Atlanta Braves First Base Situation, Do They Have One?
By Jeff Schafer
Yes, we all know we are still months away from Spring Training and Opening Day of the 2016 season for the Atlanta Braves, but that does not mean there is no reason to get excited about the season now.
The way to get excited? Exploring the depth chart, at current projections, at each position for the Braves starting out the 2016 season.
Lets start at first base: and of course we’ll talk about Freddie Freeman
We all know that Freddie Freeman is the starter. The talk of Freddie being traded has been shutdown. Although, will the new General Manager, John Coppolella follow John Hart’s path of trading players he has said he will not? One great example is Jason Heyward. Hart said he would not trade Heyward, but he did. After the trade, he sounded so remorseful – “It was very difficult to trade Jason Heyward, but the deal was made to help us not only in the short-term, but also in the long-term as we move forward.”
Craig Kimbrel is another example, but to get rid of B.J. Upton’s contact and the return on investment that the Padres gave the Braves, it made sense to do this trade.
As listed right now, Nick Swisher is Freeman’s backup at the position, so does that mean that if by some unbelievable happening, Freeman is traded, Swisher moves into the starting role?
Freeman will be 26-years-old when the season starts and is a big guy, standing at 6’5” and 225 lbs.
He made his MLB debut on September 1, 2010 after being drafted in 2007 by the Braves in the 2nd round and 78th overall. Freeman was an All-Star in both 2013 and 2014.
Last season, Freeman had 416 at-bats, with 115 hits, of which 18 were home runs. He had 66 RBI’s, scoring 62 runs, with an OBP of .370 and batting average of .276.
These are pretty good stats considering he missed time due to wrist and oblique injuries.
Swisher will be thirty-five when the season starts. Smaller than Freeman, standing at 6’0” and 195 lbs., Swisher has been around the league longer.
He made his debut on September 3, 2004, after being drafted in 2002 by the Oakland Athletics in first round and 16th overall. It is hard to believe, but Swisher has only been an All-Star once, 2010.
During the 2015 season, Swisher had a batting average of .196, compiling 43 hits in 219 at-bats. He had 6 home runs, with 25 RBI’s and scored 14 runs. He did have an OBP of .312, but is Swisher showing his age?
We’re all hoping that Freeman takes the time this offseason to get fully healthy and return to his 2014 form. If he’s able to do that, he’ll be on the field for the Braves for the majority of the games in 2016. We’ll see Swisher on the field at some point, but I doubt it will be much at first.