Atlanta Braves 2019 Report Card: Offensive and individual player grades
By Clint Manry
Outfield offense
OVERALL GRADE: C+
A position group that — other than Ronald Acuna Jr. — already lacked a superstar caliber player, the Braves’ outfield in 2019 was impacted at times by regression and injuries.
The Opening Day outfield of Acuna, Ender Inciarte and Nick Markakis, later morphed into a rotation of several different players, both for positive reasons (Austin Riley‘ breakout) and negative ones (injuries to Inciarte and Markakis).
In the end, the Braves’ outfield was essentially pieced together by guys like Matt Joyce, Adam Duvall, Rafael Ortega and even the speedy Billy Hamilton; with a few of them performing admirably as fill-ins at different times.
Braves’ OF Ranks
| STAT | VALUE | MLB RANK |
|---|---|---|
| Hits | 559 | 15th |
| Home runs | 97 | t-10th |
| Batting average | .267 | 7th |
| On-base% | .344 | t-7th |
| Slugging% | .459 | t-12th |
| OPS | .803 | t-11th |
| Hard-hit% | 41.2% | 6th |
Let’s grade each Braves’ outfielder…
Ronald Acuna Jr.: GRADE: A+
156 games, .280/.365/.518, 41 HR, 101 RBI, 37 SB, 126 wRC+, 5.6 WAR
The Braves’ leader in WAR in 2019, Acuna confirmed what we had all hoped for ever since the organization signed him back in 2015… that he has the potential to become the game’s best player.
Acuna produced over half of the entire outfield’s WAR in 2019 — the Braves’ outfield ranked 13th in the majors, with 9.3 WAR — on his way to just barely missing a 40-40 season.
Over 40 homers, 100+ RBI and almost 40 stolen bases? Uh yeah… I’ll give him an A+.
Nick Markakis: GRADE: C
116 games, .285/.356/.420, 9 HR, 62 RBI, 102 wRC+, 0.4 WAR
This grade may seem a little harsh, but Markakis had a down year — the worst season of his career, going by WAR.
The time he missed from his fractured wrist really hurt his counting stats, though his rate-stats mainly stayed the same (his 88.8% contact-rate this year is identical to last season’s).
Markakis is still a gamer, and against right-handed pitching, he’s still an above-average hitter; but his 2019 season was nothing more than average.
Matt Joyce: GRADE: B+
129 games, .295/.408/.450, 7 HR, 23 RBI, 128 wRC+, 1.2 WAR
People sometimes forget that Joyce was once a great player (especially back when he was with the Rays). In March, the Braves grabbed Joyce with hopes that he could offer some outfield depth, but the 34-year-old wound up producing the second-most outfield WAR on the team — getting on base at a 40% clip.
Joyce was a one-year fling (maybe not…?), but his $1 million cost was most definitely worth it. His only downfall is his defense, though he rated almost three times better in the field than Markakis, according to FanGraphs’ defensive WAR.
Ender Inciarte: GRADE: C-
65 games, .246/.343/.397, 5 HR, 24 RBI, 7 SB, 93 wRC+, 0.9 WAR
This is when grading players is no fun. It’s rather obvious that Ender had a bad season, as he finished with the lowest defensive and overall WAR total of his career, as well as his worst batting average and least amount of games-played.
I wish I could say it was all because of his injuries, but Ender’s underlying numbers aren’t looking too great, either (particularly his plate discipline). Hopefully a solid 2020 season is coming.
Austin Riley: GRADE: C
80 games, .226/.279/.471, 18 HR, 49 RBI, 86 wRC+, 0.2 WAR
Riley busted on the scene in the middle of May and put together a debut for the ages in his first month with the team:
May 15 – June 15: .296 AVG, 140 wRC+, 11 HR
But… during that time he was also striking out at a 31.7% clip, so things were bound to regress. And boy, did they.
Riley’s second half of 2019 featured a .161 average, two home runs, and a 22 wRC+, thanks to a 41.1% K rate. If only he would have maintained just a fraction of his initial success. Still, this was Riley’s first taste, so while his grade is average… it’s full of optimism.