Atlanta Braves Among the Best Up the Middle

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Feb 15, 2017; Lake Buena Vista, FL, USA; Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Bartolo Colon (40) tosses the ball to first base during MLB spring training workouts at Champion Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports /

Mound Presence, Too

For the Braves in 2017, there’s a bit of a bonus as well: their starting pitchers are actually skilled at handling plays as well.

Fangraphs doesn’t have many fielding metrics for pitchers, and certainly there are a lot of factors involved, including whether you have somebody who pitches to contact or is a strikeout pitcher.

Still, we can make some guesses from the raw numbers. Out of 742 pitchers in the majors in 2016, here’s those with the most Putouts and Assists:

2nd – Bartolo Colon (52 chances executed; 3 errors)
20th – Julio Teheran (40, 1 error)
32nd – Jaime Garcia (35, 3 errors)
36th – R.A Dickey (34, 1 error)

Additionally, Colon and Dickey ranked 1st and 5th overall in Pitcher Defensive Runs Saved. Not only can they eat innings – they can field their positions, too.

By the way: even Mike Foltynewicz, in only 123 innings last year, ranked in a (large) tie for 23rd in Pitcher DRS. So he didn’t hurt himself, either.

So Which Team is Best?

More from Tomahawk Take

BOS is strong with Pedroia, Bogaerts, and JBJ. Probably the best overall.
CLE could be best in the infled with Kipnis and Lindor, though less so with Tyler Naquin in CF.
PHI can make a good case with their trio of Hernandez, Galvis, and Herrera.
The Dodgers’ acquisition of Logan Forsythe helps them with Seager and Pederson; however, this is still much more offensively focused, with Seager being the only ‘premium’ defender.
The Cubs are lacking a bit in CF, but with Jason Heyward in RF, their CF can afford to ‘cheat’ a bit… and probably needs to if Kyle Schwarber is over in LF. Still, they will have some issues.
HOU? Not with Springer in CF.
The Nationals will bring in a revamped middle with Murphy, Turner, and Eaton. Murphy may be the near-MVP, but his weak link is defense.

But the Braves will be right there with the best of them. Adding in the pitcher support and I believe you can make the case that Atlanta’s middle is roughly Top 5 in baseball since they will have a 2B/SS/CF combination that doesn’t include a weak link at all.

Next: Braves Sign A Chief

Those pitchers will certainly love having that behind them.

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