It looks almost certain that the Atlanta Braves will add an outfielder to their lineup before the end of the MLB trade deadline, and it won’t happen soon enough, with injuries (Brian McCann, Chipper Jones) and ineptitude (Jason Heyward, Nate McLouth) currently hindering the NL wild-card leaders from perhaps being a true World Series contender.

Even with the addition of a new bat (whether it’s B.J. Upton, Michael Bourn, or Carlos Quentin), it will still be a tall task for the Braves to make a serious run at the NL East-leading Philadelphia Phillies, who added All-Star outfielder Hunter Pence just last night. But with the addition of their own new bat, the Braves will be in shape to give it their best shot, if hotshot rookie Freddie Freeman and big-money offseason acquisition Dan Uggla continue to hit as well as they have in July.

The 21-year-old Freeman has been Atlanta’s starter at first base since Opening Day, and after a slow start, he’s shown why he was so highly touted coming into this season. And if the last month is any indication, the rookie is on his way to being a star sooner rather than later.

Freeman’s average stood at .265 after an 0-for-3 showing against Seattle on June 28, but after going 2-for-3 in last night’s 5-0 win over Florida, it now stands at .295. Over the last 26 games, Freeman is hitting .376 (38-for-101) with seven doubles, six homers, and 20 RBI, numbers that many a veteran would love to have. That includes six three-hit performances, with three of those coming in his last four games, in which he is an astounding 11 for 19 (.579).

Unfortunately, his hitting barrage hasn’t produced as many results for the team as one would hope, giving the struggles others have had with driving in runs, but Uggla has certainly been doing his part recently.

For much of the season, Uggla has underwhelmed, to say the least, as he entered July with an average in the .170s. As the month ends, it’s still far from pretty, but thanks to a 20-game hitting streak, Uggla finally moved above into the .200s after being below that mark since mid-May. In his hit streak, Uggla is hitting .342 (26-for-76) with five doubles, seven homers, and 15 RBI, and he looks to be well on his way to his fifth straight 30-homer season.

Can we expect these two to keep it up? It looks like Freeman has certainly gotten comfortable with big league pitching, and on top of that, he’s also become more patient at the plate, drawing the most walks (13) this month that he has in any month this season.

As for Uggla, there’s reason to believe that what we’re seeing now is what we’ll see for the rest of the season. Last season, Uggla hit .307 with 18 homers and 61 RBI from July-October. He still might well finish with the lowest batting average of his career, or close to it (he hit .243 in 2009), but if he can eclipse 30 homers and 100 RBI, he’ll have produced a solid first-season return on the Braves’ investment.

It remains to be seen which available outfielder the Braves make a move for, but with the right addition and continued production from their two streaking middle-order men, we could see be seeing a lot more fireworks in Atlanta than we’ve grown accustomed to seeing recently.