Following the blockbuster trade on Tuesday night with the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Atlanta Braves, we reached out to our sister site Venom Strikes (DBacks) to ask them about the three new players the Braves received.
To review the trade it went like this: Braves send pitchers Shelby Miller and Gabe Speier to Arizona in exchange for outfielder Ender Inciarte, pitcher Aaron Blair and shortstop Dansby Swanson.
TT: Tell me about this young pitcher Aaron Blair. Everything I’m reading is that the scouts really like him. At 6’5″ he’s pretty intimidating on the mound, but I’m seeing he could be a starting pitcher or relief.  Do you think he is a SP or RP? What were the thoughts of his ceiling while a member of the Dbacks?
VS: Blair was named the organization’s Pitcher of the Year in 2015. He was the 36th overall pick in the 2013 Draft and has rocketed through the system. How quickly? He started 2014 at South Bend of the Single-A Midwest League and finished 2015 with Triple-A Reno. The Pacific Coast League is known as a hitter-friendly place and he complied a 3.16 ERA in 12 starts there.
Blair is a guy that knows how to pitch; his strikeout to walk ratio is above 2. There was an outside chance that he could have cracked the rotation out of Spring Training and if not, would have been the first guy up had someone in the rotation had gotten hurt. Most folks believe he can be at least a solid #3 guy in the rotation.
TT: Dansby Swanson dealt with a couple injuries in 2015. Do you see any of these lingering? He also dealt with injuries while he was in college at Vanderbilt. Was this a concern for Arizona and a reason they could have been okay with trading him?
Jun 24, 2014; Omaha, NE, USA; (Editor
VS: Shortly after agreeing to terms with the Dbacks, Swanson was hit in the face during an Instructional League game. After healing up, he helped the Hillsboro Hops (Single-A) win the Northwest League Championship.
Eyebrows have been raised because he is the second straight first round pick to be dealt to the Braves (Touki Toussaint), but the D-backs have depth at shortstop. The team loves former Brave Minor Leaguer Nick Ahmed and there is also Domingo Leyba at the lower levels, whom they acquired last year and is the #8 prospect in the organization according to mlb.com.
I don’t think it is because of injury as to why they traded Swanson. It is because they have an answer at the position now and for the foreseeable future. This is about winning this year.
TT: Which outfield position do you see Ender Inciarte best fitted for? It seems like he can play all three, but is there one that sticks out to you by watching him the last two years? Is he a leadoff type of guy or 6-8 kind of guy in the lineup?
VS: Inciarte is a fan favorite and I have already seen some sadness in Arizona fans. He is a nice player, tremendous on defense and solid offensively. He doesn’t have the highest of on-base percentages, but every time the Snakes had a rally, it seemed as though he was right in the middle of it.
His ideal spot is in center field and leading off. He’s used to covering ground in a big outfield and possess a deceptively strong arm. He can steal bases, 40 in his two seasons and hits over .300. Again, the outfield was a position of strength for the D-backs making Inciarte expendable.