Braves' Austin Riley sends clear message to Chris Sale, Robert Suarez after win over Phillies
The Braves dominance seems to be in large part to one main area.
Braves' Austin Riley sends clear message to Chris Sale, Robert Suarez after win over Phillies originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here . The Atlanta Braves are off to a strong start this season, and there are no signs of them slowing down.
They have yet to lose a series and just secured one against NL East rival the Philadelphia Phillies . Starter Chris Sale looked sharp despite his slider metrics not being as strong early in the season. “On average, in an admittedly small sample, Sale's slider is getting significantly less movement both on the vertical and horizontal axes.
The pitch is still moving enough to be passable, but losing multiple inches in both directions is rough. The results speak for themselves as opposing hitters are hitting . 286 against the slider when they previously would be hitting well below .
200 (. 143 in 2025 and . 171 in 2024, just to give a couple of data points),” HTHB’s Eric Cole wrote.