Should Todd Cunningham Make the Opening Day Roster?
Winter is finally in the rearview mirror, springs is in full swing, and on Monday our eyes will once again witness real, live Atlanta Braves baseball. Fans are not exactly brimming with optimism this season thanks to the fire sale conducted by new Braves GM John Hart. Nevertheless, baseball is back and losing baseball is better than no baseball at all, right?
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As you are well aware, the outfield features most of the new faces for the team. Jason Heyward is a Cardinal, Justin Upton joins a reloaded Padres club, and Melvin Upton Jr. is still suffering from a foot injury. Since the trades I spend an hour a day singing the chorus of “Big Yellow Taxi” while watching Heyward and Upton highlight videos, but that’s neither here nor there.
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Eventually
will hold down right field, but there is also a chance that he will miss Opening Day. That leaves two temporary spots open and one permanent spot left to fill in the Atlanta outfield. Newly signed
. seems to be the
frontrunner for the center field job
, while
and
figure to make up the left field platoon.
One player that does not seem to be in Atlanta’s plans is outfielder Todd Cunningham. The Braves drafted Cunningham out of Jacksonville State University in the second round of the 2010 MLB Draft. Since then he has gotten a whopping 8 plate appearances in the big leagues. All of them were during the 2013 season.
For his minor league career, across five different levels, he has hit .278/.349/.372 with 18 homeruns in 1939 at-bats. Last season at Triple-A Gwinnett, Cunningham batted .287/.347/.406 with a career high 8 homeruns over 470 at-bats. Not spectacular, but decent.
I don’t believe that Spring Training statistics tell us anything very meaningful, small sample size and all that, but Cunningham is having a fine spring, currently batting .318/.436/.364 (as of April 2nd). Giving him a better line than Gomes and Terdoslavich.
Before Spring Training David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal Constitution seemed to dismiss Cunningham fairly quickly as legitimate candidate to make the team. I assume part of that speculation comes from how he believes the team feels about him as a player.
"Todd Cunningham? Good dude. Solid outfielder at all three positions. But not going to give you much of anything offensively."
Has that sentiment changed after his performance this spring? Maybe not.
By now it's obvious he's not prominent in them “@gaaronkirby: @DOBrienAJC Is Cunningham just not in their plans?”
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) March 29, 2015
I think it would be foolish to base roster spots entirely off of Spring Training stats (though scouting reports from the Spring can be useful), but the Braves seem to have given an indication that it is part of their decision making process. Why is Cunningham’s performance meaningless while Eric Young Jr.’s and Jace Peterson’s are used as reasons they will be Opening Day starters? A little consistency is all I’m asking for, and for the record, I love Peterson and think he should absolutely be Atlanta’s starting second basemen.
I’m not a doctor, nor have I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express in the last decade, but I’m fairly certain it takes more than 8 plate appearances to tell whether or not a player can stick in the MLB. That’s just my humble opinion.
I’m also not arguing that the guy is Mickey Mantle. He is a slightly above average minor league outfielder with little power and a decent glove. It is not a travesty that he does not appear to be a priority for the team, but I think he deserves a shot to prove he fits on an MLB roster.
We likely won’t know for sure until later in the weekend what the final word is on the outfield situation, but I hope Cunningham finds a way onto the team. In this period of transition, I’d rather see the Braves take a look at players that have been with the organization for a long period of time. Cunningham has paid his dues and now is the perfect time to see what he can do.
Should Cunningham be given a shot, or am I ranting and raving for the wrong guy? Perhaps I’m out here fighting windmills and the Braves really will put him on the Opening Day roster. Though, if he really were being seriously considered I doubt Eric Young Jr. would have been signed or Joe Benson would have been shifted to major league camp. We will find out soon enough.