A lot of fans are currently fed up with Ender Inciarte still being on the roster for the Atlanta Braves. We look at why that’s happening.
The Atlanta Braves are in a very unusual situation as they find themselves comfortably atop the NL East despite a ton of injuries, poor production from several hitters, and a starting rotation that is in shambles.
Because of that, it’s allowed the Braves to ride things out a lot a little longer than they might have in such a short season.
But for fans that are just tired of Ender Inciarte, they don’t want to wait any longer.
Things were made even worse when the Braves finally called up top prospect Cristian Pache and then just played him in one game.
Fans are ready for Pache to take over Ender’s spot in center field. But let me try to explain why that hasn’t happened yet.
And before I go too much further, you should know I’ve been an Ender apologist for a while now.
Reason 1 — Ender is out of options.
The Braves can’t just send Ender to the training site because they’d have to DFA him and would likely lose him for nothing through waivers.
Reason 2 — Ender still has value
You may not want to believe, but Ender still has a lot of value for a lot of teams. Look around baseball, there are a lot of players playing right now that don’t belong.
When Ender is healthy he’s proven that he’s at least a Gold Glove caliber outfielder and can get on base.
Even in 2019 he finished with a .343 OBP — the third time from 2016-2019 that he finished with an OBP above .240.
Reason 3 — Ender has value to the Braves
If used correctly, Ender still has a lot of value on this Braves team as a pinch-runner and defensive replacement.
Sure, you could do the same thing with Pache and that point is valid.
But I think people are also just assuming that Pache is a better hitter than Ender because they haven’t seen it yet.
And perhaps he is, it wouldn’t take much, but I think Braves at this point just still feel more comfortable with what they know about Ender.
Reason 4 — He’s been a bit unlucky at the plate
His .237 BABIP so far this season is far off his career average of .317, which means he’s due for a turnaround.
However, you could also argue that it’s that low because he’s not making a lot of hard contact (just 20.3 percent hard-hit rate) and defensives have figured out where to allign against him.
Still, I think over a full season Ender is a .260-.270 hitter.
Reason 5 — They can’t find a trade partner
This is probably the most likely reason the Braves are stuck with Ender right now. You have to figure Alex Anthopoulos has been burning up the phone lines trying to find a suitable partner for him.
Problem is, other teams know the Braves are trying to get rid of Ender and aren’t likely to give up much for him and AA isn’t just going to give him away.
Like I said, I think Ender still has value as a Gold Glove center fielder that can hit .260-.270 and isn’t that expensive.
The Braves just happen to have a prospect ready for the big leagues who can likely give you that same production at an even lower cost.
I love Ender and want to see him succeed, but I am starting to realize that his value with the Braves is diminishing.
At this point it’s probably best for the two to part ways, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that happens before the August 31 trade deadline.