Rain Delay: What if Atlanta Braves miss out on a star 3B?

Tomahawk Take Third Base Article Index

• Outside the box options at third base
• 3 Reasons Braves should not re-sign Donaldson
• Arenado a fit for Braves?
• Affordable third base options
• If not JD, then who?
• Benefits of Austin Riley as everyday 3B
• Kris Bryant is a better option than Donaldson at 3B

I want to leave you with one idea. In the scenario in which we don’t get a star third baseman, the Braves will have a competition at third.

To put the pressure on the young guys (Riley and Camargo) they need to bring in a veteran with a low price (so we can still add an impact bat in the outfield), but also someone who provides the upside of earning the everyday job.

You can read all about some of these options throughout the articles in the index. However, I was perusing the Statcast leaderboard, admiring Josh Donaldson’s handy work with his average exit velocity, when I noticed a familiar name so high on the list that it seemed out of place.

Before I get to that, here’s a list of the Braves’ leaders in exit velocity in 2019 (min. 50 balls in play):

1. Josh Donaldson – 92.9 (7th best in League)
2. Nick Markakis – 91.2 (45th)
3. Adam Duvall – 91.0 (58th)
4. Ronald Acuna Jr. 90.6 (78th)
5. Tyler Flowers – 90.1 (100th)

We had five Braves inside the top 100, with Dansby Swanson and Freddie Freeman knocking on the door. Travis d’Arnaud came in at 104, so we have a couple of hard-hitting catchers.

There’s a couple of intriguing things here. Hitting the ball hard doesn’t always equal homers, for example — Nick Markakis.

Although, he does hit his fair share of doubles and hard line drives. Read here to see the great splits between Duvall and Markakis in left-field.