Atlanta Braves: Travis Demeritte Finally Gets His Shot

It’s been a wild ride for Travis Demeritte with the Atlanta Braves organization, but now he’s set to finally get his shot — how long will it last? 

Travis Demeritte was a first-round draft pick by the Texas Rangers in 2013 before being traded to the Atlanta Braves three years later for Dario Alvarez and Lucas Harrell.

Expected to be part of the rebuild, Demeritte was ranked as the team’s 10th overall prospect at the end of the 2017 season. After back-to-back decent years at Double-A, he slipped down to 21 on the Braves’ prospect list in 2018.

And then during the 2019 season, he was traded along with Joey Wentz to the Detroit Tigers for Shane Greene.

In Detroit, Demeritte got his first crack at the big leagues playing in 48 games with the Tigers but slashing just .225/.286/.343 with 3 home runs.

The following season he got just 29 at-bats for the Tigers and the results were even worse.

He was released by Detroit before the 2021 season and the Braves picked him up.

Last year at Triple-A Gwinnett he slashed .285/.370/.588 with 22 home runs in 82 games.

With all of the problems in the Braves outfield last year, I was surprised that Demeritte wasn’t given a shot with how well he hit all year at Gwinnett.

This past Spring Training there was an opportunity for him to win a bench job, but he didn’t earn it after getting just 3 hits in 16 at-bats (2 came in the same game) with just 1 walk and 6 strikeouts.

But that disappointment didn’t slow him down as he went to Gwinnett and continued the success he had last year slashing .283/.365/.630 with 2 home runs in 12 games and 6 walks to 12 strikeouts.

And now his time with the Braves has finally come as he’ll be in the starting lineup on Friday night against the Miami Marlins.

The Braves are certainly looking for a spark offensively at the bottom of the lineup, and with a lefty on the mound for the Marlins in Trevor Rogers, this is a perfect spot for Demeritte to show he has value at the big league level.

Perhaps his stay with Atlanta this time around is brief, but it’s great to see his persistence pay off and now he gets to start a game for the Braves. Wishing him the best of luck tonight and hoping he can find a role on the bench.