Brewers NLDS Preview: 5 Braves Players To Worry About In The Series

2. SP Max Fried

Max Fried is the best starter in the Braves rotation. He has the ability to pitch deep into games and last year he finished 7-0 with a 5th place finish in the Cy Young voting. In 2021, his 1.09 WHIP ranks him 15th in all of the MLB and during the season he posted 19 quality starts of the 28 games he started, 19 quality starts being tied for ninth most in all of baseball. He also was tied for the most complete game shutouts in the MLB with 2.

Fried is no stranger to pitching in big games, even with this only being his fifth year in the big leagues. He’s pitched in 12 postseason games, starting four. His postseason ERA stands at 3.90 through the five series that he’s pitched in and he owns a WHIP of 1.33. Last season against the Dodgers in the NLCS, Fried really came into his own. He threw 12.2 innings in that series, logging a 2.84 ERA and 14 strikeouts against a dangerous Dodgers lineup.

He’s a ground ball pitcher that also does a nice job of keeping the ball in the park. He ranks 13th in baseball in ground ball outs recorded during the 2021 season with 199 and he boasts a HR/9 of 0.8, as he’s only surrendered 15 big flies on the season, which is tied for third-least in the MLB (8 more than Corbin Burnes who leads in that category).Expect to see lots of curveballs when facing Max Fried as he can locate it for strikes or spike them to ring you up.

3. 3B Austin Riley

The 24 year old corner infielder has taken the league by storm in 2021. Austin Riley was one of the most productive and durable players in baseball this season. To go from 131 games played in his first two years in the MLB combined to 160 this season (which was tied for most in the NL), he has taken a jump as one of the premiere hot corner patrollers in the sport.

He finished above his teammate, Freddie Freeman in OPS with an .896 rating and above Nolan Arenado in Defensive Runs Saved. The guy can really do it all.

He popped 33 home runs and 33 doubles this season, also driving in 107 runs and scoring 91 himself. In the regular season he slashed an impressive .303/.367/.531 and posted an OPS+ of 132.

In his first postseason a year ago, he struggled overall with only a .178 average with one home run and four RBI’s in 49 plate appearances. Don’t expect those numbers during this year’s World Series run as he looks to be an entirely different hitter.

Plate discipline is one place where Austin Riley could improve as he’s below the 50th percentile in strikeout percentage, walk percentage, whiff percentage and chase rate according to Baseball Savant. When he does get ahold of the baseball though, odds are it’s coming off the barrel. If baseball fans didn’t know the name ‘Austin Riley’ entering these playoffs, they’ll more than likely know him after this series is over. He’s one of the most dangerous bats in Brian Snitker’s lineup.

4. RP Will Smith

The former Brewers workhorse reliever will make his way back to Milwaukee, this time to try to shut down the Crew’s bats. Will Smith played with the club from 2014-2016 and he’s actually yet to pitch more innings with any other franchise than he has with Milwaukee (151.0).

Back in 2014, Smith appeared in more games than any pitcher in the NL with 78. On August 1, 2016 he was traded from the Brewers to the San Francisco Giants for right-hander Phil Bickford, who was No. 1 on MLBPipeline.com‘s list of the Giants’ Top 30 Prospects at the time and catcher Andrew Susac.

Now with Atlanta, Smith has been one of a few different bright spots for a bullpen that possesses the 10th lowest ERA in baseball (3.97). During the regular season, he led the majors in games finished with 60 and he converted 37 of 43 save opportunities. Smith finished one spot above Josh Hader in saves, but also had eight more opportunities than the Brewers closer.

Will Smith is a three-pitch pitcher, utilizing a four-seam fastball, a slider and a curveball that he’ll throw on occasion. His best pitch is probably his slider that is a go-to put-away pitch, especially to left-handed hitters. He throws his slider almost 42% of the time compared to 47% of the time for his fastball so if you can pick up the spin or differentiating arm angle as a hitter, you should know what’s coming.

His fastball hovers around 92.8 mph but it does have a good amount of horizontal movement to it.  Overall, he won’t overpower you with velocity or insane movement, but he will find ways to locate pitches that will make you whiff.

5. SS Dansby Swanson

Another key piece of the Atlanta Braves team is Dansby Swanson. Swanson is an integral part of one of the best infields in baseball and has really come into his own in 2021. After a successful 2020 season where he even received an MVP vote point, he added some pop to his bat in 2021. Swanson launched the fifth most home runs by any shortstop this season (27), and 10 more than his previous high in a single season which came back in 2019. His average did drop almost .30 points from a year ago but he was a big reason why the Braves were top five as a team in slugging percentage.

In his playoff career, he’s been a very productive hitter with much of his success coming in the NLDS and NLCS last year. Overall in postseason baseball he’s slashing .302/.357/.556 with three home runs, 11 RBI’s and a cWPA (Championship Win Probability Added) of 9.7%.

While his Statcast numbers aren’t anything too spectacular in 2021, what does stand out is his barrel percentage being in the 76th percentile and his chase rate being in the 73rd percentile. Looking at his splits, he’s got fairly similar numbers against right-handers and southpaws but the last month has been a struggle for him. He’s only hitting .176 in September and October with 36 strikeouts in 28 games played. He will be a guy that the Brewers need to find a way to get out in the series.

Obviously, there are more key pieces to a team that won their division, but these are some of the main players to be wary of as a Brewers fan.

The Braves are not a team to be overlooked and with one of the best infields in baseball, they can hang a crooked number on any pitching staff quickly. If Milwaukee finds a way to suppress these five players, they should be just fine in the series.