Although the Atlanta Braves are the favorites in the World Series, Bleacher Report isn’t impressed with the team’s current roster.
With Marcell Ozuna, the designated hitter, expected to play nearly every day and Sean Murphy and Travis d’Arnaud as their backstop combination, the Atlanta Braves appear to have a solid starting nine in place.
However, Bleacher Report claims that’s the Braves’ main issue.
According to author Kerry Miller’s article “Biggest Problems for World Series Hopefuls,” Atlanta’s current major problem is a lack of positional depth.
We’ve talked about this topic extensively, but Miller explains the current dearth of experience on Atlanta’s bench:
Excluding the tandem of Sean Murphy and Travis d’Arnaud at catcher, Atlanta only has three bench players on its 40-man roster: Utility infielder Luis Guillorme (who was non-tendered by the Mets), pinch runner Forrest Wall and recently-acquired-via-trade outfielder J.P. Martínez. The latter two have a combined total of 59 career plate appearances in the majors.
Considering Jarred Kelenic has yet to appear in more than 105 games in a season in his career, it’s quite the unnecessary risk to not have some better backup plans in place.
I mean, not wrong? There’s some framing issues with this, though.
For starters, Kelenic’s shortened seasons aren’t because he’s injury prone – he was optioned to the minors in both 2021 and 2022, with 2023’s absence due to a dumb injury (kicking a cooler) that he swears he’s learned from.
But just deciding to leave off Luis Guillorme’s 823 plate appearances when discussing the experience of the bench feels like dishonest framing, and restricting the view to just the 40-man roster leaves off the even more-experienced David Fletcher (2,180 plate appearances).
Indeed, JP Martinez and Forrest Wall do not have a lot of experience together. We have already stated as much, and we anticipate adding a seasoned player in some capacity before Opening Day. To further emphasize the Fletcher point, Atlanta also has Eli White (406 PAs) and Jordan Luplow (1060 PAs) on minor league contracts.
Furthermore, aside from injuries, Atlanta hardly ever employs their backups.
Miller discusses the lack of rotation in Atlanta, noting that “from May 24 through August 11 of last season, it started Matt Olson at first, Ozzie Albies at second, Orlando Arcia at short, Austin Riley at third, Michael Harris II in center and Ronald Acuña Jr. in right for a staggering 66 consecutive games. (Marcell Ozuna was also the starting DH for all but two of those games.)”
And expect it to continue with Jarred Kelenic replacing Eddie Rosario and expected to play every day, health permitting, of course.
If not, Miller offers the following solution to the issue:
[…]trade from its wealth of bullpen options to get a versatile position player without increasing the payroll. (St. Louis does need relievers and has some bats to spare.)
Doesn’t feel likely, but we’ll see what happens.
