The Braves have had success despite receiving little from their Mr. Consistent of the past two seasons.
Gold-glove center fielder Ender Inciarte traditionally is a slow starter. While the Braves sit No. 1 in the National League East on June 15, Inciarte has just began showing signs of breaking out of his slump.
Inciarte has a hit in each of the past four games. He doubled and launched a behemoth of a homer into the right-field seats Thursday.
“I’m just trying to help the team, do my best to help the team score runs,” Inciarte said. “We have a pretty good offense.”
Inciarte’s right about the offense. Freddie Freeman might be the NL MVP favorite. Ozzie Albies’ blossoming power, Nick Markakis’ career-year and contributions from everyone else have pushed the Braves to 40 wins.
The last time the Braves were 12 games over .500, they won 96 games in 2013. The last time they hit the 40-win plateau this early was in 2003. Their plus-69 run differential, fifth-best in the majors and second in the NL, provides little reason to believe they’ll regress.
The 27-year-old Inciarte is 6-for-14 (.429) with two extra-base hits and four RBIs in his past four games. He hit .162 (12-for-74) with just three extra-base hits and four RBIs across the previous 19 contests.
Much of Inciarte’s shortcomings have come against lefties. He’s 15-for-74 (.203) against southpaws while hitting .268 (52-for-194) against right-handers.
Down numbers all the way around for a player who had 201 hits a season ago.
“He’s swinging the bat, the last week’s that’s been gradually coming,” manager Brian Snitker said. “We could sure use him. We know what he’s capable of and it’s been a rough go for him so far. Maybe these last few games, we’ve done the right thing to get him going.”
Hitting coach Kevin Seitzer told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Wednesday that this recent period was the first time he had thought that Inciarte was finding his groove.
“He’s such a perfectionist, and it kills him when he’s not having really good at-bats,” Seitzer said. “I love him, man. I love him. Sometimes it’s just like, you reach a spot where you go, OK, we’ve tried everything, now let’s try the last thing. So, we’ll see.”
Inciarte’s still provided his usual excellent defense. He leads the majors with 20 steals, and became the first Brave to swipe 13 bags in the month of April.
If his bat wakes up, it’d be a welcomed addition to the contending Braves’ lineup.
About the Author
