# 1994 Atlanta Braves season

The 1994 Atlanta Braves season was the Braves' 124th in existence and their 29th in Atlanta. After trading the two-sport athlete Deion Sanders, experts predicted that the Atlanta Braves were going to have their worst season since 1935. The Braves' records reflect just how successful that year was, although it was curtailed due to the 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike. The Braves played a total of 114 games; they won 68 and lost 46. The Braves finished their 1994 season with a winning percentage of .596, ranking the Braves third overall in MLB, although they were six games behind the Montreal Expos in the NL East.

## Offseason

* October 15, 1993: Jerry Willard was released by the Atlanta Braves.
* October 25, 1993: Marvin Freeman was released by the Atlanta Braves.
* November 18, 1993: Jarvis Brown was selected off waivers by the Atlanta Braves from the San Diego Padres.
* November 24, 1993: Francisco Cabrera was released by the Atlanta Braves.
* November 26, 1993: Charlie O'Brien was signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Braves.
* February 10, 1994: Mike Bielecki was signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Braves.

## Regular season

By Friday, August 12, the Braves had compiled a 68-46 record through 114 games. They were leading the 1994 NL Wildcard Race over the Houston Astros by 2.5 games. The Braves had scored 542 runs (4.75 per game) and allowed 448 runs (3.93 per game).
Braves' pitching was perhaps the best in the Majors in 1994: they gave up only 76 home runs in 114 games, the fewest home runs allowed among all 28 teams and they allowed only 929 hits, also the fewest among all 28 teams. Furthermore, they led the MLB in most strikeouts (865) and allowed the fewest runs (448) and earned runs (407).

### Opening Day starters

* Jeff Blauser
* Ryan Klesko
* Mark Lemke
* Fred McGriff
* Charlie O'Brien
* Terry Pendleton
* Deion Sanders
* John Smoltz
* Tony Tarasco

### Notable transactions

May 29, 1994: Deion Sanders was traded by the Atlanta Braves to the Cincinnati Reds for Roberto Kelly and Roger Etheridge (minors).

### Roster
## Player stats
### Season standings

vteNL East :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| Montreal Expos | 74 | 40 | .649 | — | 32‍–‍20 | 42‍–‍20 |
| Atlanta Braves | 68 | 46 | .596 | 6 | 31‍–‍24 | 37‍–‍22 |
| New York Mets | 55 | 58 | .487 | 18½ | 23‍–‍30 | 32‍–‍28 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 54 | 61 | .470 | 20½ | 34‍–‍26 | 20‍–‍35 |
| Florida Marlins | 51 | 64 | .443 | 23½ | 25‍–‍34 | 26‍–‍30 |
vteDivision leaders :
| Team | W | L | Pct. |
| Montreal Expos | 74 | 40 | .649 |
| Cincinnati Reds | 66 | 48 | .579 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 58 | 56 | .509 |
| Wild Card team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
| Atlanta Braves | 68 | 46 | 0.597 | — |
| Houston Astros | 66 | 49 | 0.574 | 21⁄2 |
| New York Mets | 55 | 58 | 0.487 | 121⁄2 |
| San Francisco Giants | 55 | 60 | 0.478 | 131⁄2 |
| Philadelphia Phillies | 54 | 61 | 0.470 | 141⁄2 |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 53 | 61 | 0.465 | 15 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 53 | 61 | 0.465 | 15 |
| Colorado Rockies | 53 | 64 | 0.453 | 161⁄2 |
| Florida Marlins | 51 | 64 | 0.444 | 171⁄2 |
| Chicago Cubs | 49 | 64 | 0.434 | 181⁄2 |
| San Diego Padres | 47 | 70 | 0.402 | 221⁄2 |

### Record vs. opponents

1994 National League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | ATL | CHC | CIN | COL | FLA | HOU | LAD | MON | NYM | PHI | PIT | SD | SF | STL |
| Atlanta | — | 4–2 | 5–5 | 8–2 | 8–4 | 3–3 | 6–0 | 4–5 | 5–4 | 6–3 | 3–9 | 6–1 | 5–1 | 5–7 |
| Chicago | 2–4 | — | 5–7 | 6–6 | 4–5 | 4–8 | 3–3 | 2–4 | 1–4 | 1–6 | 5–5 | 6–3 | 5–4 | 5–5 |
| Cincinnati | 5–5 | 7–5 | — | 4–4 | 7–5 | 4–6 | 3–6 | 4–2 | 2–4 | 4–2 | 9–3 | 8–2 | 7–2 | 2–2–1 |
| Colorado | 2–8 | 6–6 | 4–4 | — | 3–9 | 5–5 | 4–6 | 4–2 | 5–1 | 2–4 | 2–3 | 5–5 | 3–7 | 8–4 |
| Florida | 4–8 | 5–4 | 5–7 | 9–3 | — | 2–4 | 3–3 | 2–7 | 6–4 | 4–6 | 1–6 | 5–1 | 2–4 | 3–7 |
| Houston | 3–3 | 8–4 | 6–4 | 5–5 | 4–2 | — | 1–8 | 2–4 | 3–3 | 5–1 | 8–4 | 5–5 | 8–2 | 8–4 |
| Los Angeles | 0–6 | 3–3 | 6–3 | 6–4 | 3–3 | 8–1 | — | 3–9 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 3–3 | 6–4 | 5–5 | 2–4 |
| Montreal | 5–4 | 4–2 | 2–4 | 2–4 | 7–2 | 4–2 | 9–3 | — | 4–3 | 5–4 | 8–2 | 12–0 | 5–7 | 7–3 |
| New York | 4–5 | 4–1 | 4–2 | 1–5 | 4–6 | 3–3 | 6–6 | 3–4 | — | 4–6 | 4–5 | 6–6 | 6–6 | 6–3 |
| Philadelphia | 3-6 | 6–1 | 2–4 | 4–2 | 6–4 | 1–5 | 5–7 | 4–5 | 6–4 | — | 5–4 | 4–8 | 4–8 | 4–3 |
| Pittsburgh | 9–3 | 5–5 | 3–9 | 3–2 | 6–1 | 4–8 | 3–3 | 2–8 | 5–4 | 4–5 | — | 3–3 | 1–5 | 5–5 |
| San Diego | 1–6 | 3–6 | 2–8 | 5–5 | 1–5 | 5–5 | 4–6 | 0–12 | 6–6 | 8–4 | 3–3 | — | 5–2 | 4–2 |
| San Francisco | 1–5 | 4–5 | 2–7 | 7–3 | 4–2 | 2–8 | 5–5 | 7–5 | 6–6 | 8–4 | 5–1 | 2–5 | — | 2–4 |
| St. Louis | 7–5 | 5–5 | 2–2–1 | 4–8 | 7–3 | 4–8 | 4–2 | 3–7 | 3–6 | 3–4 | 5–5 | 2–4 | 4–2 | — |

### Batting
#### Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Pos | Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| C | Javy López | 80 | 277 | 68 | .245 | 13 | 35 |
| 1B | Fred McGriff | 113 | 424 | 135 | .318 | 34 | 94 |
| 2B | Mark Lemke | 104 | 350 | 103 | .294 | 3 | 31 |
| SS | Jeff Blauser | 96 | 380 | 98 | .258 | 6 | 45 |
| 3B | Terry Pendleton | 77 | 309 | 78 | .252 | 7 | 30 |
| LF | Ryan Klesko | 92 | 245 | 68 | .278 | 17 | 47 |
| CF | Roberto Kelly | 63 | 255 | 73 | .286 | 6 | 24 |
| RF | David Justice | 104 | 352 | 110 | .313 | 19 | 59 |

#### Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| Deion Sanders | 46 | 191 | 55 | .288 | 4 | 21 |
| Dave Gallagher | 89 | 152 | 34 | .224 | 2 | 14 |
| Charlie O'Brien | 51 | 152 | 37 | .243 | 8 | 28 |
| Tony Tarasco | 87 | 132 | 36 | .273 | 5 | 19 |
| Rafael Belliard | 46 | 120 | 29 | .242 | 0 | 9 |
| Bill Pecota | 64 | 112 | 24 | .214 | 2 | 16 |
| Mike Kelly | 30 | 77 | 21 | .273 | 2 | 9 |
| José Oliva | 19 | 59 | 17 | .288 | 6 | 11 |
| Jarvis Brown | 17 | 15 | 2 | .133 | 1 | 1 |
| Mike Mordecai | 4 | 4 | 1 | .250 | 1 | 3 |

### Pitching
#### Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Greg Maddux | 25 | 202.0 | 16 | 6 | 1.56 | 156 |
| Tom Glavine | 25 | 165.1 | 13 | 9 | 3.97 | 140 |
| Steve Avery | 24 | 151.2 | 8 | 3 | 4.04 | 122 |
| John Smoltz | 21 | 134.2 | 6 | 10 | 4.14 | 113 |
| Kent Mercker | 20 | 112.1 | 9 | 4 | 3.45 | 111 |
| Brad Woodall | 1 | 6.0 | 0 | 1 | 4.50 | 2 |

##### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| Greg McMichael | 51 | 4 | 6 | 21 | 3.84 | 47 |
| Mark Wohlers | 51 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4.59 | 58 |
| Mike Stanton | 49 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3.55 | 35 |
| Steve Bedrosian | 46 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3.33 | 43 |
| Mike Bielecki | 19 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4.00 | 18 |
| Gregg Olson | 16 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 9.20 | 10 |
| Milt Hill | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7.94 | 10 |

## Award winners

* Greg Maddux, P, Gold Glove
* Greg Maddux, P, National League Cy Young Award
* Greg Maddux, The Sporting News Pitcher of the Year Award
* Fred McGriff, 1B, Major League Baseball All-Star Game MVP
1994 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
* David Justice, OF, starter
* Greg Maddux, P, starter
* Fred McGriff, 1B, reserve

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Richmond Braves | International League | Grady Little |
| AA | Greenville Braves | Southern League | Bruce Benedict |
| A | Durham Bulls | Carolina League | Matt West |
| A | Macon Braves | South Atlantic League | Leon Roberts |
| Rookie | Danville Braves | Appalachian League | Paul Runge |
| Rookie | GCL Braves | Gulf Coast League | Jim Saul |
| Rookie | Idaho Falls Braves | Pioneer League | Max Venable |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Richmond