Those who are worried about the Braves going to practice in the spring without deciding who will be closer to them are likely to forget that the 2018 and ’19 seasons started with Arodys Vizcaíno in that role. Each of those years concluded with Atlanta winning a national league east title.
Mark Melancon certainly played a key role when he got closer to the Braves shortly after being acquired by the 2019 deadline. But the fact that Melancon is now a member of the Padres’ bullpen does not mean that Atlanta’s coffers will be dry, as the club wants to win a fourth straight title.
“We have a lot of great options there,” said manager Brian Snitker. ‘We have a bunch of guys who’ve done it before. I think it’s about bullpens in today’s game – you’re not going to have much consistency. I think it’s just the nature of the business and the way the industry is. There is going to be a lot of turnover in bullpens. ”
The Braves’ bullpen will have a different look with Melancon in San Diego and Darren O’Day with the Yankees. The two experienced veterans served during their time in Atlanta as reliable relief and valuable mentors.
But the Braves still have some capable veteran relief in Josh Tomlin, Chris Martin and Will Smith. Tomlin appears to have a good coaching career, and Smith was only a year away from establishing himself as an All-Star closer to the Giants.
“This man was an All-Star approacher two years ago,” Snitker said of Smith. ‘I think we have some good options in our pen to shut down games. How we do it, we’ll just have to see how we get there. But we have two or three guys down there who have been through it and experienced it. We’ll just see how it plays out. ”
Including the post-season, Smith limited the opponents to a .165 batting average and hit 29.1 percent of the innings he encountered in 2020. His ERA of 4.50 was due to the fact that eight of the 13 strokes he handed over were home runs.
How does one encounter such an accident? Some of Smith’s misery was a product of his usually very reliable slider. His inconsistency with the pitch was probably due to the fact that he spent the entire July in quarantine while waiting to test negative for COVID-19. He tested positive at the beginning of the summer camp, but he never developed symptoms.
If Snitker in the seventh or eighth innings wants Smith to face a hard left hand, he can give Martin the closing duties. Another candidate is AJ Minter, who filled the role in 2018. Minter certainly looked like a capable closer when he scored seven shots over three pointless innings as he started in places in Game 5 of last year’s National League Championship series against the Dodgers.
Essay decisions
While using the designated hitter last year, Snitker saw the value of filling Freddie Freeman’s second place in the series. Now that it looks like his pitcher will strike again this year, the veteran manager is thinking of moving the reigning NL most valuable player back to the number 3 spot in the order.
Snitker started the 2019 season by giving Josh Donaldson his wish to bat second, as during his top time at the Blue Jays. But Donaldson appeared to be more productive as he batted in the clearing behind Freeman.
Snitker’s feeling is that Freeman will get more RBI opportunities if he bats the pitcher at the bottom of the batting surface while batting third. That said, the skipper added that he has not yet fully established the idea of a new series with Ronald Acuña Jr., Freeman and Marcell Ozuna, who filled the first three places.
“I think we saw in the series, it’s a very different animal than hitting the jars,” Snitker said. “It simply came to our notice then. We will talk about it and think about it and see. But I think it really is. I think that when the pitchers hit, the place does not have the chance to say that it is a third place. ‘
Backup catcher
After the Braves felt their financial situation better, there was reason to think that they might be trying to bring Tyler Flowers back with a short-term economic deal. But over time, there has been more reason to think that backup rights can be given to Alex Jackson or William Contreras.
Contreras, the prospect no. 7 of Atlanta, apparently has a much brighter future. But the desire to give him a chance to develop as an everyday player in the minor could leave the big league backup role to Jackson, who won 28 homers for Triple-A Gwinnett in 2019.
‘[Contreras and Jackson] both have come a long way, ‘Snitker said. ‘It’s been a while since we deepened or captured options in our Minor League system. I think this is really a good thing to choose from. ”