Atlanta Braves: Top 5 free agent power bats left to consider

3. Travis Shaw, 3B

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This is a tricky one.

Shaw played in only 86 games last season due to injury, so one can’t really assess his 2019 season.

Once he came back, he was unproductive and didn’t have a place to play in Milwaukee.

However, in 2018 Shaw was a four-win player for the Brewers. He hit 32 homers with 86 RBI. The year before he hit 31 bombs with 101 driven in.

Shaw also plays a decent third base. He was a one-win player defensively in 2018 and a 1.4-win player in 2016.

He turns 30 in April and could be had on a cheap base, highly-incentivized deal, too.

2. Nicholas  Castellanos, OF

Admittedly, Castellanos just does not excite me.

Yes, he has good power (76 homers over the past three seasons), but he is just so bad in the field.

During that same stretch, he had a -5.9 WAR in the field.

Honestly, he screams DH. It’s a good bat that needs to be in the lineup, but not in the field.

MLB Trade Rumors projects Casteallanos to get a 4-year, $58 million dollar deal, from presumably an AL Team

Analysis:

If the Braves knew they were getting the 2018 version of Travis Shaw, then great, let’s do it. But last year was so injury-riddled and inconsistent, it would be a significant risk and I don’t think that would be wise.

(However, it worked with Josh Donaldson…)

Castellanos is an absolute no for me. The defense is too bad for me to overlook, no matter how good of an offensive force he can be.