The Atlanta Braves conclude the regular season and embark on their journey through October with home field advantage throughout the postseason.
Grant McAuley sizes up the biggest stories from the week that was for the Braves, including the exciting three-game sweep of the Chicago Cubs, Ronald Acuña Jr.’s historic accomplishments strengthening his already impressive MVP case, Matt Olson and the rest of the lineup making a little history of its own and how exactly the Braves will approach their preparation for the postseason this time around. You’ll also hear from Braves outfielder Forrest Wall, a longtime minor leaguer getting a shot at October baseball for the very first time.
Brandon Gaudin of Bally Sports joins the show to discuss his first year behind the microphone for Atlanta, what he’s observed of the Braves’ incredible regular season, and how he feels as they head into October.
Eno Sarris of The Athletic also stops by the break down how Olson and the Braves have found the next level of success offensively. the impressive season Acuña has put together, and a little bit of chaos in the NL Wild Card race in the final weekend.
All of that and a trip around the big leagues!
Make sure to connect with From The Diamond on social media. Hear the show live every weekend on 92-9 The Game in Atlanta. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and connect with the show at FromTheDiamond.com.
Braves and Baseball fans it’s time to take a trip from coast to coast across Major League Baseball there it goes a long drive if it stays Fair home run one strike away Sandy into his wind up here’s the pitch swung on and missed the perfect game Fly ball deep left
Center gr him on the Run yes yes yes the Atlant of Braves have given you a championship listen to this CL left side Swanson to First Braves the world champions Braves in baseball talk straight from the diamond here’s Grant Mcau and hello and welcome to from the diamond on sports radio 929 the game I’m Grant mcau these are the Kia Studios and this is the the final weekend of the regular season across Major League Baseball and I don’t know just got a little Goosebumps there because October
Is right around the corner in fact it starts tomorrow but for the Atlanta Braves it will get started in full on October the 7th that’s game one of the National League Division Series at truest Park the Braves just don’t know who they’re going to be lining up against just yet because the national
League wild card is very much still wide open at least a couple of those spots could be at least one of them I know is for sure the Philadelphia Phillies though have got a pretty good strangle hold on their playoff trajectory if you will at this point
Which is what everybody wants to be able to say that they can do you want to be able to control your own fate your own destiny if you will but October as we have seen can have different ideas than the clubs that come in hoping to win it
All the Braves did it as recently as 2021 that was the first time in two and a half decades last year you might have felt like that Braves team could be perhaps a little bit better than the 2021 Squad was and you go home in the
First round these are the kind of things that can happen just got to play your best baseball once you get to October and the Braves are going to look to do just that but when it comes to playing the best baseball in all of Major League Baseball
The bravs have been doing that they’ve been doing it since their hot start in April they were able to get through what was a bit of a lull period in the month of May catch fire in June you know it it kind of came back down to earth a bit
Right after the All-Star break and then the next thing you know the prise turn it back on close out August get into September clinch the division with about 3 weeks to spare two and 1 half weeks anyway and they’re able to work on getting the best record and the HomeField advantage throughout the
Postseason and I’m here to tell you one of the many things we’ll be talking about on this edition of from the diamond is the pra did just that they were able to do all of those things and this run through October won’t be without its storylines its drama if you
Will the injury question marks that come for just about every Club throughout the course of the season and for the Braves it doesn’t seem to be avoidable with the starting rotation and the injury question marks that have come since really October of 20120 we’re going four
Straight years of having to do some kind of creative thinking about how you’re going to navigate at least the first three spots of your rotation two of them you feel pretty good about but Max Free’s blister issue well that might have had you at least a little bit concerned but Charlie Morton’s finger
Ailment that is something that might have destabilized things a bit more than the Braves would have liked you got Spencer Strider locked in there how are the Braves though going to handle the third spot in that rotation for the division series and then once you advance as the plan is of course you
Jump into seven game formats and that’s when you’re going to need more than just a couple of starters but the schedule as we’re going to talk about a little bit later in the show for that Division Series it’s kind of favorable if you have at least two solid starters because
The off days that come with it that could be a workable scenario but of course you got to get there healthy and the Braves have got a hit and if you’ve been tuned into the show anytime since I don’t know February you might have been hearing about the Braves offense and as
We got started in the season and kind of did month over month over month we started realizing that this may be one of if not the best offenses we will ever see not just in Braves franchise history but perhaps in the history of baseball I’m going to have eno sarus of the
Athletic join me a little bit later in the show and one of the fun things that has come up as I’ve noticed over the past really month plus the Braves and the 1927 Yankees keep getting mentioned and I think that you know baseball gives us those kind of sayings that even if
You’re not a baseball fan you you utilize an everyday slang you know like right off the bat we’re going to do this or well that came out of left field you know those kinds of things and one of the I guess great comparisons of when something’s really great or you’ve got a
A great team or a great group of people together or perhaps if you want to display exactly or or communicate how poor a group is you could say Well they’re not the 27 Yankees well the 2023 Braves are might be some version of the 27 Yankees I don’t know if if it’s Matt
Olsson’s playing the role of L garri and Ronald lunia Jr is playing Babe Ruth or the other way around I don’t really know it doesn’t really matter but leading Major League Baseball in virtually every major offensive category as a club slugging over 500 as a team these are
The kind of things you just don’t see too often and we’re not talking about juice ball era we’re not talking about the steroid era I don’t know what we are talking about here other than history let’s just put it that way and the Braves have been on quite this role and
You know one of the things that they needed to do for a team with that kind of offense and that has the kind of aspirations that they do for October was take care of that home field advantage throughout the postseason and Atlanta did that in such an
Exciting fashion and it right in the middle of it Ronald aunia Jr making still more history now you might know if you’ve tuned in to from the time here on 929 the game or heard me on any of a number of different platforms the Ronald lunia Jr show has been mustsee buy a
Ticket as Brian snitker says don’t leave your seat to buy a beer you might miss something that you’ve never seen before that’s how good this kid is and he’s been doing it in just about every single category we’ve talked about the MVP debates perhaps and maybe that’s been
Put to bed I think it should be at this point Ron Luni Jor should be the national League’s most valuable player with all due respect to everybody else’s great season including his teammate Matt Olson who should also finish very high in that MVP voting but that game against
The Chicago Cub second game of that three-game series Ronald lunia Jr in the 10th or excuse me in the eighth inning he gets on base steal second scores the tying run then you get into the 10th inning he knocks in the tying run steals second base to become the first player in
Baseball history with 40 plus home runs and 70 stolen bases in the season and that’s just an incredible incredible feat how incredible is it you’ve only got five members now of the 4040 Club as it were Ron lunia Jr has had easily the most dominant season of any of the 4040
Members without question and if you want some kind of validation on that just kind of an exclamation point as to exactly how good that club sees him how about Barry Bonds on his Instagram saying congratulations to Ronald lunia Jr on joining the 4040 club and making your own club creating your own founding
It as it were I think Ronald’s uh words were translated to inventing the 4070 Club what however you want to line it up it it’s just extremely impressive and that’s what bonds had to say there you don’t love him or hate him Barry Bonds did a lot of big things on a baseball
Dime and so the recognition you know what do they say real recognizes real I think that would probably qualify there and right there in the comments at the top you find another member of the 4040 Club on that Instagram post for bonds is Alex Rodriguez again love him or hate
Him did some big things on a baseball field just with the you know hand clapping Emoji because that’s all you can do at this point to Ronald lunia Jr and I think everybody’s recognizing that at 25 years old and speaking of Instagram how about mie bets the other
Guy that’s been talked about for most valuable player throughout the course of especially the second half and after he took off and went supernova in the month of August he had a story on his Instagram that had Ron lunia J’s 470 graphic that MLB had put out and he said
I just want you guys to realize how crazy this is so there’s a lot of real recognizing real right about now for ronal lunia JR this has been about the real and craziest season that I think you could have ever put together you could simulate it on MLB The Show or
Pick a video game or or whatever platform you want to but Ronald has exceeded all possible expectations but to have him join the 4070 Club to score the game-winning run is a Braves clinched HomeField advantage through the World Series that’s kind of a cool moment talk about those Goosebump
Moments I think Ronald might have a few more of those up his sleeve because then I get excited thinking about you know that little slice of of of an October preview for a club that after they clinched the division the Braves went down to Miami they got swept then they
Lost two out of three to the Phillies it kind of had people wondering well are they are they motivated are they are they focused here is this kind of a a hangover are they you know losing momentum at a time that you can’t afford it well the Cubs came in fighting for
Their postseason lives and the Braves dealt them a serious a crippling blow quite honestly as you go through the final what 48 hours that are remaining in this season the Cubs needed that Series in the worst way and not only did they kind of throw throw one away in the
First one I mean the Braves they battle back but drop a Fly ball lose a game that’s pretty demoralizing then the next night they got a gift run early on we’re not going to dwell on this for too long but a foul ball that was called a pass
Ball that gave the clubs the Cubs a run that felt like it might be the deciding one in that game then you got a back and forth battle into the ninth inning Marcel Ozuna sends it to extras with a game tying home run Ronald Luni Jr takes
It from there I just it felt like October and the Cubs maybe on the outside looking in when it comes to that picture but for the Braves I think you wanted to see that I use that word validation that this is you know a club that is capable that hasn’t lost its
Edge that is everything that it has been all season long which is a juggernaut of a club offensively speaking and a team that is capable of matching up with anybody in Major League Baseball I think you did need to see that and it was good
To see it in that Cub series and the Braves you know they brought it sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good I have this saying even have my buddy buddy from Roo Weare put it on a shirt you can win ugly you can’t lose pretty that might have been game one of
That Cub series but then that second one that just really felt like that was a moment here and maybe it’s just the most recent moment and hopefully the Braves have a lot more as I said up their proverbial sleeves as we head into October but clinching HomeField advantage throughout the playoffs
Another 100 win season for this club it just played out so much differently this September than last and that’s going to be something we’re going to focus on a lot on the show because the Braves having had that experience having had that onewe layoff last year because the
Wild Card went from one game to a three- game series how are they going to approach that we got to talk to Brian Snicker about that this week at truis Park and he revealed that hey we’re going to try to keep it business as usual we’re going to play some games do
Some practice games here some exhibitions if you will they’re even going to open up truis Park to the public to come on out and watch the Braves play Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday it’ll be the split Squad action what I don’t know how exactly you want
To term it but it look a lot like an exhibition game bring over the guys from the alternate site you know bunch of guys that probably just got done with their Gwynette season and get out there and play what seven eight nine innings whatever it looks like and I think that
That’s good because baseball players and I I put this out on social as well they’re creatures of habit so keeping them in a regular feel for that week rather than just hey we’re going to come in we’re going to do some Fielding drills we’re going to take a live
Batting practice and then we’re going to go home I think that you didn’t really know what other way to do it a year ago because you didn’t maybe know how it was going to affect you but the biggest thing I think that you could look at in
This scenario we’ll get into it a lot more here in a few minutes I mean as hitters when you take that kind of time off it ain’t easy to jump right back in and let me face some of the toughest pitchers throwing as hard is these guys
Throw now dealing with that kind of velocity after sitting around for 5 six seven days not really facing guys that are out there trying to get you out not guys that are serving up tanks in batting practice a little bit different be that as it may I think the Braves are
On the right track when it comes to their preparation for the National League Division Series we’ll get into that a little bit later on this week’s show we’ll also hear from Brian Snider about his team’s preparation and what went into it the thought process behind their experience last year and what
They’re hoping to accomplish this year with those simulated games that they’ll be playing at truest Park this week and as I mentioned if you’re fan you’re in the area want to come on down want to check it out battery will be available to you and you can come on into Tru Park
And watch the Braves get ready for the National League Division Series I think that’s a pretty cool little deal right there you also hear my conversation with somebody a member quite possibly of this brav postseason roster I think he’s going to make it I think he has to at
This point think he’s a pretty valuable Little Weapon and that would be Forest wall the Speedy outfielder who was just blazing a trail down to Triple A guette finally got an opportunity late season with the Braves and I think he’s just exactly what you’re looking for in the
Postseason when you get into that situation where it’s a one game maybe you’re down by one maybe you’re tied up whatever the case you need that speed Off the Bench steal you a base score from first whatever it is that you’re looking for I think Forest wall could
Provide some of that I got a chance to catch up with him at truest Park this week because he had spent a n-year journey through the minor leagues just trying to make his big league dream come true and now he can be a part of the Braves postseason run that’s a pretty
Special thing I talked to him about that you’ll hear that a little bit later on I also sat down with the voice of the Braves for Bley Sports Brandon genen to get his thoughts on what he has watched all year long because what he has
Watched is the same thing you and I have watched and that’s an incredible Braves club with a record setting offense MVP caliber players you got a lot to enjoy in your first year on the job if you’re Brandon God I’m going to get his thoughts on that I’m G get his thoughts
On on what we’ve seen from Ronald lunia JR this year and what it was like to you know settle in and get that opportunity to call baseball games for the team you grew up watching I still think that’s one of the coolest things and take that
You know from another TBS kid who grew up watching the Braves when about all we had was Dale Murphy for a while and then in 19 91 a lot of things changed and I think a lot of folks have probably built their expectations for every October
Based on what the bra started doing in the 1990s we’ll talk to Brandon G about all of that as I mentioned Eno cus of the athletic is going to check in he wrote a great piece this week and and had an opportunity he’s known Matt Olsson since the Oakland days to talk to
Him a little bit about what has you know clicked for Matt here especially in the second half in the month of June when the Braves got so hot Matt got extremely hot and it has led him to not one but two records that we’re going to be
Talking about the whole home run record for the club the RBI record for the club really impressive stuff so that’s what’s ahead on this edition of from the diamond I hope you will ride along with me here and when we get back we will jump into the week that was for the
Atlanta Braves talking about their plans to prepare for the postseason how it going to be a little bit different from last year we’ll hear from Brian smiter as well as we continue with from the diamond with Grant MCCA on sports radio 929 the game now back to more from The
Diamond Sports Radio 929 the game welcome back in to from the diamond on sports radio 929 the game Grant MCC with you from the Kia Studios on a Saturday afternoon It’s the final weekend of the regular season the Braves have taken care of I think all the pieces of
Business that they really needed to take care of when it came to charting their path through October they wanted to punch their ticket get a postseason birth did that about a month ago want to go ahead and Clinton National League East well they took care of that about
Two and a half weeks ago and they wanted to grab that best record and and secure that home field advantage throughout the course of the playoffs they’ve been able to take care of that as well so a lot of things on the checklist for the Braves
That they have checked off and now the bigger and more important items on that checklist are still ahead of them you got to survive in advance each and every round and hopefully be the last team standing something the Braves know all too well from their experience in 2021
And something else they know all too well is having to deal with the injuries that pop up along the way having to change your plans having to optimize that roster for the month of October these are the decisions they have to make and the things they have to deal
With is they put together that nlds roster uh in advance of game one of the National League Division Series at truis Park on October the 7th they’ve also by clenching HomeField advantage throughout the playoffs you know been able to put themselves in a position which I feel
Like was maybe one of the most beneficial parts of their 2021 run and that was being able to host the Dodgers to start that NLCS win those first two games and put a club like Los Angeles that and we know and they’re going to be in the postseason again this year they
Got the big goal in mind as well they’ve been built to win in October they did it in 2020 have come up short a couple of other times and the Braves and the Dodgers both found themselves first round exits a year ago so it’s some unfinished business for both of those
Teams as I talked about you know with the Braves and the Cubs you had the opportunity to maybe get a little bit of a feeling you know that October preview I think a little bit of those juices were flowing Ron lunia Jr was doing big stuff
I’ll get to that in a couple of minutes in the middle of a big game-winning rally setting some you setting another Milestone reaching and and making more history as he’s want to do throughout the course of this year got a lot of great stats I’ll share with you but more
Importantly I think for the Braves is their focus on you know how they’re going to prepare for this nlds because a year ago you and as I’ve talked about quite a bit and as everybody knows the bravs didn’t clinch until the next to last day of the season to win the
National League East they had that great series against the New York Mets to really swing the balance completely in their favor at that point take over that tiebreaker which of course is how the Braves won the division because both and the Mets finished with the same record
But head-to-head Atlanta had to do some serious work and they had to do it all the way through the end of the regular season that has not been the case here in 2023 they’ve still accomplished the things that they needed to best record in baseball best record in the National
League had the ti record that they needed with the Orioles so regardless of what happens in the final couple of games the Braves are going to be the club that has the chance to have that HomeField Advantage all the way through the postseason but how can they prepare
Themselves to enjoy that long postseason run that’s one thing I I think is certainly worth discussing and for the Braves they discussed based on their experience last year of having that little layoff while the Wild Card round was going on and they wanted to change it up this time around so Brian snitker
And the club actually revealed this as well that they’re going to be doing practice games at truest Park Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday a trio of these things at least that’s the plan obviously subject to change but I think this is the route to go you know last
Year it was Fielding practices I’m sure you know regular workouts pitchers through on the side maybe some live BP some you know simulated games and innings and things just to try to keep you guys fresh but you weren’t really in that game day type of atmosphere and
You’re not going to be able to simulate exactly what it’s like in October but the braids are going to have fans in and everything to try to make a little bit more of their preparation period this year I think that’s going to be pretty cool and Brian snitker discussed exactly
What went into all of this and why they decided to go with practice games this time around over maybe the more traditional means take a listen as we processed all this and and doing something different than we did last year I thought we did a good job last
Year but wasn’t good enough I don’t think it what and it it doesn’t matter I mean you go into a playoff series and anything can happen what you know don’t pitch don’t hit whatever do it all have everything clicking you just never know what’s going to happen anyway but I
Think this will be better you know try to keep everything like we would on a normal week as as best we can you know playing game want fans out and just to try and you know I I don’t know how long the games will be it’ll be up to the
Pitching but still make it more realistic than what we did last year I really was hoping that this would be something the Braves would do at least a couple of times in advance of the division series because you have that layoff final day of the regular season’s
On Sunday you’re not going to play again until game one of the division series is what’s Saturday so what are you going to do with that time off I mean I think they needed to change something up so they’re bringing over some players from the alternate site some you know Farm
Hands from Gwinette and what have you and they’re going to be guys that you know would be and that will be ready just in case they’re needed at some point in October so a lot of players Beyond just a 26-man roster that you’re going to set need to get a little bit of
Work over the course of this coming week Brian Snicker discussed a little bit more about the practice games what they’re going to look like and what they’re hoping to accomplish with these I say it was a new thing last year we didn’t really know what to do or how to
Do it it’s nobody had ever done that before you know we thought we did an okay job the best we could and then you know what you get feedback from the players too um what do you guys think you know what now you’ve got a year under your belt and we start started
Talking as staff and with the players and I’m kind of figured we could probably do something better to make it more engaging for everybody so we’ll see how it works this time around yeah and they definitely are going to do something just a little bit different these practice games again it’s not
Going to be you know necessarily going as you know full board as you would against another team that’s out there trying to beat you but I think it will be kind of reminiscent of what you would do in the exhibition you know slate you want to get the guys work in and it’s
Just I think a little bit better when you put on the uniform and you get out there run around and you play more so in that game format uh so Brian Snicker discussed exactly how they’re going to approach all of these and really what they’re kind of hoping to see from the
Guys as they get through these three practice games you know let’s make it as realistic as we can within reason still be able to control things you know he may roll an inning over or kind of like we did in spring training Co pretty much
You know we might add a hitter here and there if a guy’s having a real quick inning and we got you know a number of pitches in our mind how much we want a guy to throw and we got guys at the you know at the alternate site they’re going
To be over here for 3 days and you know so we should have you know pretty good stock of guys to be able to to pull it off now if you’ll recall and I know probably none of you have spent a lot of time thinking about it but teams had to
Get creative with how exactly they got ready for the 2020 shorten season and it was really like a summer training camp in which you basically had to figure out a way in your own house to be ready to play When the game started and I think
That’s a little bit of what the Braves can lean on just knowing how they did that you know it won’t be most structured game format but they’re going to keep it again as close as possible and when he says roll an inning or give an extra bat you might see well maybe
More than three outs in an inning because you just want to see that pitcher get his work in or a hitter get an opportunity to get an extra plate appearance that kind of thing so I think it’ll be interesting to to watch all of
This so if you do get a chance to you know be down in the area and check all this out I would definitely encourage you to do that I think it’s going to be kind of fun but one of the other things that’s going to come out of this is not
Just the practice but as I mentioned there’s decisions to be made particularly on the pitching staff side of how exactly the Braves want to fill out their 26-man roster and Bryce scker discussed the importance of checking these players out and of taking a look at some of the guys that could factor in
In the roster decisions here’s snit anytime you play a baseball game you evaluate regardless of the situation you know there was a couple of guys that came in last year and and the Sim games and we watched them throw and it was like conversations you know in the end
Depending on you know how we look at them view the matchups for the roster and things like that and I think anytime you like you say time you’re out there and you’re playing and and you have a chance to do something good you’re being evaluated and that’s particularly true
For the pitchers that are going to be working there we’ve seen and I’ll talk a lot about the pitching staff as we go on in the show and maybe some of the decisions they need to make regarding you know game three of the National League Division Series you hope to have
Max freed back and by all indications he will be you’ve got Spencer Strider but the absence of Charlie Morton how are they going to approach that is it as simple as hey Bryce Elder starts this game is it maybe a little bit more creative because we saw a guy like a
Smith Scher come up and you know have a very good shortened outing and then be followed up by Cal Wright and that gave the BR six quality Innings you get six quality Innings going you’re going to be calling on the back end of your Bullpen
To do what it needs to do in October we saw that in 2021 with the night shift but these are all the things that the bra’s going to be looking at over the next few days to try to you know make all those decisions and we’ll talk about
The pitching staff a little bit more later but I cannot go too terribly long especially here in the first hour of the show without getting into the kind of history that Ronald aunia Jr and only Ronald Thea Jr makes and we’ve discussed the 4070 Club in the 10th inning of
Wednesday’s game against Chicago he had the game tying RBI single he steals second base scores the game-winning run the walk-off by ozie alz pulled the base up out of the ground apparently that has become a a a bit of a rallying cry for what are we doing here on the opposite
Side but look if it’s your guy making history you’d appreciate it too and I didn’t really think it was over the line but be that as it may the history that Ronald lunia Jr made I think is something that we may only appre appreciate as time goes on because even
With Ronald lunia Jr in this league at 25 years old and maybe capable of running it back as they say and doing it all over again we’ve never seen a season like this and it goes so far beyond the 4070 and let’s just look at a couple from the Braves perspective Ronald aunia
Jr now leads Major League Baseball with 215 hits that is the most by a Braves hitter since 1971 is Ralph gar with 219 that’s the record for Atlanta the Atlanta era of Braves BAS so since 1966 if you’re looking for the last time that a Braves hitter had 220 or more
Hits it was Hank Aaron in 1959 and again the list and and the players on this list that Ron lunia Jr keeps bumping into is incredible I mean the 4040 Club in and of itself is quite the accomplishment but to go 4050 4060 4070 and oh by the way you’re lead Major
League Baseball in hits your lead Major League Baseball in runs scored he’s got 147 of those has a chance to be the first man to 150 runs scored since Jeff Bagwell did it in 2000 prior to Jeff Bagwell it was Ted Williams prior to Ted Williams it was Joe dagio keep that name
In mind because I’m going to get into another one here for Ronald but how about stolen base history because it wasn’t just a 70 steals that got him into an all new club founding the 4070 Club as it were but with his 72 Steel Two Steals on Friday night he tied Otis
Nixon’s modern Braves record for stolen bases he has a chance to break that over the final couple of games games and Otis Nixon was a very different player than Ronald lunia Jr back in 1991 when he set that record and keep it in mind you know
Hate to bring this up but it is what it is Otis Nixon missed all of September and the World Series because he was suspended there was a drug suspension for him maybe he would have stolen more than 72 bases just going to throw that out there but Otis did all this with
Zero home runs and 72 steals Ronald’s doing it with 41 home runs and 72 steals so a quite a different season if you will as far as that’s concerned but some of the other things that Ron lunia Jr has done and continues to do just Boggle
The mind and Mark Bowman of mlb.com a buddy of mine of course that we are out there watching what Ronald lunia Jr is doing on a regular basis of course all the stolen bases have really made this a truly unique season but if you take those away and I know that’s quite the
Mental exercise but Ronald’s batting 336 which is a good enough total or good enough average most years to win a batting title 41 homers 147 run scored as I just mentioned 79 extra base hits the 215 hits with just talked about and he is positioned to become one of just
Six players to bat 330 or better with 40 plus homers 75 plus extra base hits 145 runs and fewer than 90 strikeouts because aunia is only fanned 82 times this year we’ll talk about that with the inos series a little bit later but those five players that Ron lunia Jr will be
Joining see if you’ve heard of any of these guys how about Babe Ruth Lou garri Joe dagio Hack Wilson and Chuck Klein they’re all in the Hall of Fame Hack Wilson was National League home run leader for a very long time until Mark Maguire came along in 1998 and I think
We know how that summer went but Joe dagio was the last guy to do this and it happened way back in 1937 it hit 330 40 or more homers 75 plus extra base hits 145 runs scored and to strike out fewer than 90 times and and that in and of
Itself just lets you know that the list that Ronald lunia Jr keeps finding himself on of either being the first man to ever do something or the first man in I don’t know almost 90 years to do it and the list of guys that have done it
Are some of the all-time greats that you could ever imagine sounds like an MVP worthy season to me so we’ll bring it all home there there’s also some history though made by Matt olon this week his two-run Homer on Thursday number 54 on the year it adds to his Braves franchise
Record there for a single season it also gave him a Braves modern record for most runs batted in he’s up to 137 now as he just passed Eddie Matthews who had 135 back in 1953 the first year the club had moved to Milwaukee so Matt just doing
Something that hadn’t been done in 70 years casually rubbing elbows with a Hall of Famer or two himself just an incredible season and I’ll wrap with this because the Braves we could spend all day talking about the home runs the offense and the records and what have
You still tracking down that MLB single season home run record set by the twins in 2019 it was 307 by Minnesota Ray are at 304 they got a couple games left to get there will it fall this weekend if I shake the magic eightball here sources
Say yes I think it’s going to fall this weekend it’s been a great season for the Atlanta bra offense they’d love to close it out on that high note that’s some things going on this week in brayes baseball but when I come back I’m going
To be joined by a very special guest to con up with him this week at truis Park he’s Brandon Goden the voice of the Braves for Valley Sports get his thoughts on the Braves at large and of course his first season behind the microphone for this great Club you grew
Up watching that’s next is from the diamond with Grant mccy continues on sports radio 929 the game now more from the diamond with gr moli on sports radio 929 the game welcome back to from the diamond with Grant McCaul on sports radio 929 the game as we continue getting you ready
For what will be the final weekend of the regular season here on a Saturday from the Kia Studios appreciate you making some time to join me and I appreciate the folks I get to catch up with at the Ballpark each and every week it’s always fun to go down talk to the
Players here from Brian snitker all of those good things but up in the Press Box we’ve been known to have a little bit of fun as well and how could you not with the 2023 Atlanta Braves they’ve been the best team in baseball record-wise they’ve been setting records
Right left left in Center maybe a few more before this weekend is said and done and a man who’s been behind the microphone to call all of it this season his first with the Atlanta Braves is Brandon genen the television voice of the Braves for valy sports and he’s
Gotten to take it all in with what I still consider to be just the coolest job in the world calling a baseball game and that is perhaps even a little bit better when your Club is doing the kind of things that the Atlanta Braves have been doing this year but there are more
Miles to travel of course we got the postseason to talk about and we’ll do that here on the show but I want to catch up with Brandon see what the season was like for him both watching this Braves Club what he expects going forward from the team and reflecting on
His first year behind the microphone calling games for the team he grew up watching here’s my conversation with Brandon Garden from truis Park this week Brandon it has been an exciting 2023 season for the Atlanta Braves and that might even be selling it short I know
You and I both grew up watching this team and this is a club that’s done a lot of winning over the course of the last what 30 years now but the 2023 Club your first year behind the microphone for this team I would imagine that they have provided a few memories thus far
And maybe quite a few more they’ll be providing before it’s all said and done I hope so yeah I’ve used the word spoiled a lot and I think it’s the right word to step into this role for me as you said a lifelong fan was going to be
A dream no matter what if this team was 20 games below 500 and out of playoff contition I still promise you I would be enjoying this gig but to have a team that is truly doing historic things has made it extra special and I think back
To just what we saw Ronald aunia getting a 4070 season and the way that he did it the stolen Base number 70 being so important to set up the Aussie alz game winner this place going nuts it felt like October and it’s not October yet
But it felt like that it just kind of typified what this team has done all year and just kind of Keeps Us smiling yeah I felt like that was a microcosm of Ron lunia Jr’s season I don’t want to waste our time talking about an MVP debate because I feel like we’ve been
Watching the MVP every day and that doesn’t mean nobody else has a case but let’s key in on Ron a little bit and then we’ll kind of get to some of the other records that this team is capable of setting or has set by the time
They’re all said and done here in the 162 but I knew coming into this season and I felt like it was going to be a special year for Ronald because 2022 just didn’t look like the player that we were accustomed to and you could tell
The knee was still a thing but a 100% healthy Ron lunia Jr whose goal to play every single day and while he may not have you know been able to make that goal he’s come pretty close to I think removing all doubt about the player that
He is the player that they can be and he’s only 25 years old so there’s a lot of excitement wrapped up in this season goes so far beyond 4070 which is history in and of itself yeah it is and I I think you’re right look last year when I
Got to spring training this year and I was meeting everybody the thing that I heard consistently was Ronald was not full last year and we had heard that throughout certain reports and so forth that yes he was there and he was putting up good numbers but it wasn’t Ronald
Aunia Jr and what he was capable of and I think now we’re seeing that this year that last year he was not 100% And this is full 100% Ronald and it’s not only good it’s scary good and I totally get and I know you and you provide all this stuff to your followers
So these numbers and things but I get that Mookie Betts is having an amazing year and in most years mie Betts is the MVP Ronald aun is the MVP this year and if for some reason he’s not I think that that’s a really big mistake heck I think
In most years Matt olssen is the MVP I think that Matt Olson setting the brave single season franchise record record in homers right on the doorstep of doing that in runs driven in all while hitting above 280 that is such a good year and to think that he’s going to finish
Probably third in the MVP race is just crazy but yeah what Ronald has done you know we we talked about how he’s the fifth member of the 4040 Club on air the other day and then you go through and look no one in that club though ever had
50 stolen bases right and you look at all of Ricky Henderson’s homers but he or stolen bases but he never came close to the home run total so for someone to be able to marry both of those together and not only that but hit for average
Right to go along with the power and the speed and everything that he brings to the table uh he’s a generational talent and you said he’s 25 that’s very exciting to think about yeah 25 and he’s going to be here for quite a while the rest of his 20s and maybe beyond that
But we’ll get to that down the line I’m sure Alex anopolis we’ll work on figuring all that out you brought up Matt olssen and I think as we know this this club is more than just one hitter it’s more than just one player the sum
Of all the parts here could set a Major League record for most home runs ever hit in a single season and we’re not talking about a juice ball year either we’re talking about one where they are so far out in the head of everyone else in Major League Baseball Matt Olson’s a
Major contributor to that he broke Andrew Jones single season home run record this may be the quietest 50 home run season that I can think of and I know we had a lot of excitement with 50 60 70 home runs about 20 or so years ago
But this kind of season as you pointed out this usually Garner some pretty serious MVP credentials or some MVP support let’s call it that yeah I agree I think Matt Olson maybe why it’s a quiet 50 Homer season is because Matt’s a really quiet and humble guy and you
Don’t want to say that we only give attention to people who are flashy but sometimes we do and I don’t I think that Matt and and some of it’s just that Ronald has been so good that Matt has simply been overshadowed but I truly think that if you ask Matt on a lie
Detector test if he cares at all that he’s not getting the attention that he deserves he doesn’t he that’s just who he is he’s just he’s just a good humble guy there’s a reason he is the Braves nominee for the Roberto CL award which I hope that he wins he certainly is very
Deserving he does a lot of work with Charities off the field and he’s just a good-hearted good-natured guy and the fact that he’s a very good baseball player is also nice uh but yeah I mean what what he’s done this year’s been fantastic and just on the Home Run Mark
Quickly you said it 2019 you look at the top people talk a lot about the twins that set the record that year with 307 in 2019 some people forget the Yankees had 306 that year and everybody’s individual record for home runs pretty much came in 2019 across Major League
Baseball there’s a reason for that the seams were raised the baseball was call it juice whatever you want to call it if this Braves lineup was hitting with those 2019 baseballs they would have already flown past 307 who knows they may be close to 400 if that were the
Case there’s some crazy stats that I’ve seen about Ronald Luni Jr about the Braves their hard hit rates all of those things and one of the things that I saw this week which is crazy and then we can move on from the Ronald lunia Jr discussion altogether but he might be
One of the unluckiest hitters in baseball just based on what his expected stats are because he hits the ball so hard so frequently but to take that and kind of push it into the Braves as a whole leading Major League Baseball in average in hits in home runs in Ops
Doing all of these things and the most impressive thing to me about it I know you watch this on a regular basis but the Braves last year were second in Major League Baseball and strikeouts they have been around 25th the over the course of this year Ron lunia junor has
Gone from a guy who struck out almost 30% of the time in 2020 to a guy who’s striking out just under 12% of the time it’s truly amazing the metamorphosis of this entire Club so 300 home runs yeah I think they would have got there in 2019
Maybe they would have been knocked on the door 400 home runs yeah and I think you can go up and down the Braves lineup with that strikeout rate and it’s it’s Ronald yes he’s cut it down a lot you look just within this season I think
Matt olon when he was batting second in the order he was striking out around 30% of the time you move him down and all of a sudden I think it’s 17 or 18% since that move in mid June and then you look at a guy like Michael Harris last year
He hit 238 versus lefties this year he’s hitting almost 300 against lefties there have been adjustments by these guys where it you know we say it all the time on air it’s the balance of the lineup and they can get you one through nine unlike any lineup in Major League
Baseball and it’s true but when you look at what each guy has done to make an adjustment to make himself a better hitter in 2023 versus 2022 it’s pretty staggering it’s it’s just it is in my time watching baseball and I’m coming up on 40 yes I’m bias I think it’s the best
Lineup that I’ve seen I know that there’s been some really good ones we’ve seen some really good ones but top to bottom it’s hard to argue against the power and the average of this Braves lineup it truly is it’s a well-rounded group let me talk a little bit about the
Lineup that you have been a part of this year your first year as we talked about behind the mic for the Braves as the voice of the Braves for belly Sports South or sports or both however that all breaks down a variety of B Outlets but
You are the voice for B Sports for the Atlanta Braves um how much fun has it been to sit alongside Jeff franor on a nightly basis or a regular basis Tom glavin John Smoltz some of the guys that have come through the Peter Mand Nick green whoever it is you know it’s just
Such a great team how much fun have you guys had being able to a come to work and call a baseball game which I think is still maybe the greatest job ever next to play in the sport but also have fun watching this team yeah I think fun
Is the right word you know before I got this job whether I was doing baseball or football or basketball anytime you step into a booth and you get to be a part of a sporting event I always tell myself even if you’re having a bad day remember
That people are watching that are trying to release from whether it’s being a lawyer being an accountant digging a ditch whatever it is they want to have fun and I want to try to be a part of that fun with them and certainly this team has made it easy but the team that
You mentioned that we get to work with every night those guys are awesome I mean nobody has more fun in this world than Jeff francor and you saw that from him as a player but he’s just that way he’s so positive he’s so energetic he’s hilarious so having him next to me for
Most of these games has really been a thrill I think it’s also helped you know you’re around our age too he and I are born two weeks apart and so we just have a lot of things in common now he has four kids I don’t have any so that’s
Different but the things that make us laugh the silly humor the way that we see the game is very similar and that’s been a joy and then getting to work with Tom and smoltzy for me you know you grew up a brav fan too I’d have pinched
Myself a little bit man I mean I did I stepping into the booth for the first time with those guys like holy cow these are the guys that I grew up idolizing on the field throughout the 90s and to get to call this game with him while we
Watch our beloved Braves uh incredibly special and then you know Peter Peter has grown so much and is just tremendous and he has that same sense of humor as Nick every or as Jeff everywhere we go someone stops Peter like Peter I love you Peter I mean he is kind of this
Local celebrity because he is such a positive energetic guy and then Nick is tremendous and he’s so good on the desk but he’s really coming into his own in the booth so yeah earlier I said spoiled to kind of be following this team but really honestly to have the the crew
That we work with both on air and the crew in the truck headed up by Gretchen and Mike our producer and director just really lucky just really lucky to have the we do wrapping up here with Brandon genen as we wrap up the regular season obviously the local broadcast will give
Way to the National broadcast and that will change a lot of things in the way that we enjoy and and the way we take in the sport certainly and it’ll change your schedule just a little bit I would imagine so as we go forward we’re all
Going to be watching this brav team very closely what have you seen about this club that you feel like has them set up to do the things in October that they’re certainly capable of well unlike everybody else I would be lying if you look at the pitching right now and you
Aren’t given a slight pause but I’m more I would say optimistic probably than the Casual fan just because I’ve heard them say that it looks like Max is going to be ready to go and if you’ve got Max and Spencer with this lineup that is such a
Dangerous combination I think we have to remind ourselves let’s say that Charlie struggles to come back or he can’t come back or Max’s blister is bothering him you still have really the Envy of 29 other teams in Major League Baseball because of this lineup because you still
Have good pitching uh even even if there are injuries um so I’m hopeful that those guys are able to pitch obviously certainly Max you get him back and I think that changes everything you get Charlie back even if for some reason you don’t get Charlie back I think the fact
That you do have Elder and I know that he struggled a little bit in the second half but let’s say he gets into the third inning he’s having issues what a luxury to be able to bring Kyle Wright and his experience out of the bullpen for three or four Innings so look it’s
Going to be a fun postseason we all hope that it ends with a World Series ring I know for me selfishly now not doing the games in the postseason I’m excited to take them as in as a fan I plan on channeling my little kid from back in
The 90s when I would clutch my Tomahawk and watch those games every night I’m excited to do that as a fan with everybody else and hopefully watch this team make a little more history and get another world series title yeah well as we saw back in 2021 this is a place that
Can certainly Rock during the postseason they’re looking forward to a long run and the battery gets a little bit packed with every passing round and every passing game and seemingly every passing inning so it’s a great place to take in a baseball game and I’m sure for you as
You’ve come into this first season behind the desk for the Braves it’s been quite an enjoyable experience but as we like to say you play this 162 so you can play some more and the Braves want to play all they can Brandon thank you so much for your time I appreciate as
Always absolutely Grant thanks for having me man really appreciate Brandon making some time to chat with me this week he has had a front row seat for this Atlanta Braves club and of course we all look forward to seeing what this team is going to be able to do when
October rolls around and that is right around the corner when we come back though we will turn our attention to what else is happening across the world in baseball as we take our trip around the big leagues with some of the biggest stories from the week that was it comes
Your way next on from the diamond with Grant mccaulay on sports radio 929 the game taking a look around the league with more of our from the diamond on sports radio 929 the game welcome back again this is from the diamond great M call with you from the
Kia Studios hour two of the show and just couple of days left for the praise in the regular season as we sit here on a Saturday afternoon just getting ready for October I think as much as anything you just want to get through the regular season healthy if you’re the Atlanta
Braves and get ready to win those big games you’ve been playing all spring all summer and into the fall for and that of course is what’s right out in front of him great to catch up with Brandon Goden I’ve had the opportunity to get to know
Him over the course of this year and you know if you were looking to to check some boxes for what you wanted out of the play-by-play television voice for your Club to listen to each and every day I think Brandon checks an awful lot of those boxes he and Jeff franor have
Been a great team you bring Tom glavin back into the mix that’s been a lot of fun Nick green Peter moand has jumped in there Kelly craw does an outstanding job just a great team they’ve got run over there both in front of the camera behind
The scenes all of that so always great to catch up with those folks always great to chat some BR baseball Brandon genen so hope you enjoyed that if you missed that for any reason you can always check out from the diamond wherever you get your podcast and make
Sure you’re following Along on social you can find me at Grant mccol on most platforms you can also like the show on Facebook and if you need links to any or all of those things you can check out from the diamond.com but let’s uh take our trip around the big leagues quite a
Few things going on here in that final week of the season and yeah we’ll talk about the postseason an awful lot and we’ll continue to focus on it all the way through the month of October and you know good Lord Willam will be talking about the Braves all the way through the
Month of October but there are also some things that we expect to happen at the close of just about every season and one of those is managerial changes and we saw one of those take place a couple of those actually taking place though under very different circumstances first we’re
Going to talk about was the big news on Friday out of San Francisco where the Giants decided to part ways with manager Gabe kapler and this ends I think a very disappointing it if not it’s almost worse than being bad sometimes when you’re just a mediocre Club because the
Expectation doesn’t leave it’s not okay well all right I can understand this guy this guy and this guy got hurt and all of a sudden your season just goes sideways and you know you chalk it up to injury or inconsistency or some other thing but the giant seemed to be a club
That was in it as far as the wild card’s concerned but not really a clear contender in a national league west that includes the Los Angeles Dodgers who by their standards are having a little bit of a Down year not so much offensively but they’re trying to figure it out on
The mound but the Giants just were never really able to put it together and it just kind of sounded like this was the clubhouse that Gab kapler just ended up losing but the team made the announcement on Friday the official announcement ending his four-year run as the manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers
Or excuse me of the San Francisco Giants and of course he took over for Bruce Boi who is now managing down in Texas but two years ago now think about this the Giants won 107 games against the Dodgers to win the national league West they
Were a 500 Club a year ago and they lost to the Dodgers in that divisional Race by 30 Games by virtue of La winning 111 games and of course we know that the Dodgers did not make it very far in the postseason last year that’s another story though the Giants though heading
Into Friday with a 78 and 81 record so they’re going to need to win the weekend basically to be a 500 team for the second consecutive year they were holding on to the third wild card spot a couple of weeks ago but they’ve been three and gone three and 10 in the last
Couple of weeks and that really sealed their fate as far as the postseason is concerned of course we know kler from the National League East he was the head of the Phillies in 2018 2019 and Giants president of baseball OBS Farhan zi he praised kapler’s work for the club and
This was a statement that he put out after making this recommendation to ownership and receiving their approval I met with Gabe to inform him of our decision in his tenure of as Giants manager Gabe LED our team through the unprecedented pandemic of 2020 to a franchise record 107 wins in postseason
In 2021 he’s been dedicated and passionate in his efforts to improve the onfield performance of the Giants I have tremendous respect for him as a colleague and a friend and on behalf of the Giants organization we wish gab the best of luck in his future endeavors because it wouldn’t be a dismissal if
You didn’t wish him that at least it’d be a little bit more acrimonious but uh that aside the question of course becomes you know where did the Giants go from here who exactly did they bring in because it’s going to take more than simply changing the manager to get this
Club heading back in the right direction I feel like they’ve done a nice job of on the pitching side of especially being able to take arms and really maximize and get more out of them in recent years hasn’t worked out quite the same here in the last couple of seasons and
Particularly this year but when you thought about the off season a little bit the Giants were this close I guess just signing Carlos kareah as one of I guess several teams that thought they’ signed Carlos kareah that didn’t happen they also were in the mix for Aaron
Judge but that of course was before the Korean news even came down the pike so it’s just strange to see a club that has had you know the success that the Giants have had the Rivalry that they have obviously with the Los Angeles Dodgers is one of the better ones in in baseball
One of the bigger ones anyway it seemed like a place that they’d be able to you know find somebody to come in and with a front office that appears to be really focusing on a lot of the right things be able to put a winning product out on the
Field but over the last couple of years things just have not worked out that way just about every player on the roster I think it’s safe to say in 2021 when you WN 107 games well they put a lot of stuff together but the rotation has not
Been the same since then and the Giants they really just haven’t been able to supplement this club and build it up the way that they need to in order to keep that going so when you’re out there trying to replicate what the Dodgers are doing that’s going to get you an extra
Level of scrutiny and you know who knows Gabe kapler might have a cooling off period if you will of maybe not managing for a couple of years but he’s young enough I’m going to guess his name comes back up for somebody particularly when you’ve had a 107 win season under your
Belt but a change for the San Francisco Giants just one of the managerial changes is going on the other happening in Cleveland Terry Frank cona retiring as Guardians manager I I think it’s pretty safe to say he’s got a very good case to be in the Hall of Fame he’s won
A couple of World Series I don’t think anything was bigger or better for him as far as he concerned than the 2004 Boston Red Sox one of the great comeback stories of all time uh but it does sound like the managerial stent in Cleveland is not only done but perhaps the
Managerial career of Frank cona who’s 64 years old that’s not to say that in a couple of years things may not change but you he’s already being wished well by the Cleveland fans as he has done uh with the now Guardians there Frank cona is got a 1950 career wins against 1670
Career losses 540 winning percentage basically and uh you know you’re looking at essentially an 87 win season per year there this from Matt Snyder of CBS Sports who was able to tally all these things up here Frank cona 13th all time and managerial winds trailing 11 other
Hall of Famers and another one or a couple more in Dusty Baker and Bruce Boi who figur to go to the Hall of Fame as well so congratulations to Terry Fran cona man they call Tito on if it’s a very good career for him or great career
Hall of Fame career for him or perhaps there’s another chapter to ride we’ve seen stranger things happen than that meanwhile if you want to see something strange that was happening well you might wanted to have watched the first inning of the New York Yankees taking on the Kansas City Royals and in particular
The final chapter of Carlos rodon who signed a huge contract with the Yankees who had one of the more dis appointing Seasons that you can have and by Yankee standards this I would say is probably an inexcusable unacceptable type of season but rodon he faced eight batters against Kansas City through 35 pitches
Did not record an out eight-run first inning for the Kansas City Royals who won 12 to5 over the Yankees at Kaufman stadium and this was year one of that sixe $162 million contract for rodon signed with the Yankees who are going to finish at 500 because they’re 81-79 on
The year but this has not been a great run for the Yankees to put it mildly and we’re going to talk about the team that won the American League East because this was a year that in that division did not play out I think anywhere close to what we would have expected as
Baltimore is the best team in the American League I’ll get to that story in just a moment but really disappointing uh outing is clearly for rodon and a disappointing season for the Yankees and it just goes to show you you know and with a team like the Kansas
City Royals who’ve been coming up a lot lately because they’ve been involved in some of the crazy on in the American League West kind of throwing a wrench in the works for a couple of different teams there’s no easy ones down the stretch when you’re what half a game a
Game apart from a couple of other teams and just about any club can have your number on a particular night but for Ron he finishes the season with a really tough final line 685 the ER in 64 in the third Innings you made only 14 starts
Had to deal with some injury as well and Yankees are going to have to figure a lot of things out if they want to turn things around in that American League East because you see what the Orioles have done and 100 wins for this Baltimore Orioles Club who clinched the
Al’s title a couple of nights ago two years ago the Yankees were a club near the top of the American League East the Orioles meanwhile were losing 110 games and somehow two calendar years later they’ve turned into a 100 win team and it’s because they drafted and were able
To produce a fine wealth of talent that’s turned it into a club that could be one of the great stories I mean I’m I don’t know if it’s really a big surprise but I’m kind of hoping for maybe a Braves Orioles World Series I think that
One would be pretty fun I don’t know if the television networks would love it as much but you honestly who cares because as a baseball fan I think it’d be a lot of fun and different matchups are are also fun for that but the Orioles with
Their two nothing win over the Red Sox a couple of nights ago were able to win the American League East uh Dean Kremer finished that game with eight strikeouts he’s 13 and five on the Year this is not a team full of you know a lot of players
That you would be familiar with necessarily but some great young stars have come up adley rushman I think is going to be a big deal in the American League for a long time we saw him in the All-Star Game Baltimore though its first 100 win season since
1980 that’s a pretty good year for a while it was about the only good year for the Georgia Bulldogs but that’s changed recently as well and it would appear that the Baltimore Oriols are going to make that change as well but this is they’re marched to a division if
You think about what the Tampa Bay Rays did out of the gate with that long winning streak and just seeming like they were going to run away and with the American League East just goes to show you over the course of a season if you keep chipping away and keep winning
Series you got the opportunity to do something special and the Orioles have certainly done that with 13 consecutive wins for the Rays they’re going to find themselves in October as well uh but the Rays at one point had a 6 and a half game lead over Baltimore and that is
Vanished and congrats to the Orioles on becoming the champions of the American League east of sealing home field advantage for them through at least the ALCS if they do run into the Braves though that’ll be happening at truest park at least that’s where it’s going to
Start I’ll w WRA up with this one the big spending San Diego Padres you will not find them in October past Sunday anyway you might find them playing a game then but you’re not going to find them in your postseason picture because this offseason they’re going to have to
Spend figuring out how they’re going to get back into things and you know their Club much in the in the same vein of the New York Yankees not as far as the heritage is concerned but as far as the money that was spent to be better than
They were this year it was a late charge if you will we were talking about it a week ago on the show like what had to go right for the Padres to get into the postseason I think it involved them going 8- one and basically having the
Cubs the Marlins and the Cincinnati Reds all fall apart at the same time I don’t think you can ever count on that in the final seven or 10 games of a season but uh this it’s always I think it’s going to be one of those great what if teams
Or why exactly it happened we’ve heard so many reports though there’s a lot of acrimony in that Clubhouse between players maybe some animosity just not a great mix you can find that out on the field uh the Padre’s won 12 their past 14 they had a 500 record record coming
Into the weekend but that’s just not going to get it done because the Padres spent much of the Season below 500 from May June July August all the way into September before they went on that winning streak and they just were not able to get it done their manager Bob
Melvin though I’ll bring his name up because if they decide to let him go because somebody’s going to get scapegoated for the underperformance here of this club maybe that’s a guy that the San Francisco Giants would look at as well that would be interesting to
See and we’ll see if that plays out but Danny venty on social media posted this and I found this to be f fascinating the 2023 Padres could have this year’s sa Young Award winner and Blake snow they’ve got three hitters with 25 or more home runs they’ve got the second
Best team RA in the National League a closer with a 116 ER who doesn’t want to throw more than three outs that’s another story third highest offensive f- war in the National League in the third fewest errors and they got eliminated from the playoffs on Friday it sounds
Like a club and if you believe in that Pythagorean uh one loss record this should be a 90 win team they are not a 90 win team and that’s one reason one of the many reasons they’re going to be heading home for the winter when we come
Back though we will continue our look around the big leagues but also bring a little bit of focus back to what’s been going on with the Atlanta Braves this Powerhouse offense I want to get some insight on how exactly the Braves managed to supercharge this thing and uh
One of the players in particular Matt olssen putting together the best season of his life so youo Saras of the Athletics going to join me to talk about all of that maybe a little bit on that wild card we’ll get into all that here as from the diamond with Grant mccy
Continues on sports radio 929 the game back to gr moli for more from the diamond on sports radio 929 the [Applause] game welcome back in from the diamond on sports radio 929 the game Grant mccy with you from the Kia studios here on a Saturday afternoon as we get set for what is I would imagine going to be a pretty exciting final 48 hours at least
In the wild card but as far as the Atlanta Braves are concerned we already know what is awaiting we just don’t know who exactly is going to be but how exactly they got here we’ve talked about a lot on this show and it has an awful
Lot to do with the offense so to help me take a deeper dive into that want to welcome in Enos cus of the athletic you can follow him on social media at enosis Eno has been a little while since we gotten a chance to chat baseball hope
You’ve been well and thanks for making some time a thanks for having me so as we look at the Braves this is a club that I think has a very capable pitching staff now they got some questions going into the Poston I’ve talked about those
A lot here on today’s show but one thing that has not been in questioned throughout the 2023 season has been the Braves ability to hit they have been an absolute Powerhouse they’re leading MLB in numerous categories those are the results but I’m interested in the methods but the individual and
Collective that have helped Atlanta accomplish these things you wrote a great piece in the athletic discussing some of the adjustments particularly for Matt olssen which have helped him reach that next level but before we get into Olen I’m kind of curious what stands out to you about the Braves their Trends and
And what exactly is contributing to this Juggernaut of a season well I had the chance to talk to Matt Olson about this and I’ve been talking to him for a while since I’m based out here in California and Matt came up with the Athletics and
You know one of the things that I was poking at was hey do you have a better process do you have more data do you have more Tech you know are you coached better in Atlanta and he didn’t I he didn’t really take the bait he didn’t he
Was like you know uh there’s some good stuff here but he thinks it was mostly about personnel and mostly about the different players that are on the team the thing he told me that was so compelling for me was he was just like look at the guys we’ve got they’re so
Different um you know you know he said I can be pitch to like I can be game plan to here’s what he said he said we’re all really good but we’re a hard team to game plan for for how different we all are Eddie Rosario and I are both lefties
But I’m probably a little easier to game plan for if you face him he can hit any pitch and so I looked at you know how the Braves do against different pitch types and they’re the only team in baseball that basically does not have a flaw they’re they’re really good against
Every pitch type and then I just looked at heat maps for each of the players on the Braves and he’s right you got righties you got lefties you got Switch Hitters you got low ball hitters you got high ball hitters you got inside hitters you got outside hitters and so if you’re
As a pitcher you have your strengths you have your places you don’t want to go and if you run into a lineup like this somebody’s gonna get you and something I see from the box scores all the time is you know sometimes you know the middle
Of the lineup goes o for you know but it’s almost never that the entire lineup goes 0 for because maybe the middle of the lineup is like oh this is a sinker baller guy and we’re not great at that and then Michael Harris takes him deep or Eddie Rosario takes him deep and
That’s what’s so good about this lineup is that it’s so many different looks so many different styles and approaches and it’s it’s really great that way yeah it’s truly incredible to put together all these pieces and I mean you hit the nail on the head and obviously Matt
Olsson’s got a firstand view because he’s one of the guys out there doing it and he said I’ve talked to him a handful of times throughout the year you know my success is a byproduct of other guys success and the inability for pitchers to really look through this lineup and
Say okay this is how I’m going to game plan this is where I’m going to go get my outs I’m not going to let this guy beat me good luck with that nature of thinking against the starting nine for the Braves most nights they’ve got a
Chance to break the MLB record for most homers in a single season heading into the final weekend that you know happened back in 2019 in fact the top four seasons as far as home run totals ever happened in 2019 team but doing it this year there’s no discussion about altered
Baseballs and what have you it’s so far and away ahead of every other club the bravs just seem to be on to something SL some things when it comes to all this power as well yeah and if there is something it might be the fastball that
Is what their number one in the league against is the fast ball they’ve done it in a way that allows them to be successful against other pitch types but you know Matt Olson told me that one of his big personal steps forward has been figuring out how to hit rise uh riding
Fast balls you know what the what the approach is against them and so he’s personally gotten better against four SCS and then there’s a great piece by Mike petriello about how Ronald Jr has cut his strikeout rate in half yeah um and that he’s done so largely by hitting
Fast balls better and turning what used to be fastball F whiffs into foul balls so maybe there’s something in the way that they either acquire players or they coach players in that um teach uh you know spank the fastball hit the fastball hard you know do what you can but also
Maybe some some way of kind of spoiling fast balls if you can’t get to them so I don’t know what the secret sauce is but there is you know a personal theory of mine that I’ve had about a variance in lineup and approaches you know there’s a
Year there’s a year you can look back where uh theoretically Adam Dunn and Vladimir Guerrero had the same output you know the same Ops or whatever and so theoretically if you put a lineup of Adam duns out there against a lineup of Vlad Guerrero they should you know play
To a tie um but I always thought that uh if you put a lineup of mixed Adam Dunn and vad Guerrero out there and I want someone out there someday to to to simulate this for me that the mixed lineup would totally destroy the other two yeah because it would be way harder
To pitch to you know Adam Dunn and then Vlad Guerrero back and forth and back and than it would be to pitch to one or the other so that was my personal Theory and uh I think the Braves in some way are proving it I think that that’s a
Really good point and especially with the the variations of the type of hitters that you brought up I mean some of these guys a little bit Freer swingers others a little bit more selective and obviously I don’t think you get much more of a Freer swinger and a slugger than Vladimir Guerrero senior
And somebody who could strike out a little bit but also draw a lot of walks hit a lot of homers that of course was Adam Dunn chatting with enois of the athletic here on from the diamond with Grant MCCA on sports radio 929 the game he joins me on the wa for.com hotline
You’ve touched on this a little bit with Matt olssen and and just worth pointing out that you know I believe he’s having one of the quietest 50 Homer Seasons I can think of because most years if you lead the league in home runs in RBI to two of the Triple Crown categories you
May run away and hide with the MVP award that is just not the case this year thanks in large part to teammate Ronald lunia Jr who we’ll get to a little bit later Olsson struggled a lot in the first half I think he had a strikeout rate you know at one point approaching
40% and he caught fire in the month of June and was able to more than cut that in half himself you mentioned that he has adjusted a little bit to how he has been approaching I guess fast balls particularly those with rise is that really you feel like the main change or
The main focus that may have helped him kind of unlock something even in the midst of a season well uh he homered yesterday or you know he h yesterday right off of uh and it was off of breaking ball low right and one thing that happened when we were talking about
It is you know I said you know once you started spanking fast balls the number of Sliders you saw really started to increase right and um the sort of percentage of Sliders he’s seen is the highest he’s ever seen in the last two years and he said yeah you know that’s
That’s part and parcel of it you know if you start doing really well uh you know vertically on on high fast balls uh then the response is going to be to try to you know fill up the low part of the Zone with sliders but so you see in that
Home run off of a a low breaking ball yesterday today that um he has a really good mind at the plate and he has a really good uh sense of anticipation and you know if you can anticipate that they’re going to fill you up with breaking balls low in the zone and you
Can do damage on that then you start making pitchers really scared about you know which way they can go if they can’t go high and they can’t go low what are they gonna do right so um you know Olson’s really just a great hitter and a
Great baseball mind um and uh you know it is uh you know it’s not his fault that he can’t you he’s not going to play short or uh you know steal 70 bags on the other hand um just because uh it’s know it’s not his fault you can’t do
Those things doesn’t mean that those things aren’t valuable it still is valuable to steal 70 bags it’s still is valuable to be able to play second short in the Outfield so um you know that’s something that award voters are going to take into consideration and I think for
Olon it’s going to be a top five MVP finish uh and that’s not something to shake your stick at not at all and I think it could be fascinating to see the top four be two teammates two sets of teammates from two different clubs I don’t know how many times that’s
Happened in Major League Baseball history either with that in mind we have to at least discuss Ronald lunia for a minute or two throwing the MVP debate aside because I think we’ve all probably heard just about enough of that here at the end of the season but when a hitter does the things
That Ronald has done statistically you know analytically is you you look at all the data Beyond just what the eyes show you and he’s found that way as you mentioned to cut that strikeout rate in half year-over-year I I don’t know what exactly you chalk that up to I mean I’m
Sure everyone would like to say hey I’m going to strike out less but this degree of improvement is just one of the most impressive things about aunia and I think it’s obviously feeding into the monster results that he has put up this season across the board well I think the
One thing you’ll see is that this is the smallest uh pull percentage of his career and he’s managed to hit the ball hard still uh he’s hit ball harder this year than he’s ever hit in his life um but he’s and so he’s I think there’s a
Health component too uh you know just being fully healthy after that last year um but also like just coming together a really good approach and if you think about what it takes to foul off a fast ball but also uh hit them for for huge tanks I think that it it means that
Sometimes uh you can be early on the fastball and pull it for for a huge Homer and sometimes you can be laid on the fast ball and you know push it for a double the other way and sometimes you can be super late on the fast ball but
Still make contact and get that foul ball and that’s kind of what I see with him is that he’s found a way to spoil pitches um and if he’s sort of anticipating incorrectly uh found a way to still catch up to that fast ball and
Uh and spoil it and I think it all boils down to the one of the things that he has um that’s you know sort of top of the league when it comes to the plate is bat speed yeah um and so if you are anticipating a breaking ball and you
Have to catch up to that fast ball to just spoil it off having plus bat speed Elite bat speed like he does I think is is a big part of the picture yeah truly incredible just the things he is doing and you can tell that you know we’ve
Talked about a five tool player before and Ronald Luni Jr is certainly one of those and the the times that I’ve had to just ask him I mean Ronald’s not a guy that gets stuck all into the numbers clearly he can know when he’s doing well
He can see what he’s putting up but he said the number one thing this year the difference between last year and this year is the health it’s the trust in that knee and as far as the strikeouts are concerned he offered it kind of a simpler explanation but when I thought
About a little bit more talk to Kevin sitzer and some of the other Braves hitters that you hear from I’m sure Matt Olsson is along the lines on this in fact I know he is based on what you’ve said you know when you’re able to get to
That fast ball and you’re able to be aggressive and and do the things that you do uh in terms of not missing your pitch it makes a huge difference to the outcome of the majority of your plate appearances and the cut and strikeouts I mean it goes for the entire Club Atlanta
Was second in Major League Baseball in strikeouts last year they’ve been around 25th this season again just some Market improvements for the entire Braves lineup that’s you know and and huge improvements like that some of the biggest most iconic World Series winners of the last few years have had major
Improvements in strikeout rate the year they won it all strikeout rate is one of the things that becomes slightly more important in the postseason in the regular season possibly because you’re pitching you’re the you’re facing better pitching and so if you can make contact um you know across the season then you
Can make better contact against these uh better pitchers in the postseason so uh you think about those that Cubs team that jelled um and and won the World Series they were the biggest improver in strikeout rate the year they won so um you know this is a this is an important
Thing it’s one of the only little things that I would say was a negative about the Braves offense in the past a little bit of feast and famine because of the strikeout rate now that they’re 25th there’s really no hole here um and uh so it’s for Braves fans it’s just uh let’s
Hope the pitching’s good enough yeah I mean it’s a big hope but I think you get every club that goes in the postseason hopes they’re able to post what they need to on the mound and then get enough runs to get across the plate and turn it
Into some wins there’s a great piece by Jason Stark uh on the athletic about just how good this Braves offense is and it just goes through everything maybe the best um you know WC plus which is kind of like Ops plus you know they’re probably going to break the record for
Home runs just a ton of different ways that this is probably the best offense of all time up there at least with the 27 Yankees and a couple other offenses that have been out there uh but that’s pretty cool to say like we had the best
Offense of all time yeah and I think the 27 Yankees regardless of if you could name all of them to a man everybody refers to that as if you’ve got a great offense or you’re doing something really well you’re the 27 Yankees so that’s a pretty nice compliment there let me wrap
Up with this across baseball we’re seeing some crazy finishes which is exactly what MLB wants with the expanded Wild Card system I think the Phillies have everyone’s attention in the National League based off what they did a year ago what they’re doing again this year at the right time after that
Arizona intrigues me a lot but the third team out of the National League picture in particular we may end up having to draw it out of a hat in the final weekend if if the chaos that MLB likes to have is uh in the offing for us here
Over this next 72 hours yeah uh it’s nice because if we didn’t have that third wild card we may not really have any races right now so um you know I I I don’t love that it dilutes um you know the regular season makes the regular season a little bit less important that
You can you know get into the playoffs with 86 87 wins maybe 83 84 in the National League um but at the same time um you know my kids are watching the the Mariners games pretty intently um you know the Cubs uh are seem to be limping
A little bit at the end uh they they they had much better playoff odds uh but here you know you’ve got the Marlins the Cubs and the Reds um and the and the Astros and Mariners duking it out so that’s that’s good for baseball that’s
Going to be it’s not going to be quite I forget what year it was maybe 2010 11 somewhere in there um when we had like you know eight different 10 different 15 different permutations and you you had to watch that last day where all the
Games were on at the same time you had to have every game on because you didn’t know who’s gonna make the postseason so not quite like that but still a lot of Sunday games that I think will matter we’re definitely looking forward to seeing how this final weekend plays out
And then the postseason right out in front of us Eno thank you for all your time appreciate it and hopefully we’ll be catching up again soon thanks for having me on he’s enosis of the athletic when we come back we’ll turn our attention back to the Atlanta Braves and
Talk a little bit about the postseason rotation the decisions to make on the pitching staff and here from a man who’s very excited to have a chance to play in the postseason he’s longtime minor leager Forest wall the Speedster who’s been making a nice impression here in
The second half I got to catch up with him at truest Park all of that is coming your way here on from the diamond with Grant McCauley on sports radio 929 the game I love baseball now back to more gra mccol and from the diamond on Sports Radio 929 the
Game this is from the diamond with Grant MCCA on sports radio 929 the game as we wrap up hour number two of the show and thus the entire show here and we got more Braves to talk about of course and it’s great to catch up with Theos seras
Get a little bit of insight on why the Braves offense is as good as it is we look at the numbers and we talk about it it’s quantifiable as they say the data is out there but you know just getting a look under the hood and the kind of
Changes you have to make over the course of a season is one thing but to go from what the Braves did in 2022 a very different type of offense to what they have this year that to me has been a big story and uh the driving force uh and I
Don’t think that’s any real surprise about what the 2023 Braves have done the offense has done a lot of the heavy lifting but as you get into the postseason you’re going to have to get your pitching figured out and for the Braves untimely injuries have kind of
Been a part of their postseason script since 2020 because I want to flash you back not because we’re going to spend a lot of time there but just going kind of walk through this exercise with me in 202 the shorten season Michael soka’s Achilles injury happened initially the Braves kept going through starting
Pitcher after starting pitcher they finally called up Ian Anderson and he ended up being a big part of their success that year and a big part of their success in the postseason and then doing it again in 2021 because the Braves had to kind of Cobble some things
Together get to the World Series finally Charlie Morton breaks his leg in game one of the World Series then you end up starting not one but two rookies to try to get through that one and then of course last year we know what happened with Max Reed getting sick with Spencer
Strider dealing with the oblique injury and a very quick exit from the postseason for the Atlanta Braves and now as we head into the fourth year of this exercise so if you’re going to a four year school this is your senior year hopefully maybe no more years of
Injury to follow but you got Max Reed dealing with a blister injury or a blister issue I should say and Charlie Morton with a finger injury and both of those things kind of make you question know how exactly is this going to look when you get into October the good thing
For the Braves this year as I talked about much earlier in the show and as I think everybody’s probably realized by now when you handle your business and clinch the division earlier and you’re able to kind of know where it is you’re going to go and when you’re going to be
There it allows you a little bit of time to maybe throttle back I mean that’s why Max freed didn’t make one more start in the regular season because he didn’t need to and I think that he’ll have time to get that blister injury in blister
Issue dealt with so that he can start I would presume game one maybe game two but probably game one of the National League Division Series with the other one going to Spencer Strider but the Charlie Morton thing that really threw a wrench I think in what the Braves best
Laid plans could be because as Charlie has had a year that has been enigmatic maybe up and down certainly at times he still has the best postseason resume of anybody on this Braes pitching staff so to not have them available at all as you’re figuring this out is far from
Ideal so that brings up questions about what the third spot of the Braves rotation is going to look like in the National League Division Series and maybe you get Charlie Morton back in the NLCS but as Brian Snicker said hey we got to get there we’ll figure that thing
Out we’ll give Charlie the time that we can it be three weeks between his last start when he had the the finger sprain that kind of cropped up on him and when he would presumably be asked to start a National League Championship Series game but Bryce Elder’s second half if you think Charlie
Morton was a roller coaster well this one for Bryce Elder has been uh up and down to say the least in the September wasn’t exactly reassuring results wise you got an ER well over five there have been a handful of quality starts for Bryce Elder in the second half but
Nowhere close to what he was doing I mean this guy was a quality start machine for the Braves in April May and June in July came he still looked pretty good but right before the All-Star break he ran into the Tampa Bay Rays had a bad start and just thought okay well
Everybody’s due for one and no matter how good a starting pitcher is typically you’re going to have three four five starts that just they don’t go your way you’re chased before the five innings yeah you you give up a big you know crooked number in the first or second
Inning you just you’re behind the eight ball it’s just not working for you you just don’t have your pitches that you need to be able to get through a major league lineup that kind of stuff happens but it does kind of bring up the question though as you look at these
Results for Bryce Elder and how could it not particularly with the injury to Charlie Morton I mean is this the guy for game three I tend to think that it is based on the experience Factor but if you are the Braves and you end up in a number of
Different scenarios could you allow yourself to maybe get a little bit more creative and lean on maybe a younger pitcher to at least start the game for you and then have Kyle Wright in kind of a piggyback situation and cover the six Innings and I say that after watching
What AJ Smith Scher and KY Wright were able to do a couple of nights ago if that’s an answer and a probability or or a possibility I should say not probable we don’t know what that’s going to be yet but if that’s a possibility that’s one for me that’s at least worth
Exploring but Bryce Elder is not going to start in Sunday’s regular season finale from the sound of it from talking to Brian snitker on Friday and the decision to do that I think is just maybe the rest and having him you know throw his sides would be
More along the lines of kind of rebuilding that confidence and also just kind of resetting a bit before that postseason start potentially in game three but I still think the Bry Elder is probably the odds on favorite for all of this but I do feel like you had to at
Least allow yourself to entertain that idea because that the game with AJ Smith Scher who came up and looked much like the pitcher that we heard about in the minor leagues the prospect with the big fast ball and and good breaking stuff we didn’t see that as much in some of his
Starts after his first first one and after that major league debut in which he came on in relief uh against Arizona I believe in what late May early June the fast ball was more 9394 but we saw 100 miles an hour two nights ago 98 miles an hour in his final
Outing the 65 pitches kind of limited he’s been working through some stuff I think down in Triple A maybe little injury concern here or there and you don’t want to push too hard but to have him available to you quite possibly and we’ll talk about this in a couple of
Minutes about you know what kind of roster decisions you could be making but that velocity that played well then you had KY Wright come in and have what I thought was another and this is a second one in a row good relief appearance the first one came against the Washington
Nationals that’s not much of a litmus test for what you’ll be facing in October but the next one coming against the Chicago Cubs a team very much fighting for its October life that I’ll take a little bit more out of curveball looked extremely good for Kyle Wright
He’s going to be down I think a tick or two on velocity but if you got that curveball working and as I’ve talked about before you don’t have to have four pitches working as a reliever to get through a lineup once maybe one and a half times which I think
Would be about the the point that you’d be looking at some of the other guys in your Bullpen anyway so the br’s going to have some decisions to make to make a long story short about this Bullpen You Got Rice El glacius Joe gimenez AJ mentor and Pierce Johnson I think that’s
The big four if you will I don’t know if they’re going to be called the night shift or if they’ve got some other name that they’re going to come up with as this thing goes along but I think those are kind of the four late inning High
Leverage guys that the Braves are going to call on a lot then you got Kirby Yates and bran Han and Veterans who have closing experience that have especially with Kirby has been here all year long been tasked with some important Innings and I think there’s still going to be
Some to get to the late Innings there and Brad Hand would be your second Lefty relever and then you’ve got Michael tonan who’s been kind of a multi- ining weapon Jesse Chavez who could do that and then if you’re looking to kind of round out this pitching staff because
You’re not going to have to carry five starters for a five-game series that opens up the option of AJ Smith schaer and Cy Wright in some order with one of them maybe starting that game three and then does that mean that Bryce Elder’s on or off this postseason rotation those
Are just things that I think the brav are going to figure out and again I still think it’s highly likely that Bryce Elder makes that start but there is at least enough information out there now and results at least in the most recent past for this club to consider
With that but otherwise I don’t think we have a whole lot of decisions to be made on that postseason roster but let’s hear a little bit from AJ Smith Scher who I do feel like again is kind of a Dark Horse and maybe even if he’s not on the
Division Series roster maybe we see him or hear about him getting his name called at some point to help the break out in this postseason run here he is after that start two nights ago yeah I think it’s definitely a good thing to get out in front of the the fans and
Kind of get the experience with just all that so uh I think it’s a something to build on a nice will it be to just stay here continue working out with his team next week and is that the plan you’re going to fit your next week um I don’t
Know I don’t know what the plan is but uh just whenever they tell me to throw I’ll be ready uh no matter what I’ll be somewhere throwing the ball staying ready so uh that’ll be a good thing but but uh yeah I’m just excited for whatever the future is whatever it
Happens happens I’m just uh excited to have the opportunities yeah it could be a pretty good opportunity for AJ Smith Scher you heard Brian Snicker say earlier in the show I mean anytime you’re out there on a mound and that this week included as they play those practice games you’re being evaluated
Meanwhile somebody who’s been evaluated by the Braves for the course of this season and has found himself a nice little role as what A fifth outfielder Off the Bench and a speed weapon for the Braves as far as postseason roster concerned is Forest wall longtime minor
Leager 9 years it took him to get to the majors he’s been able to I think make a very serious case to be on the Braves postseason roster I think he’s going to be there and after that journey I want to catch up with him get some of his
Thoughts on what it’s been like to join this Braves club right about the time they start to play the most important games of the Season here’s Forest wall this is obviously a time of year that the Atlanta Braves are looking to play their best baseball and for you someone
Who has come into the organization had an opportunity to get to know these guys how much fun has it been to jump into what is typically a pretty fun ride for this club come October uh it’s been a blast so far um it’s always fun to win
Um it’s been really fun to uh just kind of come in this Clubhouse meet the guys um they’ve accepted me really well um it’s been really cool to see how they work um how serious they take their work um and then it translates to the game
Talk to me a little bit about coming over to the Braves organization what your connections were obviously as a guy who had spent a lot of time in the minor leagues working your way towards this What attracted you to the Atlanta Braves or or who was it that contacted you and
Kind of brought you along just the opportunity um you know I didn’t really have much looks from any other organizations um and so you know they they talked with my agent and they were able to work out um a minor league deal and you know I was thrilled that in
Organization you know like this um with such respect you know and how they develop players and uh their winning culture um it was something that you know I jumped right on the opportunity and um so thankful to be a part of it you have a game where speed is obviously
A big part of that I think it’s kind of an exciting time in baseball because you know I don’t know when you grew up if there were as many stolen bases as there are now but there was kind of a while where it seemed like maybe the game
Moved away from that but that’s something that you bring to the table what has 2023 been like with the kind of the change of the rules and your style working so well with that yeah it’s been cool to see um you know speed in stolen bases get brought back into the game you
Know it helps me that the pitchers can only pick over three times um you know the bases being bigger has helped me as far as sliding giving me more of a lane to work with um so I think all of it’s been really good for
The game and it’s and it’s been cool for me cuz speed is a part of my game and it’s ultimately helped me out a lot yeah knowing that you were in Triple A guette this year putting up some big stolen base numbers having a good all-around season um did you anticipate different
Times of the year where you felt like maybe you were just that phone call away from coming up to join this group um you know I never really knew um um I just was focused one day at a time while I was down there um I’ve still got things
I need to work on um and that was my focus and priority um and you know I just wanted to make sure that they knew you know I was I was ready uh for whatever they need and so you know I’m just thankful for the opportunity to be
Here let me ask you about just a particular moment that I think every kid who ever dreams of playing Major League Baseball looks forward to that’s hitting that first major league home run for you that came on this past road trip I would imagine it was kind of like floating
Around the bases walk me through that bat the Home Run and then obviously getting a chance to maybe reflect on that in the days that have followed yeah so it was awesome just to get uh the opportunity to start um and then in my
Third at bat I got to a 20- count uh facing a pretty tough Lefty and you know my thought going into that pitch was okay you know don’t try to get too big here um I was trying to hit a line drive at the short stop and I got a pitch on
The inside part of the plate and you know I was on time and and uh put a good swing on it and um I was just like so excited after that um to see ey UI was at first um pumped up and then to round the bases and see the bullpen going
Crazy um and then wash at third was fired up as well and and when I hit home plate Orlando was uh there ready to give me a huge hug so that was it was all around just like a special moment and I’ll never forget it yeah you said this
Is an opportunity that you’re you know blessed to have and obviously happy to be a part of that as you look forward to what may be to come for this team and the years that you have put in to get to this point I mean I know you don’t want
To stop in the middle of the season and maybe reflect on that but how gratifying is it to be to the point where you’re getting to put this uniform on and have a chance to play on the stage everybody wants to play on yeah I mean it’s a huge
Blessing um it’s been a long time it’s been a lot of hard work but you know every day that I get to come here it’s it’s an honor to put the uniform on um there’s been a lot of ups and downs to get here so it’s just a real blessing
Braves outfielder Forest wall great to catch up with him this past week at truis Park a very cool opportunity for a longtime minor Leaguer to be a part of some very big games coming up for the Atlanta brav speaking of which they will wrap up the regular season this weekend
Off on Monday Sim games Tuesday Wednesday Thursday at truest Park if you’re in the area you should go and check those out off on Friday game one of the nlds Comes Your Way Saturday we’ll have all kinds of great coverage here on 929 the game throughout the
Course of this week as we get ready for the nlds want to thank my guest Brandon Goden as well as Eno sarus of the athletic and of course Forest wall couldn’t uh have done the show without those guys appreciate them appreciate Dom for keeping me on the rails as
Always here on the show we will catch you very soon here I’m Grant McCauley this has been from the diamond on sports radio 929 the game
