The 2018 Braves are Fast and Furious

The Atlanta Braves have a new secret weapon going into the 2018 Season—and that’s speed. On the base path, the Braves should be nasty this year. The past few years, the team has been making big trades and these fresh new faces have some acceleration in the tank.

Fun fact: The average age of the 1-6 hitters in today's #Braves starting lineup is 22 years and 21 days old. https://t.co/mNfHlvziSb

— Grant McAuley (@grantmcauley) March 6, 2018

The Stats

Last year, the guy leading the team in stolen bases was Ender Inciarte, who put up a whopping 22 stolen bases in his second season with the Braves organization. He made his debut in 2014 for the Arizona Diamondbacks, and despite suffering from hamstring injuries, Inciarte has managed to have 78 stole bases throughout his career.

Double steal for Ender Inciarte and Ozzie Albies. I'd love to say that quite a a few times this year. #Braves

— Grant McAuley (@grantmcauley) March 5, 2018

Last season, the team had 77 stolen bases total. While on average, opponents were stealing 99 bases; its the new blood that’s going to make the biggest difference. So far, in Spring Training the Braves have 13 stolen bases.

The contributors for the stolen bases this Spring include; Ender Inciarte (3), Ozzie Albies (3), Danny Santana (2), Ronald Acuna Jr. (2), Christian Colon (1), Dansby Swanson (1) and Ray-Patrick Didder (1).

Can confirm: Ronald Acuna is fast. Really fast. #Braves @680TheFan

— Kevin McAlpin (@KevinMcAlpin) March 10, 2018

Ozzie Albies Thoughts

Brandon Phillips started the 2017 season at second base, but lost his position to the rookie, Ozzie Albies, on August 1. Phillips was one of the team leaders in stolen bases last season with 10. Despite that, Albies ended-up swiping 8 in only two months, which lead to Phillips being traded to the Los Angeles Angels.

Ozzie Albies has had an impressive Spring Training. So far, he’s tied for the most stolen bases on the team at three. He also has 10 hits, 4 runs, 3 walks, with a batting average of .313 and an on-base percentage of .715 through 11 games.

Albies says, that he thinks promoting the fast younger players up to the majors should help the team.

Start your week off right with this video of @FreddieFreeman5/@albiesozzie97 doing @FreddieFreeman5/@albiesozzie97 things!#BravesST | #ChopOn pic.twitter.com/AuXBKGsdGD

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) March 5, 2018

Albies can’t wait to show off the wheels, during the regular season.