about it, but the payoff here is immense. This is a guy that can easily hit 20+ home runs, hit around .280, and play elite center field defense. That’s an all star talent, something like a peak of Mike Cameron that can give you 4-6 WAR every season, and if he continues to improve at the rate he has there’s no question he can unlock it. It will take time, patience, and a whole lot of very bad months but Cristian Pache should be at least a decent major league hitter. He’s already an elite defender, and that alone will make him a net-positive player. Whether his bat is good or just good enough will determine how much of an impact he makes in Atlanta through his career. </p>
https://www.batterypower.com/2020/8/19/21374557/cristian-pache-a-statistical-profile-on-the-newest-braves-atlanta-prospects-minor-leaguesGarrett Spain