These Braves are nearing elite company
This story was excerpted from Mark Bowman's Braves Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
With this season nearing its end, here are some numbers to follow while appreciating the performances by the likes of Austin Riley, Michael Harris II and some of the other Braves.
85: Riley leads the National League with 74 extra-base hits and is on pace to record 83 extra-base hits this season. If he can slightly increase this pace over the season’s final weeks, he could join Eddie Mathews (1953), Hank Aaron ('59) and Chipper Jones ('99) as the only modern era Braves to record at least 85 extra-base hits in a season.
40/40: This is a feat Ronald Acuña Jr. could again chase once he further distances himself from ACL surgery. This year, though, a Braves player's 40/40 doesn’t require the speed element. With 36 homers and 36 doubles, Riley has a chance to join the 1999 NL MVP version of Chipper Jones to become the only players in Braves history to record 40 homers and 40 doubles in a season.
200: With four starts remaining, Spencer Strider needs just eight strikeouts to become the first Braves rookie of the modern era (since 1900) to record 200 strikeouts in a season. The only rookies to reach this mark in franchise history were Kid Nichols (222 in 1890) and Bill Stemmyer (239 in 1886).
20: Harris is hitting .310 with 18 homers. If he can maintain a .300 average and hit two more home runs, he will join Eddie Mathews (1953) and Bob Horner ('79) as the only Braves 21 or younger to hit .300 with 20-plus homers.
Harris would join Albert Pujols, Hal Trosky, Mike Trout and Ted Williams as the only players in MLB history to do this as a rookie while 21 or younger.
20/20: Travis d'Arnaud and William Contreras each have hit 17 home runs. It might be a lofty aspiration for both to end the season with 20 long balls, but they already stand as one of five catching duos in MLB history to each hit at least 17 homers in a season.
The only backstop duos to hit at least 19 homers each in a season were Brian McCann/Gary Sanchez (2016 Yankees) and Johnny Blanchard/Elston Howard (1961 Yankees).
20: Kyle Wright will likely get four more starts in his bid to become the Braves’ first 20-game winner since Russ Ortiz in 2003. Wright recorded his MLB-best 18th win in San Francisco, to join Greg Maddux ('00), Tom Glavine ('00 and '02), Kevin Millwood ('02) and Ortiz as the only Braves pitchers to reach 18 wins since '00.
100: The Braves will need to win 12 of their final 19 games to record their first 100-win season since doing so in back-to-back years in 2002 and '03.