Atlanta Braves: A deeper look at 3 positive takes from 2019
With all the negative takes after the playoff loss, now there are some positive takes too that have been floating out there in Atlanta Braves land.
There are Atlanta Braves fans out there that aren’t completely dejected. If you want to heal, read some of these takes to make your day better – be like Johan Camargo and throw some water on that face and be refreshed.
This list is all about giving you things to be optimistic about for the 2020 season, because remember, you’re a fan of an excellent franchise, the Atlanta Braves, and there are more reasons to be excited than there are to be bummed.
There’s Ronald Acuna Jr., Ozzie Albies, Freddie’s surgically repaired elbow and so, so much more.
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But if you still want to be pessimistic, we have 3 negative takes as well.
Acuna, Ozzie are top 1-2 punch in MLB
When one considers the Atlanta Braves for the next 7-10 seasons, the only names signed for that long are Ronald Acuna Jr. and Ozzie Albies.
With that being said, who’s NOT excited? Who can’t look at the bright side for just a moment and realize that we have one of the best offensive 1-2 punches in all of baseball and will continue to have both of these players?
Timely hitting. Power. Speed. This duo has it all. Since Acuna Jr. gets his share of the press (as he should) let’s first dive into Ozzie Albies.
The Curacao native is making Andruw Jones proud. Though small in stature (maybe 5-foot-8, maybe 165 pounds) Albies has shown an affinity for hitting for power since his 2017 call-up.
During his first full season in 2018, he was an All-Star, hitting 40 doubles and 24 home runs. That was driven by a first half where he was on fire, then a second half where fans wondered where all the hitting went.
In 2019, he doubled 43 times and hit 24 more home runs, but raised his batting average from .261 to. 295 and led the National League in hits with 189.
When you maintain your power numbers while raising your batting average, you’re doing something right.
Let’s not forget hitting coach Kevin Seitzer, who had the offense rolling most of the season.
Perhaps most importantly, Albies turned up his defense a few notches. He’s a legitimate Gold Glove contender at second base, and that’s the position he was moved to in order to accommodate the coming of himself and Dansby Swanson to the Atlanta Braves lineup.
Albies committed the fewest errors in the league, along with Jason Kipnis of the Cleveland Indians. Both second-sackers made just four on the season.
He also started the most games (157) and logged the most innings at the position (1,405). According to Fangraphs, he ranked in the top 5 among second basemen in almost every advanced defensive stat.
Ozzie occupied the number two spot behind Ronald Acuna Jr. who nearly became the fifth player and arguably, the only steroid-free player, to reach the 40-40 plateau.
A groin injury sidelined him the last week of the season and cut his pursuit short.
Acuna Jr. ended up leading the National League in runs scored (127) and stolen bases (37) while socking 41 home runs, driving in 101 runs, and hitting .280, digressing a wee bit in terms of contact, striking out 188 times.
There’s not much else to say about that when you have Acuna and Albies headlining your lineup, besides that oh, you have Freddie Freeman behind them.
Depending on what happens with Josh Donaldson, we could replicate a crazy top four in the line-up in 2020. The bottom half will need some work.
AA actually did a great job
Good moves by AA:
- Signing Josh Donaldson via free agency
- Signing Brian McCann for just 2 million
- Bringing back Nick Markakis for just 4 million
- Trading for Matt Joyce at the end of spring training
- Deciding to tender Adam Duvall a contract and sending him to AAA
- Trading Arodys Vizcaino and Jesse Biddle for Anthony Swarzak
- Signing Jerry Blevins
- Revamping the bullpen at the trade deadline
- Signing Adeiny Hechavarria
- Picking up Cervelli and Hamilton in September
Not so great moves by AA:
I really tried to consider everything when making this list here. Seriously, if this was your kid and he brought home this report card, would you not be impressed? Proud?
Now, the critical fan will look at the more minor transactions like Cervelli, Hamilton, Blevins, Joyce, and Swarzak and say something to the effect of “Those guys didn’t do that much for us anyway.”
With the more minor transactions, it’s not about signing someone that becomes a superstar, it’s about finding the more economical way to plug a hole or bridge a gap while still protecting your assets.
He did this last year for example- Ryan Flaherty hit the cover off the ball for the month of April while Johan Camargo got healthy and got his bearings.
Also, think about Preston Tucker, who had a solid start to the 2018 season and was eventually traded as a part of the deal for Adam Duvall.
Elementary examples of doing this-
- Not releasing a player due to bad performance that could be of use later (example: Luke Jackson, who was out of options)
- Not signing an expensive free agent just because they might be the ‘best available’ but looking for other ways to fill that need
- Using assets that are not useful to the team (I.E. Arodys Vizcaino and Jesse Biddle) to gain an asset that could/did help the team (I.E. Anthony Swarzak)
- Knowing the right time to release or designate a player (I.E. deciding that Wes Parsons was expendable)
- Utilizing the disabled list in order to create roster space, and using the September call-up period in order to audition players (I.E. Darren O’Day)
While that’s not a comprehensive list, the moves listed above are all concrete examples of the bullet points.
The same fans that were screaming ‘Sign Bryce Harper‘ last offseason are the same fans that are now saying ‘I hope Bryce Harper is miserable because the Nationals made the World Series.’
First, stop being a hypocrite. Secondly, learn to baseball.
Waters, Pache poised to be stars — possibly in 2020
After both outfielders had banner years that spanned Double-A Mississippi and Triple-A Gwinnett, Drew Waters and Cristian Pache have firmly placed their names on the radar for the Opening Day roster in 2020.
The idea that both would make the Major League roster coming out of Spring Training is probably a long shot. And it depends on the moves we make in the offseason.
Do we bring back Adam Duvall, Billy Hamilton or Matt Joyce? Do we pick up Nick Markakis and his option? What can Ender Inciarte bring to the table?
Since Ender is under team control, will he prove himself to be both healthy and useful, or will he have enough trade value to garner a return?
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Lots of questions.
I can say one thing with relative certainty – neither player is going to be called up to fill a bench role.
With Acuna Jr. and Ender as incumbents in the outfield, for both to start, one of them would have to beat out Ender, therefore making him a rather expensive bench option. Inciarte won’t be easy to unload, especially if he struggles in spring.
Here’s their respective production:
Waters: 134g, .309 avg, .360 obp, 163 hits, 40 doubles, 9 triples, 7 home runs, 52 RBI, 16 SB, 164K, 39 BB
Pache: 130g, .277 avg, .340 obp, 135 hits, 36 doubles, 9 triples, 12 home runs, 61 RBI, 8 SB, 122K, 43 BB
Waters remained consistent throughout, winning Southern League Player of the Year honors. His production didn’t experience a sharp drop in Triple-A, and across all levels, he’s been able to maintain similar offensive outputs.
Drew strikes out often and needs to reduce his strikeouts and walk more often to really help himself as a top-of-the-order kind of player.
The beautiful thing is that if he’s on the Opening Day roster, he isn’t going to be a top-of-the-order guy. He’ll slot in nicely near the bottom of the lineup.
Pache was pretty consistent too – the only thing that really stood out to me was that in Double-A, he hit 11 home runs over 392 at-bats. In Triple-A, he hit just one home run in 95 at-bats.
If he kept pace with his numbers at Mississippi, expecting 3 or 4 home runs at Gwinnett wasn’t too unreasonable.
The Dominican Republic native excited scouts when he hit eight home runs in 2018 after hitting zero home runs prior to that over 689 professional at-bats.
His 2019 numbers were comparable and improved a bit in terms of power.
Both outfielders are great defensively. I know this from watching about eight Mississippi games this summer.
They work well together, they room together – it would be great to keep them together as often as possible. There’s a lot of good chemistry here, and that’s the way it is with the Atlanta Braves as well.
An outfield of Acuna Jr., Pache, and Waters – that would be a sight to see.
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There are about four months left until Spring Training — get excited. There are lots of moves to be made and they’ll be important, but remember, you’ve got a great core that’s under control, a general manager that’s made a ton of good moves, and two exciting offensive prospects. That’s just the tip of the iceberg.