Braves hitter offers much-needed defensive variety to his athleticism

admin | February 21, 2024 | Other Clubs | No Comments

The Atlanta Braves won’t have much of a bench in 2024, so every little bit counts.

In spring training, the Atlanta Braves’ bench is underutilized due to a lack of interested players.

Last week, President of Baseball Operations Alex Anthopoulos revealed that the 2024 roster’s bench options aren’t as strong as they may be due to a lack of playing time.

Atlanta’s position players play almost every day, so there aren’t many opportunities for at-bats or defensive innings among the bench choices. Having designated hitter Marcel Ozuna play first base has proven to be really beneficial.

The 33-year-old Ozuna, who previously won a Gold Glove in the outfield but had only two defensive appearances last season, has maintained his pregame work at first base this spring.

Ozuna was filmed by the Atlanta beat taking groundballs and conducting defensive exercises behind starter Matt Olson at first base, similar to his morning workouts and pre-NLCS squad games from last season.

Manager Brian Snitker said that this was not just a practice for Ozuna, and that he would be playing infield defense during spring training.

“I just think it’s a good way to get him active and keep him moving, and it’s good exercise,” Snitker told reporters. “I’m gonna get him in some games there, just to be doing something other than just DH’ing.”

Ozuna’s actions are not solely his responsibility; in fact, he is not a horrible person.

“He’s OK.”His hands are good. He looked terrific last year, so I informed him after the season before we left that I was going to do that with him. Snitker replied, “We’ll see how it goes.”

And that defensive versatility, if it works out, is nothing but a good thing for the Braves roster – Matt Olson played every single game last season (and the year before that, and the year before that – Olson’s last missed game was May 1st, 2021, when Seth Brown started at first base instead of him), but the few times he’s taken time off late in a game while in Atlanta, Austin Riley has been the primary backup behind Olson, necessitating another move at third base.

And, given the likely layout of Atlanta’s bench, having your DH be able to take reps at first base is advantageous. Travis d’Arnaud, a catcher who has previously played first base (16 starts in 2019 with the Tampa Bay Rays), and Luis Guillorme, a utility player, have secured positions. Anthopoulos mentioned that “speed” is a consideration in the outfield bench spot, so Forrest Wall is the natural pick to start the season on the bench. This leaves one spot for an infielder to be the primary backup at shortstop or another outfield and/or pinch hit option.

So, if Ozuna can enter a game late to relieve Olson without rearranging the rest of the infield, that’s just one more reason to value the veteran.