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

It was announced Monday that the Brewers will be hosting the Atlanta Braves on Friday at 3:37 CST and Saturday at 4:07 CST in Games 1 and 2 of the NLDS. The Braves finished in first place in the NL East with an overall record of 88-73, 6.5 games above the second place Philadelphia Phillies.

It will be a battle of strengths as the Brewers elite pitching staff will match up against a lineup full of very capable hitters. The Braves rank very well in numerous offensive team categories, even with the devastating loss of their superstar Ronald Acuna Jr, to a knee injury back in early July.

With a couple days until the series begins, we here at Reviewing the Brew will have all the Brewers coverage needed to get you ready for the NLDS. Here’s a preview of key players to be aware of on the Braves roster.

1. 1B Freddie Freeman

Freddie Freeman is the best pure hitter in the Braves lineup. The reigning NL MVP can launch a 430 foot home run to right center field or shorten up his swing and spray a single to the opposite field. He’s been to four consecutive All-Star games and has two Silver Slugger awards and a Gold Glove award back in 2018. Freddie Freeman is undoubtedly one of the best first basemen in baseball.

This season, Freeman has been very productive once again. Of all eligible first basemen in the NL, Freeman owns the highest batting average, hitting at a .300 clip. He popped 31 home runs, drove in 83 runs and posted an .896 OPS all while once again being one of the best at his position defensively with a .998 fielding percentage and only three errors in 1,356 chances.

Freddie Freeman is a very good low ball hitter so the Milwaukee pitchers will have to be cognizant of his batted ball profile. Another thing to consider is his significant increase of success when he faces right handed pitchers compared to southpaws.

Against left handed pitchers, his average sinks to .257, where he hits .317 against righties. This is a hitter that has time and time again come up clutch when his team needs him, including a walk-off hit to beat the Reds in Game 1 of the NL Wild Card Series last season. The Brewers need to be careful with Freddie Freeman in this series.

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.