Best duos in Atlanta Braves history
In Major League Baseball, it takes more than one skilled player to field a championship contender. It takes talent all over the field at a variety of positions, both in terms of pitchers and hitters. While having a star pitcher and a star hitter at the same time is no guarantee of success, it does put your team in a position to have the type of season that fans will talk about for generations.
While it's not quite the same as the NBA, where one standout duo can take a team from the cellar to playoff contention, it's not uncommon for an outstanding season from a pitcher and position player duo to add 20 wins or more, according to Baseball Reference's wins above replacement player metric. The number is designed to illustrate the difference between a star player and the type of player that would be considered "replacement level"—that is, one who could be easily signed as a midseason free agent or called up from the minor leagues.
The following is a list of the top pitcher/position player duos in Atlanta Braves history. Using wins above replacement, Stacker compiled a list of the seasons in franchise history that had a pitcher and hitter with the most combined value. Note that, for the purpose of capturing and examining the game's "modern era", only seasons after 1969 were used for this list.
#10. 1999 Atlanta Braves
- Andruw Jones: 7.1 WAR (#5 position player in 1999)
- Kevin Millwood: 6.2 WAR (#6 pitcher in 1999)
- Total: 13.3 WAR
#9. 1973 Atlanta Braves
- Darrell Evans: 9 WAR (#2 position player in 1973)
- Phil Niekro: 4.4 WAR (#23 pitcher in 1973)
- Total: 13.4 WAR
#8. 1995 Atlanta Braves
- David Justice: 3.8 WAR (#35 position player in 1995)
- Greg Maddux: 9.7 WAR (#1 pitcher in 1995)
- Total: 13.5 WAR
#7. 1996 Atlanta Braves
- Chipper Jones: 6.2 WAR (#15 position player in 1996)
- John Smoltz: 7.4 WAR (#4 pitcher in 1996)
- Total: 13.6 WAR
#6. 1998 Atlanta Braves
- Andruw Jones: 7.4 WAR (#6 position player in 1998)
- Greg Maddux: 6.6 WAR (#7 pitcher in 1998)
- Total: 14 WAR
#5. 1969 Atlanta Braves
- Henry Aaron: 8.1 WAR (#4 position player in 1969)
- Phil Niekro: 6 WAR (#13 pitcher in 1969)
- Total: 14.1 WAR
#4. 1978 Atlanta Braves
- Jeff Burroughs: 4.6 WAR (#37 position player in 1978)
- Phil Niekro: 10 WAR (#1 pitcher in 1978)
- Total: 14.6 WAR
#3. 1991 Atlanta Braves
- Terry Pendleton: 6.1 WAR (#11 position player in 1991)
- Tom Glavine: 8.5 WAR (#1 pitcher in 1991)
- Total: 14.6 WAR
#2. 2000 Atlanta Braves
- Andruw Jones: 8.2 WAR (#4 position player in 2000)
- Greg Maddux: 6.5 WAR (#4 pitcher in 2000)
- Total: 14.7 WAR
#1. 1974 Atlanta Braves
- Darrell Evans: 7.2 WAR (#7 position player in 1974)
- Phil Niekro: 7.9 WAR (#3 pitcher in 1974)
- Total: 15.1 WAR
