Inciarte not worried about another slow start to season

Center fielder has history of breaking out of early slumps.

WASHINGTON — Those familiar with Ender Inciarte’s career trends probably aren’t concerned by the Braves center fielder’s slow start. He slumped longer than this at the beginning of three of his first four major league seasons and each time snapped out of it and never looked back.

Inciarte hit .209 (9 for 43) with two doubles, a .255 on-base percentage, a .256 slugging percentage and a puny .511 OPS in the Braves’ first 10 games before Tuesday.

“He can go 10 for 15 just like that,” said Braves manager Brian Snitker, who had Inciarte in the leadoff spot for the 11th consecutive game Tuesday against the Nationals. “He can throw hits together. That’s the last guy I worry about. Because I know at some point in time, he’s going to go off.”

Before Inciarte went out for batting practice Tuesday at Nationals Park, the two-time Gold Glove winner discussed a sluggish start, after saying last year he wanted to avoid doing it again, then enhancing his offseason workouts in an attempt to come out of the blocks hitting.

“I never want to start out on the wrong foot,” said Inciarte, who made the 2017 National League All-Star team despite struggling in his first 20 games. “I always try to do my best . ... Hopefully I’m going to make the necessary adjustments I need to make to stay consistent till the end of the year.”

Here’s how he did it each season before this one, including two with Arizona and the past two with Atlanta:

■ In 2017, Inciarte hit .207 (18 for 87) with a .242 OBP and .379 slugging percentage (.621 OPS) in 20 games through April 27. Then he hit .318 with a .365 OBP and .414 slugging (.779 OPS) in 137 games the rest of the season.

■ In 2016, he hit .219 (16 for 73) with a .278 OBP and .260 slugging percentage (.539 OPS) in 19 games through May 24, including a four-week stint on the disabled list in April and early May. Then he hit .311 with a .369 OBP and .410 slugging (.779 OPS) in his next 102 games through Sept. 20.

■ In 2014, prospect Inciarte was called up at the beginning of May and hit .182 (12 for 66) with a .206 OBP and .197 slugging percentage (.403 OPS) in his first 28 games. Then he hit .300 with a .344 OBP and .394 slugging (.738 OPS) in his next 88 games through Sept. 26 en route to finishing fifth in National League Rookie of the Year balloting.

■ The only time Inciarte didn’t start slowly in the majors was 2015 in his second season with Arizona, when he hit .303 with a .338 OBP and .408 slugging percentage, his highest average and OPS (.747) until last season’s .304/.759.

“I know I’m going to come out of this soon,” Inciarte said. “I’m glad the team has been playing well and they haven’t needed me a whole lot. I hope they can continue to succeed offensively and I’m going to do my best to try and catch up.”

Winkler gets in reps: The Braves only have to keep reliever Dan Winkler on the 25-man roster through Friday to fulfill Rule 5 requirements, but the right-hander has pitched well enough to keep a spot regardless. Winkler allowed just three hits and one walk with eight strikeouts in 5⅓ scoreless innings over his first five appearances. He had a .158 opponents’ average for a bullpen that had a majors-leading .169 opponents’ average before Tuesday.

The right-hander pitched in half of the Braves’ first 10 games through Monday.

“That’s the way I like it — it’s a lot easier that way, too,” said Winkler, who missed much of the past three seasons recovering from two major elbow surgeries. “Get a lot of reps that way and stay fresh . ... I feel great, best I’ve felt in a long, long time — since before I had Tommy John surgery. It’s good to finally be healthy.”

Braves relievers were third in the majors with a 1.33 ERA before Tuesday, and Winkler was one of four Braves who pitched in at least five of 10 games, along with Arodys Vizcaino (five), Peter Moylan (six) and Sam Freeman, who was tied for the majors lead with seven appearances.

“He’s going to get a lot of work,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said of Winkler. “He’s reliable and I’m seeing a lot of the things why we liked him at the end of last year too.”

Winkler missed much of 2016-2017 seasons recovering from surgery to repair a broken elbow following a gruesome injury that occurred April 10, 2016, when his elbow fractured while delivering a pitch in his third appearance of the season and fifth appearance after coming back from Tommy John elbow surgery he had as a Rockies minor leaguer in 2014.

The Braves took him in the December 2014 Rule 5 Draft and it’s taken this long for Winkler to finally get to the point where the full-year-onthe-major-league-roster part of the Rule 5 requirements can finally be fulfilled and the Braves would no longer have to offer him back to the Rockies before they could send him to the minors. Not that they’re thinking of sending him down — not as long as he keeps pitching like he has.

Braves’ value up: The Braves are worth $125 million more than a year ago, according to new valuations of MLB franchises by Forbes. The publication’s 21st annual study, released Wednesday, valued the Braves at $1.625 billion, up 8 percent from $1.5 billion last year. Team owner Liberty Media recently disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that the Braves had revenue of $386 million last year, up from $262 million in 2016.