The Morning Shift on 92.9 The Game

Grant McAuley: Braves may 'try different things' when Michael Harris returns

Robb, Mike, and Beau continue the final hour by spending some time with 92.9 The Game's own Braves insider and reporter, Grant McAuley! Robb, Mike, and Beau, and Grant discuss how the Mets have been able to win 18 of their last 25 games, where Grant thinks Michael Harris II will bat once he comes back from injury since Jarred Kelenic has been successful in the leadoff spot, if the Braves need to win this series against the Phillies to have a realistic shot to win the division, if Spencer Schwellenbach will be competing for the number three starter position next season, what about Chris Sale has surprised Grant the most, if there is anything Grant would do to tweak the lineup or if there’s anything schematically he would change offensively if he were the manager, and if Charlie Morton potentially retiring and Spencer Strider not going to be available at the beginning of next season makes it more likely that the Braves will re-sign.

Duration:: 14m
Broadcast on:: 05 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

Now, with the MLB app, you can get baseball your way. Pick your favorite team, your favorite players, and get customized highlights, stories, and breaking news right on your home feed. Follow the action with Game Tip, where 3D replays add another dimension. Plus, notifications can keep you connected to every pinch, every hit, every game, the MLB app. Baseball your way. Download it now for free from the App Store or Google Play. Blackout and other restrictions apply. Major League Baseball trade cards used with permission. Grant McCauley. G-Mac, I call him. The baseball thing. I don't think he wants you to call him that. Because, I mean... Well, let's ask it. It's kind of generic. Can you give him something better? Grant deserves better than that. He took his wife's name and marriage is that what your name? Well, he would be... Yeah, that's what he would be. That's kind of what you're saying. Grant, what say you? It wouldn't really change much. But, yeah, no, I want to give her my name. That's just part of our arrangement here. So, I've been called worse than G-Mac, though, for the record. You know, of course, we got the Braves and the Phillies, but where'd the Mets come from? How are they winning 18 to 25? They were such an afterthought. Yeah, I mean, I guess they were able to head out to their local McDonald's play place and sign Grimace, and pretty much since he showed up at City Field, it changed everything that's going on up there. It sounds like a joke, but apparently they've taken that thing pretty seriously, but in all seriousness, they just have played a better and more consistent random baseball, something that I feel like we have talked a lot about the Atlanta club trying to do. They've just kind of hit their stride. And I think they were a club that was obviously going to reach a decision point this year of, "Are we going to try to hold on to Pete Alonzo? Do we trade away a few players? Where are we exactly after Steve Cohen spent so much money a couple of years ago?" And the Mets seemed like maybe they were starting to position themselves as a power in the NL East, and then last year happened, and everything went out the window, so they've kind of just come full circle. It is really what it looks like, and they're one of the many clubs that is alive and within four games of a wildcard spot in the National League. So, I think they're very much in a position to make the postseason, and a lot of clubs in the NL actually are outside of a couple down toward the bottom. This is a very interesting race. And we got like the evil Grant McCauley. They like painted his beard black, like Hollywood Hogan, taking shots at the Mets and Grimace. Blonde moustache out of Grant soon. Grant, as we get ready for Michael Harris to hopefully come back soon, you know, I know that he's not started running yet, the last I heard. Where would he fill into the lineup? Because I don't believe you should move Jared Kalnick. So, where would Michael Harris start hitting in the lineup once he does come back? Well, the good news is that day before yesterday, Michael Harris did start running, so he has got that under his belt. But I still think we're tracking towards obviously a second half return as the second half is pretty much, we're knocking on the door of the all-star break, so that would make the most sense timeline-wise. I wouldn't rule him out, hitting in the leadoff spot. I also wouldn't rule out, maybe trying to figure out what you could do, moving Austin Riley out of the fifth spot, moving him up some. Maybe obviously, all these could profile somewhere there in the middle of the order to help you out. I mean, I feel like at this point, you know, I'm not saying there's going to be a different lineup every single day because the Braves do like their continuity, but whatever's going on here, if from a consistency standpoint, a production standpoint, it just ain't working. And so, it's not a panic move, but I think you do have to start thinking, all right, let's try a few different things. Let's maybe delve into the numbers, the splits, the matchups, which the Braves do a little bit of, and lean into that to see if maybe we can kickstart this offense, because the bottom line is, about the time we get a couple of guys going, the way Kellogg has been, the way Austin Riley's going, now all of a sudden, you know, hits are a little bit harder to come by from Marcelo Zuna and Madison's going through another little slump. So, that's just kind of been the story of the Braves. You get a couple of guys going and then a couple of three more trying to figure it out. Maybe two or three guys are kind of caught in between and then you factor in the injuries. It just hasn't been the lineup that most people expected it to be. So, I wouldn't rule out use of Michael Harris. You could use him in the middle of the order somewhere in that five, six range. You could also use them at the top at one and two. If you felt like going, you know, back-to-back lefty hitters, I don't know that the Braves necessarily want to do that at the top. But again, without Ron Lecuny Jr, I feel like you just don't rule anything out because they need to find some answers. And in order to do that, they might just need to size up their personal inventory a little bit differently. All right, Grant, you know, I like to throw some of our fair foul questions on fair foul Friday at you when we get you on. And one of the ones we kind of talked about earlier was fair foul. The Braves need to win two of three against the Phillies. If they're going to have any shot at trying to make a run in the National East, I think we all kind of veered towards fair, but what say you? Yeah, that's definitely fair. I mean, you have to look at the mathematics of the new schedule that MLB put into place last year as well. Rather than having 19 divisional matchups, you only have 13. The Braves and Phillies have 10 of those left by some very simple math. The Phillies have been leading by 8, 9, sometimes 10 games this year. If you want to take a bite out of that lead, you're going to have to make the most of those head-to-head matchups. Now, you can still, as we saw even with the Braves in 2022, step on a banana peel after winning a series lose one that you're not supposed to while the Phillies are out there winning a series again, which would not be surprising based on how they're playing this year. And you could be right back at square one, but as far as head-to-head matchups are concerned, they do have to figure out as much as they can there and factor as much as they can there. I feel like in order to have the best chance to at least make it competitive against the Philadelphia Phillies who are showing no signs of slowing down, even without some of their best players. Spencer Schalenbach, will he be the number three starter next year? Wow. No, I don't believe so. I think there needs to be a bit better of a plan for the Braves than throwing Spencer Schalenbach into the middle of the rotation. I could he be competing for a spot absolutely, but will he be beyond the five? I find that hard to believe. Grant, what was it? Wednesday night, Chris Selgo's on the mound. He's phenomenal again, but there was an exchange that I thought CJ Nkowski did a good job highlighting where he misses on a three, two count to Wilson Ramos, and he does a little bat flip. And then the very next time he gets Ramos up, it's another three, two count, and he rears back and throws a just, I mean, dot right right on that inside heads, muttering something to himself too before releasing. Yeah. And then he kind of does a little head, a little a head shake afterwards. I am, I always knew Chris Sel was a fiery individual. You heard the stories from Chicago and Boston, but what has been the most surprising thing for you? A guy that's been in that locker, he's spending time with Chris Selgo. What's been the most surprising thing about being around him since you've, he's been here? Well, I mean, I can appreciate how you framed up all of that. I cannot though claim that I've spent a lot of time with Chris Selgo. He's not a guy that you necessarily see just floating around other than really on the day he pitches. You see him out on the field, you know, the camaraderie that he clearly has and has built with his pitching staff. He's fit in extremely well, but you knew the competitor and the competitor is something that everybody either recognizes talks about. Obviously, it's a big discussion point. He's just one of those guys that the way he goes about doing it, I feel like kind of illustrates the edge that you can and maybe should have in a lot of cases. It works for him and everybody else has, you know, a different motor and different personalities, all that kind of stuff, but I think it's nothing but a good thing to see that intensity on a regular basis. And clearly, I mean, the brave pitching staff is doing the work that it needs to do. It's coming into this Philly Series fourth best and major league baseball in ERA. The Phillies are the only nationally club I believe ahead of them at this point. I mean, the pitching is there. So Chris Sale has been a huge factor on that. And it's amazing to see when you start to look at where the Braves pitching ranks are and think about they've been doing all this without Spencer Strider. But one of the big reasons they've been able to has been the resurgence, the renaissance of Chris Sale, who is healthy and just absolutely bringing it every fifth or sixth day. Grant, you always have such a positive attitude toward the outlook on this team. And I know that you believe in everybody that's in place within this organization, the coaching staff, the players, whatever it may be, but I want you to put yourself in their shoes for just a minute. If you were Grant, if Grant McCauley was the manager or the hitting coach for this offense right now, are there any tweaks or changes you would make? I mean, we've gone back and forth. I know it's a club that's built around power hitting, but it's been nice to see some buns laid down from time to time or moving runners over. Is there anything you would do strategically to try to get this offense fired up in the next few weeks? Now with the MLB app, you can get baseball your way. Pick your favorite team, your favorite players, and get customized highlights, stories and breaking news right on your home feed. Follow the action with Game Ted, where 3D replays add another dimension, plus notifications can keep you connected to every pitch, every hit, every game, the MLB app, baseball, your way. Download it now for free from the App Store or Google Play. Block out another research and supply major league baseball trade parts used with permission. I mean, I think even when we've seen some of the runners get moved over and the lineup turned over in order to bring up guys another fifth inning day before yesterday, I think against the Giants was an or the opener against the Giants was a good example of you still got to have guys come through and get actual hits and that's been a bit of a problem. The situational hitting, I don't know how you fix that and I don't know that there's something that a coach can say or do or a video that you can watch or whatever the case may be that's going to adjust those results unfortunately. And I'm just not really sure that anybody right now has a clear answer because it feels like it's more than just one thing. It's some bad, bad at ball luck. It's some poor at bats. It's some, I don't know, changes that the opposing pitchers maybe have made. Maybe it's the baseball. I'm not going to roll that out but I'm not going to spend a ton of time crowing about it but I am going to look at the numbers across major league baseball and tell you that that's a pretty stark change year over year offensively speaking but pitching obviously factors in that as well. So it's kind of hard to figure all of it out and if you're a coach, a manager and Brian Snicker has been I think the best at this that you can really ask for is, you just have to continue to have faith in your players and their ability that they're going to be able to find their way through hard work and just grinding it out to get back to what you expect from them because I've talked about this a lot from the Diamond. I mean there was no way to come into this year and be like well the Braves are going to score 950 runs again. They're going to hit 300 home runs. That's just who they are now. That is a career year for a club. That's a career year for a lot of players. Many things went right for that to happen but even if you factor in a 25 or 30% regression which by the way would still have them as a 220 to 240 home run team scoring somewhere in the ballpark of 750 runs. You know you would expect that to be acceptable but the regression for the club in the overall sense and I know this is turning into a very long answer. It's just something that's hard to quantify and hard to figure out and I would imagine for those guys who it's not for lack of trying you can throw some pressing in there as well. It's hard to really wrap your head around and it seemed to have been hard to pull the nose up on the hole. So I throw all that out there to tell you that I know they're working on it. I know they're trying to figure it out but the process and the waiting has been I think heavy on them and obviously it's been heavy on the fan base and it's tough to watch when you see so many great pitching performances and even manageable winnable games. I mean the stats being thrown around a lot about how when the opponent scores more than four runs that sends basically the end of April the Braves haven't won a game. That's not the kind of stats that you want to have associated with your club especially if you're one with postseason aspirations. All right quickly Grant a max freed of course you know Alex and topless willing to let dance be go when we let Freddy Freeman go but now with the realities Charlie Morton's likely going to retire Spencer Strider is not going to be available immediately next year. Does that really mean that maybe max freed comes back and gets the deal I mean it rashes up the importance of max freed or whatever other corresponding move they're going to make because and I've even had people on social media and I don't know how quick this is going to be but I'll try to make it quick who've been like well if you're not going to get anything for I mean you're not going to resign and you need to trade free right now and get somebody else in here so we can win and I'm thinking to myself how is that a part of the plan for winning this year and or keeping max freed around you know throwing in the towel is not going to be part of what the Braves are looking to do. I mean they're going to grind it out and try to get into the postseason and see what happens because stranger things have happened then a club getting in as a wild card and making a run through to the World Series but to go back to free I still think he's of of extreme importance to the Braves both present and in the future and I would love to see the scenario where they bring him back and I would be very curious to see the scenario where you either a replace or upgrade over a pitcher who's been as good as he has been and important as he has been for the Braves for as long as he has been. Grant thank you for your knowledge as always my friend very very thorough and the long answer was needed because the whole thing is very befuddling to try to figure out so thank you very much sir. Thanks guys have a great morning right trying to figure out what to eat for dinner yet again with nor sides and bullion as you're not so secret ingredient you can skip the drive-through and do dinner at home nor taste combos provide a menu of delicious affordable and well balanced meals that you can prepare in 30 minutes or less visit nor dot com to get quick and easy recipe ideas for your home cooked weeknight dinners it's not fast food but it's so good. Now with the MLB app you can get baseball your way pick your favorite team your favorite players and get customized highlights stories and breaking news right on your home feed follow the action with game tip where 3D replays add another dimension plus notifications can keep you connected to every pitch every hit every game the MLB app baseball your way download it now for free from the app store or google play block out another research and supply major league baseball Trapparts used with permission.