Atlanta Braves to Platoon Adonis Garcia in Left

Atlanta Braves to Platoon Adonis Garcia in Left

Last week Atlanta Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said Adonis Garcia’s position was hitter in an attempt to laugh off his really bad defense at third base. Now he’s decided to move him to left field against RHP; why? The answer is probably Hector Olivera.

The Story So Far

When the 2015 season ended the Braves sent Olivera to winter ball to get reps at third base but about a week after he arrived and without explanation they moved him to left field.  Garcia was scheduled to replace Olivera halfway through but Olivera’s sister had a medical emergency and he returned early so the Braves sent Garcia down early.

When he got there they told him that he was going to play third base next season and they wanted him to get lots of innings at third to get ready. Garcia had played some third (561 innings) for Gwinnett and Atlanta (345 1/3) in 2015 but no matter what flavor of fielding statistic your favor the metrics his said his defense wasn’t good.

Statistics from Fangraphs

That wasn’t new and should not have been a surprise.

Before coming to the Braves in 2015 Garcia’s experience at third base consisted of:

• 650 innings in the Cuban National League in 2009 where his FP was .948
• 157 Innings for the Yankee farm team in Scranton in 2014 where his FP was .897 and
• 20 games (no inning total available) for Magallanes in the Venezuelan Winter League in 2015 where his FP was .952

For reference the NL average FP in 2015 was .955 and that included a league worst .922 by the Braves, next worst was .934 from the Mets then .945 in Philly. It was pretty obvious that his bat would have to carry him at third but if Ryan Braun’s bat couldn’t carry his defense there was really little likelihood that Garcia’s bat would do the job.

The Braves were counting on Olivera’s bat to come around and provide enough pop from left to make Garcia viable at third. Then the season started.

Next: Best Laid Plans . . .