3 Atlanta Braves on track to win major hardware this season

Despite the Atlanta Braves dropping a series in Toronto recently, the team is off to a red-hot start building a huge division lead and clearly setting the tone for the National League. While the team has clear depth and injury concerns come October for now, it is completely reasonable to say this is the best team in the league.

Atlanta is accomplishing all of this without Max Fried or Kyle Wright and with clear injury and production concerns from the outfield and shortstop. A dismal start from Ozuna and slow starts at the plate for Matt Olsen and Austin Riley have done little to slow their torrid pace.

This speaks to what a great team Atlanta is and how elite their best players have been to start the season. Getting surprise starting pitching production and consistent clutch hitting has helped Atlanta continue to pile up the wins and maintain a large division lead. One that has multiple Braves in early discussions for 2023 awards starting with the biggest reason Atlanta is in this position.

Here are 3 Atlanta Braves who could walk away with a major award in 2023.

1. Ronald Acuña Jr.

If the season ended today there are zero questions about who the National League MVP should be. When healthy, Acuña has an argument as the best player in the league and it is a pretty compelling one.

Acuña has often been derailed by injuries or by pitchers angrily throwing at the star simply because they couldn’t get him out. Now everything finally seems to be coming together for the Braves star, who is now clearly on track to win MVP.

Part of what makes the outfielder so elite is the fact he is an offense unto himself. Even if a pitcher is lucky enough to illicit weak contact, Acuña is hustling down the line putting pressure on the defense and finding ways to get on base.

Atlanta clearly would be in a far more precarious position in the standings if not for Acuña’s consistent heroics. Whether it is blasting a ball in the second deck or finding a way to get on base and stealing his way into scoring position he is an offense unto himself and clearly is running away with MVP through the first two months of the season. The only complaint here isn’t for Acuña but for the star’s teammates who need to do a better job protecting their franchise player the next time a pitcher decides to take their shot at the star.

3. Sean Murphy

While Acuña clearly is far ahead of Murphy right now when it comes to MVP, what the catcher is accomplishing should be noted. As of now, Murphy ranks second in the NL in runs batted in trailing only Pete Alonso of the Mets, and clearly has been the best catcher in the NL thus far.

Adding to this Murphy is top 10 in home runs and accomplishing this at the plate while catching at an extremely high level. There were some obvious questions asked when the Braves decided to move on from one of their catching duo this past offseason to bring in Murphy to a position that clearly was already a strong unit.

As more often than not the Braves GM ended up making the perfect decision and, if not for Murphy, it is fair to think Atlanta wouldn’t be in the position they are in. With slow starts from Matt Olsen and Austin Riley and early pitching injuries, it is scary to think how great this team could be when fully healthy.

If Riley and Olsen both start hitting and Murphy and Acuña continue to produce at this pace, there isn’t any question that this is the best lineup in baseball and Murphy due to his production and position should force his way into the conversation come award season.