The Braves will be without Ronald Acuña Jr., but still have the talent to beat a young Nationals team
The Braves will have to figure out how to turn their offense around without their MVP, as Ronald Acuña Jr. will miss the remainder of the 2024 season with a knee injury suffered in Sunday’s game. They will have reinforcements coming online, though, as Sean Murphy and Austin Riley are expected back from their own injuries.
Regardless of the exact composition of Monday’s lineup, Charlie Morton is set to start the Memorial Day game, facing the young Washington Nationals, who are currently in third place in the NL East. Morton has been solid this season, with his walks and strikeouts taking a dip from last year, but with perfectly fine results. He’s been pretty consistent as well, but with about the same rate of blow-ups as last season, about one every three starts. The curveball still plays, even if his command isn’t what it used to be. The Nationals have a pretty bad offense, with an 89 wRC+ on the season, so Morton should be expected to go out and have a good start.
The Braves’ injury-riddled bats will be facing the young lefty Mitchell Parker, who has impressed so far this season as a starter for Washington, with a 3.32 ERA and a 3.38 xFIP over 38 innings. Parker has found his success avoiding walks and keeping the ball on the ground, with a low strikeout rate. His minor league profile, however, paints a picture of a strikeout pitcher with command struggles and a more normal ground ball rate. It will be interesting to see which version shows up against Atlanta. He rides his low-90s four-seamer about half of the time, with his curveball and splitter making up the other half of his pitch usage, with a slider or three sprinkled in. He does have good extension and vertical movement on his fastball, which makes it play up, especially from the left side. He also has a good bit of seam-shifted wake on his curveball. Overall, Parker may be a solid major leaguer in his future, but his model for success so far this season is unlikely to be one that works for him long term and he doesn’t have anything that should scare the Braves’ offense too much. Hopefully they can build on Sunday’s strong offensive showing.
Game Date/Time: Monday, May 27, 4:10 p.m. ET
Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, GA
TV: Bally Sports Southeast
Streaming: MLB.tv
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan
XM Radio: Online / Ch. 176