Atlanta @ St. Louis preview
Busch Stadium
Last Meeting ( Mar 18, 2010 ) Atlanta 5, St. Louis 3
The Atlanta Braves feature a longtime superstar in Chipper Jones and a well-hyped rookie in Jason Heyward. But nobody talks about the guy who has been their best player over the first three weeks of the season.
We’re talking about the player batting over .400 who leads the National League in hits.
Second baseman Martin Prado has been one of the top players in baseball thus far and takes a .406 batting average into Monday’s series-opening contest against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Prado has 28 hits in 69 at-bats and has also drawn nine walks, meaning he’s reached safely just over two times a game during Atlanta’s first 18 games of the season.
The 26-year-old Prado began his emergence over the second half of last season when he became the Braves’ starting second baseman. He finished with a .307 average in 450 at-bats.
But nobody foresaw such a hot start this season. He had two or more hits in each of Atlanta’s first five games and hasn’t slowed down. Only Washington catcher Ivan Rodriguez (.411) has a better batting average through Sunday’s games.
Keep this pace up and Prado will cease to be a secret.
Prado and the Braves figure to be a tired bunch for Monday’s opener of the four-game series between the two teams.
Atlanta played a Sunday night game in New York that was delayed by rain in the top of the sixth inning for 98 minutes before finally being called just minutes before midnight. Afterwards, the Braves boarded a flight to St. Louis for Monday’s game.
One good thing regarding Sunday’s 1-0 loss was that Jones was in the lineup. The Atlanta third baseman injured his hip while swinging at a pitch on Saturday night and there were fears he would be sidelined for several days.
The Braves will be attempting to stop a five-game losing skid in which they’ve scored a total of six runs.
Kyle Lohse will try to keep Atlanta in the offensive doldrums but he has struggled this season. Lohse has a 7.31 ERA and has allowed 13 runs, 19 hits and seven walks in 16 innings.
Lohse undoubtedly will be hoping Jones’ hip acts up after the long flight as the veteran is batting .545 lifetime against Lohse.
St. Louis lost a series for the first time this season by losing two of three games in San Francisco over the weekend.
Albert Pujols hit his seventh homer of the season in Sunday’s game.
Pujols has enjoyed success against Tim Hudson, who takes the mound for the Braves on Monday. Pujols is hitting .400 against Hudson in 20 career-at bats. He has one homer against Hudson.
Hudson has allowed two earned runs in each of his three starts but has just one win to show for it. He has a 2.89 ERA.