Braves hitting coach: 'There's no excuse for being as bad as we've been'

It's no secret the Atlanta Braves organization has been built around pitching for decades, but the team's offensive struggles this season are unacceptable, according to hitting coach Greg Walker.

"There's no excuse for being as bad as we've been," Walker said via The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "But the good news is, we're healthy. We've got a chance of getting a lot better. If I looked at us and said, 'we're not very good,' I'd be real worried. But we're not this bad."

The Braves are averaging 3.23 runs per game (29th) with a .231 team batting average (28th) and .663 OPS (28th) through 39 games. Walker says the poor numbers are a reflection of their undisciplined approach at the plate.

"Pitcher's don't want to throw us strikes, and we've allowed them to get away with that. We've got a lot of dangerous guys. They don't want to throw us strikes, and we've allowed them to get away with it. We've got to get better at getting the ball in the zone."

Braves hitters have struck out 349 times heading into Thursday, the fifth-most in the bigs. Outfielder B.J. Upton has whiffed a league-leading 51 times, but he credits tough National League pitching for his woes.

"We're good, man. It's still early. It's May ... the reality is that there's some good pitchers out there, and that's just kind of the way it's been going."

Freddie Freeman is the only player on the roster seeing the ball well. The first baseman is hitting .307 with seven home runs and a team-leading 24 RBI in 150 at-bats.