While the Atlanta Braves have a lot of issues at the moment to figure out, one that has lingered from last season is what they should do at shortstop. Orlando Arcia has clearly fallen out of favor and is currently splitting time with Nick Allen, but both players are not ideal. Arcia's hit tool has seemingly disappeared and while he is off to a good start in 2025, it is hard to project Allen doing this all year given his track record and he has basically no power to speak of.
For some, the hope is that prospect Nacho Alvarez will become a viable option, but his first look at the majors did not go well and the start of his 2025 season has seen him post a .256 OPS through his first eight games which is obviously quite bad.
The Braves do have a couple prospects of note that play shortstop in Jose Perdomo and John Gil, but both players are far away from their big league debut. One minor leaguer that could be forcing his way into the conversation is Jose Devers, cousin of Rafael Devers, who is quietly laying waste to teh competition in Triple-A right now.
Jose Devers making Braves decision to scoop him up look very smart right now
Up until now, Devers has had a pretty ordinary professional career. He started as a pro with the Yankees before he was sent to the Marlins in the Giancarlo Stanton deal. For the next several seasons, he was a guy that was an okay hitter with little in the way of ceiling given a lack of power and has seen little big league action with just 24 games in the majors. Still the Braves saw enough in him to sign Devers to a minor league deal this offseason.
The hope was probably that Devers' defense would be worth enough as a depth piece to keep him around in case of emergencies. However, Devers has made the most of the opportunity with Atlanta and currently sports a .379/.375/.621 line through his first eight games with Gwinnett. The power numbers in particular are quite surprising, but Devers has always been a guy that makes a lot of contact and it seems like he may have figured something out this season.
All of the usual smal sample caveats apply to Devers here and the Braves certainly shouldn't make a hasty decision especially with Allen holding his own at the moment. However, if/when Allen's production drops off and Arcia fails to figure things out, the Braves may have a solution waiting just down the road even if it isn't exactly the name they thought it would be.