Atlanta Braves sign Adeiny Hechavarria recall Bryse Wilson

Who is Atlanta Braves new shortstop?

Alex Anthopoulos signed Adeiny Hechavarria to a four-year. $10M contract with the Blue Jays in April 2011. Initial scouting reports described him as a, “a slick glove man whose bat just needs to be good enough for the ninth spot in the order (for an AL team).

He appeared in 41 games for the Jays in 2012, then headed to the Marlins in the postseason blockbuster 12-player deal that November.  Over the next four and a half seasons. The Marlins made Hechavarria their starting shortstop.

The Marlins traded him to the Rays in June of 2017. After a year in Tampa, the Rays placed him on waivers and traded him to the Pirates last August.  The Pirates put him back on waivers at the end of the month, and the Yankees acquired him for cash. He signed with the Mets as a free agent last February.

Hechavarria turned out precisely as scouts projected, a great glove with very little offense attached. When playing regularly, he’s batted .254/.290/.345/.635 with occasional power, mostly gap-to-gap. When playing regularly, he’s been a superb defender, as the table below indicates.

Data from Fangraphs and Baseball Prospectus

Hechavarria arrived early today, met his new teammates then headed to the field for some one-on-one time with Ron Washington.

…no doubt followed by work with Ozzie Albies and Josh Donaldson, so they get on the same page.

Although they couldn’t contact the player, the Braves had this deal ready to go when the waiver claim period ended. The Mets signed him to a $2.16M contract this year that had about $1.16M remaining, that made a waiver claim unlikely.

The Atlanta Braves are responsible for a pro-rated portion of the Major League, minimum salary – approximately $136,475 – of the contract with the remainder paid by the Mets.