He was sent to AAA because he didn’t hit and couldn’t get the playing time to improve with the Atlanta Braves. Turns out that the maneuver worked.
One of the most interesting players, and unusual trade pieces, in the Atlanta Braves system remains outfielder Adam Duvall.
Acquired via the late July trade that sent Lucas Sims and Matt Wisler to Cincinnati, Duvall was poised to provide a well-needed power bat to the Braves roster.
Now he’s killing time and killing baseballs in Triple-A Gwinnett. Now the looming question remains: what will the Braves do with outfielder Adam Duvall?
A simple solution: make him part of another July trade.
Plan A was reasonable
Adam Duvall came to Atlanta with the promise of power and depth assistance, but never really seemed to live up to the expectations.
It seemed like an logical move for the Braves, with fleeting options on their bench and a surplus of promising, young arms with no clear path to the 40-man. Sadly, it didn’t work out that way.
Duvall played in 33 games after moving to Cobb County, and hit an abysmal .132 without hitting a single home run or driving in a single run.
His lack of production at the plate last season made his demotion to Triple-A an expected move at the end of spring training. Now, it seems he’s (finally) found his stride at the wrong time.
Over his 33 games with Gwinnett, Duvall is hitting an impressive .289 – a stat he’s never seen in his Major League tenure – with 9 home runs, 24 RBI’s and a just-as-impressive .999 OPS; not to mention his seemingly new-found consistency.
Note this break-out streak highlighted by David O’Brien of The Athletic.
Adam Duvall has 8 home runs and 17 RBIs in his past 10 games at Triple-A Gwinnett, batting .333 (13-for-39) with seven multi-RBI games in that stretch. He's had at least two RBIs in each of his past six games. #Braves
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) May 2, 2019
It looks like he finally found his stride at the plate and can get the ball over the fence again like he did in his lone All-Star season for Cincinnati, 2016.
The problem is Atlanta doesn’t have any room for him.
- The bench is full with Culberson, Camargo, Joyce and Flowers.
- Joyce has proven himself to be a valuable bench piece,
- Camargo has his super-utility role ironed in,
- Flowers is McCann’s only backup and …
- Culberson has become the go-to guy in a comeback situation.
Meanwhile, Inciarte has improved enough at the plate to quiet any rumors of demotion or replacement and Markakis looks to be in his All-Star 2018 form.
Simply put, there’s just no room for Duvall on the Braves 25-man roster. The easy, and likely solution, to get Duvall back on a Major League roster is to send him to a new team in July.
Seems easy, right? But which team would be the right fit for Duvall that would also yield a smart, promising return for the Braves?