Atlanta Braves rebuild outfield at Trade Deadline
It was an eventful trade deadline for the Atlanta Braves, to be sure.
Going into deadline day with major questions surrounding its outfield offense and bench production, the Atlanta Braves made a series of shrewd moves that suddenly provide manager Brian Snitker with a plethora of options.
On Friday, the Atlanta Braves traded with Cleveland for Eddie Rosario, dealt with division rival Miami to bring back old friend Adam Duvall, and snagged Kansas City’s Jorge Soler.
Sure, there’s no Joey Gallo or Kris Bryant or any other big-name star that a lot of fans may have hoped for, but there is reason to believe that the new additions to the Atlanta Braves will provide a sizable bump in offensive production.
The Atlanta Braves started out the 2021 season with outfield plans that were promising, but quickly fell apart.
Whether it was Cristian Pache’s early demotion to Triple-A Gwinnett, Marcell Ozuna’s off-the-field legal matters, or Ronald Acuna, Jr.’s devastating injury, the outfield suddenly became a significant question mark.
While players like Guillermo Heredia and Abraham Almonte have held their own about as well as could be expected, the outfield simply hasn’t performed well enough to establish the Braves as a legitimate contender.
Even with the quality addition of Joc Pederson, the Atlanta Braves still rank 23rd in MLB in outfield OPS for the month of July, per FanGraphs.
These latest moves could go a long ways in potentially transforming the team from a bottom-half outfield to an upper-half.
With the team seemingly opting for quantity – with upside – over star-player quality when addressing the outfield, there are now multiple lineup options that could be considered.
The Atlanta Braves can feel better about the length of their lineup.
There’s a lot of quality pitching in the National League East, and the Atlanta Braves are more well-equipped to face those challenges.
The new outfielders could provide an instant spark.
Adam Duvall
Adam Duvall is currently carrying a reverse split in 2021, putting up a 116 wRC+ versus right-handed pitching. His .262 ISO against righties this season is awfully impressive.
However, Duvall’s career numbers suggest that he’s pretty close overall against either handedness of the pitcher, with a .775 OPS against lefties and a .755 OPS against righties.
With his penchant for power in mind, Duvall is best slotted in a run-producing spot of the order, somewhere beyond the cleanup spot as a guy that can extend the order and cash in multi-run homers.
Jorge Soler
Jorge Soler is on a power-surge of his own lately.
Despite that he is far superior versus lefties than righties in 2021 – he’s got a whopping 126 wRC+ against southpaws this season – you still can’t keep his hot bat out of the everyday lineup – at least for now.
Soler has hit seven homers in the month of July alone, six of those coming since the All-Star Break.
The Braves will give Soler every opportunity to – like Duvall – hit in a run-producing spot of the order, given his current hot streak.
Eddie Rosario
While Eddie Rosario won’t be ready for a few weeks as he recovers from injury, he’s got a career 111 wRC+ against right-handed pitchers, making him a potential spot-starter or platoon-mate for the last six weeks of the season, as opposed to just a straight bench piece.
This will be an interesting development to watch in case either righty-hitter, Duvall or Soler, struggles against right-handed pitching over the next few weeks.
A Potential Lineup.
Here’s a look at what the Atlanta Braves could run out, post trade-deadline.
- Joc Pederson – CF
- Ozzie Albies – 2B
- Freddie Freeman – 1B
- Austin Riley – 3B
- Adam Duvall – LF
- Jorge Soler – RF
- Dansby Swanson – SS
- Catcher
- Pitcher
Sure, that lineup is a bit righty-heavy, and I’m not terribly sold that Joc’s .303 OBP for the season will continue to be a best fit at the top of the order, but this lineup accomplishes some things, for sure:
- Your best on-base guys are still towards the top, with Ozzie Albies (.321), Freddie Freeman (.391), and Austin Riley (.370) hitting in the two-through-four spots.
- The sluggers added to the mix, Duvall and Soler, are in prime positions to extend the lineup and create multi-run homer situations with the best on-base threats ahead of them.
- Dansby Swanson appropriately shifts down to seventh in the order, where he better serves the Atlanta Braves.
- Travis d’Arnaud’s impending return could also play a role in the bottom half of the order, potentially shifting Swanson down to 8th.
Other Considerations
The biggest flaw of that proposed lineup is that there is no true centerfielder.
Joc Pederson played there extensively in his Dodger days, but has only patrolled center a handful of times over the last three seasons.
If the Atlanta Braves aren’t wanting to sacrifice defense for offense, they could keep Guillermo Heredia as a starter in center with Duvall and Soler splitting time at the other corner spot, giving them a power option as a pinch-hitter late in the game.
One other idea is that they could start out with their offense-heavy lineup and use Heredia as a defensive replacement late.
You could also make the argument that no true centerfielder is “much ado about nothing”, given just how strong of defenders guys like Adam Duvall, Jorge Soler, and Joc Pederson are at the corner outfield spots.
Next. Top Prospects Shining. dark
Obviously, things can be mixed and matched here and there, but one thing the trades of the deadline have accomplished is clear: the Atlanta Braves lineup has certainly been lengthened, thanks to its new-look outfield.