Braves loaded with young talent
Five issues facing the Braves:
Making use of all the kids:
Having too much talent is never a bad thing, but the Braves are overflowing with young starting pitchers who are ready – or nearly ready – for the majors.
With the top four spots in the rotation seemingly held by Mike Foltynewicz, Julio Teheran, Kevin Gausman and Sean Newcomb, it only leaves one place available. Touki Toussaint, Mike Soroka, Luiz Gohara, Max Fried and others will be fighting for that spot, and while that depth is vital, the organization will have to work hard to make the best use of all its assets.
future:
A two-time AllStar, 28-year-old Julio Teheran has made at least 30 starts six years in a row for the Braves, over which he has gone 66-61 with a 3.61 ERA.
Atlanta has a reasonable $12 million option for 2020 on Teheran and with all the organization’s young arms knocking on the door, the Braves could choose to utilize their veteran as a trade chip to improve other areas of the team.
Unless the Braves sign a closer this winter, it looks like some combination of Arodys Vizcaino and A.J. Minter will be pitching the ninth inning.
With Vizcaino, 28, a free agent after this season, it’s going to be a delicate dance late in games for manager Brian Snitker. Minter held left-handed hitters to a .529 on-base-plus-slugging percentage (OPS) last season, while right-handers managed just a .587 mark against Vizcaino.
question:
Former No. 1 overall pick Dansby Swanson was one of the league’s defensive shortstops in 2018 (1.7 defensive WAR) but his bat hasn’t quite caught up.
It’s a hugely important season for Swanson, who will be 25 on opening day. Can he take a leap forward and prove to the Braves that he should be their longterm guy at short?
His bat must improve. He has had .243 with a .683 OPS in 318 career bigleague games.
depth:
The Braves brought back Nick Markakis on a oneyear deal and he’s expected to man right field, but much of the rest of the depth chart is a wasteland. Johan Camargo and Charlie Culberson are versatile and Adam Duvall is a nice bat if he can rebound from a rough year (.132 batting average after a trade to the Braves), but the team desperately needs another outfielder and middle infielder.
Considering Josh Donaldson’s injury history (average of 82 games the last two seasons despite 41 homers in that span), Camargo could be seeing a lot of time.