2017 Atlanta Braves Player Preview: Kurt Suzuki
By Josh Brown
This off-season the Atlanta Braves added veteran catcher, Kurt Suzuki, to help Tyler Flowers with the battery situation. While the club already had Anthony Recker as a back-up option, Suzuki’s track record was certainly more to write home about than Recker’s.
New Atlanta Braves catcher Kurt Suzuki is entering his 11th year in the bigs. One could argue that Kurt’s had one really good year, and several semi-good/average years. His really good year came in 2014 when he slashed .288/.345/.383 and made the American League All-Star team, and other than 2014, he’s been okay.
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Suzuki is certainly not the best defensive backstop in baseball. His 3.8 defensive fWAR ranked 20th out of 24 catchers who caught at least 650 innings 2016. But Kurt Suzuki can hit (at least better than Anthony Recker). And contrary to what many baseball analysts tell you in the year of 2017 – hits are important.
Spring Training is certainly little indication on the big picture of things (the Angels had a killer record during last year’s spring camp), but on the individual level, sometimes its at least somewhat of a barometer of what a player can do in the upcoming season.
This being said, Suzuki is batting .379 this spring. Now, does he do that in the season? Of course not.
But if he continues to hit well, he could prove to be an effective low-cost signing for the Atlanta Braves, especially if he hits close to his .295 w/RISP that he posted last year.
Suzuki already seems to be the favorite to be knuckleballer R.A. Dickey‘s personal catcher. Suzuki, and Flowers both, have little-to-no experience catching a knuckleball, but neither have almost every other MLB catcher. There are two knuckleballers in the game, so simmer down, Braves Fam.
Sharing the Load
The Braves will enter the season with Tyler Flowers as their main guy behind the plate. The question will be – Can Flowers replicate his 2016 campaign? Flowers, a lifetime .232 hitter, managed to slash .270/.357/.420 last year in 83 games. He even hit a homer with a broken hand, let us not forget.
But realistically, the chances of Flowers replicating his 2016 story line are slim. Therefore, look for the Braves to split time between Flowers and Suzuki; and this might not be a bad thing. Remember – Suzuki can hit.
Since the Braves wasted several years banking on Christian Bethancourt as their future catcher, their catching depth has been weak and questionable. To the Braves’ defense, catching prospects are insanely rare these days.
Other than Jonathan Morales and Brett Cumberland, the club doesn’t yet have a promising answer for the future, but hopefully Suzuki and Flowers can be good enough in 2017.