ATLANTA – Charlie Morton has pitched in 17 major league seasons with five organizations, been to the postseason seven times, won World Series rings with two teams and an AL pennant with another. Which is to say, he’s seen a lot and has experienced all manner of clubhouse atmospheres, including on some really bad teams and many really good ones.
So when Morton, 40, said at several different points during the Braves’ extended struggles this season that their clubhouse chemistry remained excellent, that the vibe was good despite injuries and disappointing results, he wasn’t just saying it to portray positivity or soothe the nerves of teammates or Braves followers. He meant it.
The Braves had lost six straight and were 9 ½ games behind NL East-leading Philadelphia one week ago (July 27), but won four in a row and six of seven to pull within five games of the Phillies before Saturday, when the Marlins beat Atlanta 4-3 before the 21st sellout crowd of the season at Truist Park.
Marcell Ozuna hit his 32nd homer, but the Braves had no other extra-base hits and Grant Holmes allowed three runs on seven hits over 4 2/3 innings in his second major league start, with four hits and two runs against him coming with two out in the fifth. The Braves have homered in nine consecutive games and lead the majors with 23 homers during that 6-3 stretch.
“I’ve been on teams that were struggling that didn’t have the same chemistry,” Morton said before Saturday’s game, comparing other teams he was on to the Braves, since he was asked by reporters multiple times this season about how the clubhouse was holding up. “So I’m looking around and I’m like, ‘Man, it’s really not that bad.’”
He knows that some folks probably didn’t believe him, but Morton is a straight shooter, always. If the great team chemistry that had played such a big part in his opting not to retire after each of the past two seasons, if that was no longer in effect, he would have said nothing or perhaps found a way to change the subject, rather than portray the vibe as something it was not.
Those questions have at least temporarily stopped, because the six-time defending division champion Braves have gained enough ground on the slumping Phillies to make it a race again with nearly two months left in the season.
“This is trying to be as objective as possible,” Morton said, “but I guess when you’ve seen enough groups and you’ve seen enough people, and then you’re in that room and you know that what you’ve seen isn’t a small sample size – I’ve been here long enough now to see what the guys are like on a day-to-day basis and what they can do on the field. And it’s like, (for much of this season) they were not doing it (on the field). To me, that’s abnormal, that’s atypical.”
In other words, Morton viewed the long slumps by so many Braves hitters as an aberration. Some of them, particularly Matt Olson and Orlando Arcia, have turned things around in the past week. Meanwhile, the clubhouse vibe remains positive, just as Morton said it was during the team’s worst woes. Not quite as upbeat at times, but still a good place to be, he said.
“That’s what sticks out is, like, how’s it going on the field,” he said of the perception of the team from outside, “but then you see in the clubhouse, you look around and you don’t sense that big of a difference in just how guys are conducting themselves on a day-to-day basis. Whether that’s, are they getting their work in? Or their attitude, or whatever. The energy, sure, is different when things aren’t going great. But I was here in ’21 and we weren’t doing great in ’21. And I don’t know, I just didn’t see (a big difference in the clubhouse).
“I don’t know how it’s going to turn out. All I know is that the group in here has been really good to be around, even when things weren’t going great. And I know how rare that is. That’s hard to do.”
Fried returns Sunday
Just 2 1/2 weeks after Max Fried gave Braves followers a scare when he went on the 15-day injured list with forearm neuritis, the All-Star left-hander will come off the IL and start Sunday’s series finale against the Marlins.
Fried will return without a rehab assignment, after he and the Braves decided neither was necessary following two bullpen side sessions without any lingering issues.
The Braves also hope to soon have back All-Star pitcher Reynaldo López, who left his start a week ago against the Mets with forearm tightness. An MRI later that night showed no damage or inflammation and the Braves initially hoped to have him make his next start as soon as this weekend, but that likely won’t happen for at least a few more days since he still hadn’t thrown a between-starts bullpen as of Saturday.
Still buzzing about ‘Schwelly’
One day after Spencer Schwellenbach did some more things that few or no rookies have done before, Brian Snitker fielded more questions about the young pitcher. And Snitker didn’t seem to mind one bit. This guy is a manager’s dream, and he’s doing exactly what the Braves hoped he might someday, when they selected him in the second round of the 2021 draft. Only he’s doing it sooner than anyone expected.
Schwellenbach didn’t have one of his best starts Friday, giving up three runs and a pair of homers in the first three innings, but showed what makes him different than most pitchers with so little experience. He didn’t allow another run in his seven-inning stint, and finished with 10 strikeouts, no walks and six hits allowed in a 5-3 win.
“He wasn’t spooked by it, that’s for sure,” Snitker said of the early runs off Schwellenbach. “He just kept pitching, and got better after all that.”
His mound poise, that ability to stay calm when things go a bit sideways, is a trait that teammates cite most frequently when asked what impresses them about Schwellenbach, along with his eagerness to learn, his six-pitch mix – few MLB pitchers have that many pitches they throw on a regular basis, much less with the command he has of them – and his athleticism.
Schwellenbach, who turned 24 in May, is the first rookie in baseball’s Modern Era (since 1900) to have at least eight strikeouts without a walk in three consecutive starts (he has 29 strikeouts with no walks in 20 innings over his past three).
In addition, the right-hander is the first pitcher with as many as 70 strikeouts and 10 or fewer walks in his first 11 career games since at least 1893, when the mound was moved to 60 feet, 6 inches. (He has exactly 70 Ks and 10 walks in 64 2/3 innings). And he’s only the third rookie to have at least 10 strikeouts with no walks in consecutive starts, joining the New York Mets’ Dwight Gooden (September 1984) and Cincinnati Reds’ Nick Lodolo (September 2022).
What makes Schwellenbach accomplishments even more impressive is that he was a shortstop at Nebraska and didn’t pitch in college until his final season, when he added closer duties to his position-player role. He has pitched a total of 206 1/3 innings in college, the minor leagues and the majors.
Schwellenbach missed a full season in 2022 recovering from Tommy John surgery that he had soon after slipping to the 59th spot in the draft and signing with the Braves for $1 million, nearly $200,000 below slot value. He was also projected to go within the first three rounds as a shortstop, though the Braves were among teams that projected him as a pitcher all along.
After his start at New York against the Mets a week ago, when Schwellenbach had 11 strikeouts with no walks and two hits allowed in seven scoreless innings, he talked about how much he’s learned from veteran pitchers Fried, Morton and Chris Sale.
“Every day in the dugout, it’s something else,” he said. “With Sale, the way he keeps his composure on the mound is incredible. Early in the year, I saw him give up a lot of runs to Oakland, and he was the same guy. And then I’ve also seen him strike out 10 guys and go seven innings, no runs, and he’s the same guy. And that consistency has kind of stuck with me. It’s not something that he’s told me, it’s something I’ve watched and tried to pick up on, and it’s really helped.”
Snitker thinks Schwellenbach has benefited from his background as a middle infielder and closer, and from his exposure to the veterans in the Braves’ rotation.
“I think that’s helped him immensely, playing shortstop and closing like he did in college,” Snitker said. “And you watch, too, he’s got a lot of confidence. The game doesn’t speed up on him. And I think the position-player thing – you watch those feet work on the comebackers and things when he’s coming off the mound. And the way he holds runners. He does a lot of the little things that winning pitchers do. I think the fact that he played shortstop and closed, that mentality helps him be successful here.”
(Top photo: Jim McIsaac / Getty Images)
