Atlanta Braves could see Pedro Florimon push for bench role

It’s still very early in Spring Training, but the Atlanta Braves have already been impressed with the play of one veteran in camp.

Each offseason, the Atlanta Braves sign a host of veterans to minor league deals. Sometimes, those guys make a big impression and end up making the club. This year, early on in Spring Training, the guy making a big impression has been Pedro Florimon.

Florimon was signed by the Atlanta Braves this winter after 8 seasons in the major leagues. He’s only exceeded 50 games of playing time in a season once in his career, in 2013 with the Minnesota Twins.

Florimon is a switch-hitter, and he’s put together solid excellent defensive value, posting a 2.2 dWAR in his one full season with the Twins at shortstop in 2013. He’s not exactly been a big hitter over his career, however.

In 321 career games, Florimon has hit .211/.270/.319 with 12 home runs and 26 stolen bases. Much of that came in 2013, when he hit .221/.281/.330 with 9 home runs and 15 steals playing 134 games for the Twins.

After a home run against the Tigers on Thursday, Florimon is now hitting 4-9 in spring with 2 home runs, scoring 4 runs and driving in 3. He’s currently leading the Atlanta Braves (among those who have multiple plate appearances) with a 1.722 OPS.

The other big thing is that Florimon has played multiple positions this spring already. He’s played at shortstop, third base, and left field this spring already. This is after playing second, third, short, center, right, and even pitching for the Phillies in 2018.

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If Florimon were to push for a role on the 2019 Atlanta Braves, the most likely guy to suffer would be

. Presently, the projected bench for the Atlanta Braves would be

,

, one of

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, and Duvall. If Florimon were to push someone out, it’d likely be either Culberson or Duvall. With the fan favorite role that Rome, Georgia, native Culberson has with the team, especially after his big 2018 season, Duvall would be the likely guy to go.

Something to consider with Duvall is that at this point, the Atlanta Braves are not obliged to his entire contract, despite paying him an amount to avoid arbitration. Because he didn’t go to an arbitration hearing, his contract is technically not guaranteed at this point. The Braves could cut Duvall outright, though most likely they could find someone to trade for Duvall.

Whether he can keep it up for the rest of the season or not, Pedro Florimon has certainly made a huge impression thus far in the Atlanta Braves camp in 2019.