The Atlanta Braves' need for a shortstop at the start of the offseason was somewhat atypical. Most of the time, the incumbent at an important position like short has to get hurt, get traded, or move on in free agency for an opening to occur. While Dansby Swanson did leave the Braves, that was a few years ago now and that didn't really explain the Braves' shortstop opening. Instead, it was simply the fact that Nick Allen was swinging a toothpick.
Despite his defensive excellence, Allen's complete inability to impact a baseball became a big problem in 2025 as Atlanta's injuries piled up. The issue became so pronounced that the Braves kept looking for replacements in season which ultimately led them to claim Ha-Seong Kim off of waivers.
The Allen Era in Atlanta ended when the Braves traded him to the Astros in the Mauricio Dubon trade, but the team's saga was oddly familiar. In fact, when you take a closer look, you see a couple other examples of light-hitting infielders hanging around longer than they should have in modern Braves history.
Nick Allen's tenure with the Braves is a reminder of the days of Daniel Castro and Rafael Belliard
Now, there is little to learn from roster decisions from before the mid-1980's as that was a different time. Every single team had a couple players that couldn't hit to save their lives, but were kept around anyways because they were either really good defenders, respected over-the-hill veterans, or some perceived combination of both.
However, that the Braves gave Daniel Castro as many chances as they did. Sure, Castro was pretty well-respected as a defender, but questions about his bat dated back to his days in the minor leagues. Those questions proved to be completely fair as Castro only managed a dreadful .515 OPS with the Braves, but Atlanta still gave him TWO SEASONS to figure things out.
In the case of Rafael Belliard, the situation was both better and worse. Belliard quickly became a fan favorite after the Braves signed him before the 1991 season, but there were already some red flags from his Pirates days where he hit a total of one home run and only managed a .536 OPS across parts of nine seasons. Unfortunately, Belliard's supposed high level of defense didn't actually translate into total on-field production. Despite playing eight full seasons with the Braves, he only managed one more homer in his career (which came much to the delight of his teammates) and he only accumulated -1.3 rWAR combined despite getting 1,353 plate appearances.
The game of baseball has changed a lot in recent years with advances in data and our understanding of what really wins baseball games. If you are going to be a defense-only sort of player, you basically have to be one of the best players in the league at your position by a wide margin and even that is debatable. Guys still have to carry their weight in the lineup as well and unfortunately, that was not the case with Allen, Castro, or Belliard even though it took the Braves way too long to figure that out.