Ender Inciarte began his recovery on Monday with a rehab assignment at High-A Florida. We look at what this could mean for the Atlanta Braves going forward.
Does anybody remember Ender Inciarte? Since the center field was replaced in the lineup by Austin Riley, the Atlanta Braves haven’t really looked back.
As someone who has been a huge supporter of Inciarte, even I’ve forgotten about him at times.
But now that Inciarte is on his way back to the big leagues, we have to consider what effect that will have on the team.
First, I get the feeling Ender is over all the hate he’s receiving in Atlanta. It hasn’t happened to me, but many people on Twitter have said that he’s blocked them after making a comment on how poorly he’s played to start the year.
If true, that’s really a shame because I thought Ender was a huge influence on this team’s success in the second half of 2018.
But I haven’t seen that same fire from him in 2019 after getting out to a slow start and hearing the noise on Twitter. He just doesn’t seem himself and could be ready for a change of scenery.
In order for that to happen though, he has to re-establish some value. And again, in order for that to happen, he has to prove he’s one — healthy, and two — he has to play.
There is no way that the Atlanta Braves take Austin Riley out of the lineup. Ender could get some spot starts here and there against righties, but that’s it.
So finding time at the Major League level could be very difficult. And in order for the Atlanta Braves to trade him, and get anything significant for him, he has to be on the field.
Right now the Atlanta Braves would probably have to package Inciarte with a mid-level prospect in order to get a significant bullpen piece or back of the rotation starter at the trade deadline.
I’m not sure Inciarte is enough to get either of those on his own.
This is probably the best outcome for both parties, but I also don’t think it’s wise for the Atlanta Braves to just ship him off for a bag of peanuts.
If the Atlanta Braves can’t get anything decent in return, then they should find room for him on the roster.
And that’s where the problem really comes in because who on the bench do you get rid of?
You can’t get rid of Charlie Culberson, and Johan Camargo has improved his play recently with more frequent playing time.
The Atlanta Braves could go with a 12-man pitching staff and send down a reliever, but I don’t see that happening. They need every able body out in the bullpen.
That kind of makes Matt Joyce the odd man out, but he’s been really good for the Atlanta Braves this year.
But still, and this won’t be popular to many Braves fans, but I would value Inciarte over Joyce because of his Gold Glove defense and speed on the bases.
Things like this tend to work themselves out in baseball. I hope no one gets injured between now and the time Inciarte is ready to come back, but it always seems to happen that way.
What value can Ender Inciarte bring to this Braves lineup? And what role would he have?
Right now the Atlanta Braves have been putting Culberson in as a defensive replacement for Riley late in games. No offense to Charlies who made a great catch the other night, but Ender would be a huge upgrade there.
This team also has some anchors in its lineup. When Josh Donaldson, Nick Markakis or one of our catchers gets on base late in a game and we need a pinch-runner, Inciarte can fill that role perfectly.
When I did my update list of potential trade targets a few weeks back I mentioned getting a bench bat with some speed. Well, they already have that in the form of Inciarte.
There are a lot of options for the Atlanta Braves with Ender Inciarte. We probably won’t see him until after the All-Star break, but this will be an interesting story line to follow in July.