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Those worried about the Braves entering spring training without defining who will be their closest are probably forgetting that the 2018 and 2019 seasons started with Arodys Vizcaíno in that role. Each of those years ended with Atlanta winning a National League East title.
Mark Melancon certainly played a key role when he came closer to the Braves shortly after being acquired at the 2019 trading deadline. But the fact that Melancon is now a member of the Padres’ relieving pen doesn’t doesn’t mean Atlanta’s closet will be dry as the club attempt to win a fourth straight division title.
“We have a lot of good options there,” said manager Brian Snitker. “We have a bunch of guys who have done it before. I think it’s something about bullpens in the game today – you’re not going to have a lot of 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 the bullpens. “
The Braves’ survey enclosure will take on a different look with Melancon in San Diego and Darren O’Day with the Yankees. The two seasoned veterans served as reliable relievers and valuable mentors during their time in Atlanta.
But the Braves still have capable seasoned relievers of Josh Tomlin, Chris Martin and Will Smith. Tomlin looks destined to have a great coaching career and Smith is only a year away from his All-Star status closer to the Giants.
“This guy was a closer All-Star two years ago,” Snitker said of Smith. “I think we have good options in our enclosure to close the games. How we get there, we’ll just have to see how we get there. But we have a couple of guys out there who have been through it and experienced it. We’ll just see how it goes.
Including the playoffs, Smith limited his opponents to a 0.165 batting average and struck out 29.1% of the hitters he faced in 2020. His ERA of 4.50 was the result of eight of 13 hits he gave were home runs.
How do you meet such bad luck? Well, some of Smith’s ailments were the product of his generally very reliable slider. His inconsistency with the field was likely the result of spending the entire month of July in quarantine while waiting to test negative for COVID-19. He tested positive at the start of summer camp but never developed any symptoms.
If Snitker wants Smith to face a tough southpaw in the seventh or eighth inning, he could hand over the closing duties to Martin. Another contender is AJ Minter, who filled the role in 2018. Minter certainly looked like a capable closer when he recorded seven strikeouts in three scoreless innings while making a start in Game 5 of last year’s National League Championship series against the Dodgers.
Programming decisions
Using the designated hitter last year, Snitker saw the benefit of having Freddie Freeman take second in the roster. But now that it looks like his pitchers will strike again this year, the veteran plans to bring reigning NL Most Valuable Player back to third place in the order.
Snitker started the 2019 season by giving Josh Donaldson his wish to beat second, as he had done on his best days with the Blue Jays. But Donaldson proved to be more productive hitting at the cleanup point, behind Freeman.
Snitker’s feeling is that with the pitcher at bat at the bottom of the roster, Freeman would have more RBI chances by hitting third. Having said that, the skipper added that he had not completely rejected the idea of restarting his training with Ronald Acuña Jr., Freeman and Marcell Ozuna occupying the top three places.
“I think we’ve seen in this training it’s a whole different animal when pitchers hit,” Snitker said. “It’s not out of the question. We will talk about it, think about it and see. But I think it’s real. I think when pitchers hit this place doesn’t have the opportunities that say hitting third has.
Backup Recover
Once the Braves got a better idea of their financial situation, there was reason to believe they might attempt to bring Tyler Flowers back with a short-term economic deal. But over time, there became more and more reason to believe that the functions of saving capture could be left to Alex Jackson or William Contreras.
Atlanta’s No.7 Contreras apparently has a much better future. But the desire to give him a chance to develop as an everyday player in the Minors could leave the role of Big League backup to Jackson, who hit 28 homers for Triple-A Gwinnett in 2019.
“[Contreras and Jackson] have both come a long way, ”Snitker said. “It’s been a while since we’ve had depth or catching options in our minor league system. I think it’s a very good thing to choose. “
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