Those worried about the braves coming into spring training without defining who will be closer will probably forget that the 2018 and 19 seasons began with Arodys Vizcaíno in this role. Each of those years ended with Atlanta winning an East National League title.
Mark Melancon certainly played a key role when he approached the Braves shortly after he was acquired in the 2019 trade deadline. But the fact that Melancon is now a member of the Padres Bullring doesn’t mean the closet of Atlanta is dry as the club tries to win a fourth consecutive title.
“We have a lot of good options out there,” manager Brian Snitker said. “We have a lot of guys who have done it before. I think this is something related to bulls in the current game – you won’t have much consistency. I think this is just the nature of the business and the way it is the industry. There will be a lot of billing in tickets ”.
The Bulls will look different with Melancon in San Diego and Darren O’Day with the Yankees. The two experienced veterans served as reliable relief and valuable mentors during their stay in Atlanta.
But the Braves still have some capable wild veterans of Josh Tomlin, Chris Martin and Will Smith. Tomlin seems destined to have a great coaching career and Smith has a year left to establish himself as an All-Star closer to the Giants.
“That guy was a closer All-Star two years ago,” Snitker said of Smith. “I think we have some good options in our pen to close the games. How we do it, we just have to see how we get there. But we have two or three guys down there who have gone through it and lived it. We will see how it develops ”.
Including the postseason, Smith limited opponents to a batting average of 0.165 and destroyed 29.1 percent of the batters he faced in 2020. His 4.50 ERA was the result of the fact that eight of the 13 hits he performed were home runs.
How can you find bad luck? Well, some of Smith’s problems were the product of his normally highly reliable slider. His inconsistency with the playing field was probably the result of having spent all of July in quarantine while hoping to give COVID-19 a negative. He tested positive at the start of summer camp, but never developed symptoms.
If Snitker wants Smith to face a tough left-hander in the seventh or eighth inning, he could give Martin the closing functions. Another candidate is AJ Minter, who took on the role in 2018. Undoubtedly, Minter seemed a more capable player when he recorded seven attacks in three innings without scores as he started in 5th place in Game 5 of the League Championship Series. National last year against the Dodgers.
Training decisions
While using the designated hitter last year, Snitker saw the value in having Freddie Freeman take second place in the lineup. But now that it looks like his pitchers will be playing again this year, the veteran coach is considering returning the most valuable player in the current NL to No. 3 in the order.
Snitker started the 2019 season by giving Josh Donaldson his desire to beat second, just as he did during his best days with the Blue Jays. But Donaldson proved to be more productive as he beat the clean-up spot, behind Freeman.
Snitker’s feeling is that with the pitcher hitting the bottom of the lineup, Freeman would get more RBI opportunities while hitting the third. That said, the skipper added that he has not completely eliminated the idea of starting his lineup again with Ronald Acuña Jr., Freeman and Marcell Ozuna filling the top three.
“I think we’ve seen in this lineup, which is a totally different animal when the pitchers are hitting,” Snitker said. “It simply came to our notice then. We will talk about it and reflect on it and see. But I think it’s real. I think when the pitchers hit, that place doesn’t have the opportunities they say, when they hit third, they do. “
Backup sensor
Once the brave had a better idea of their financial situation, there was reason to think they could try to get Tyler Flowers back with a short-term financial deal. But as time went on, there were more reasons to think that security capture tasks could be given to Alex Jackson or William Contreras.
It looks like Contreras, Atlanta’s No. 7, has a much brighter future. But the desire to give the minors a chance to develop as an everyday player could leave the big league side playing Jackson, who scored 28 homers for Triple-A Gwinnett in 2019.
“[Contreras and Jackson] they’ve both come a long way, “Snitker said.” We haven’t had depth or catch options in our minor league system for a long time. I think it’s a very good thing to choose from. “