Do the Atlanta Braves have too old of a roster? Or too young of a roster?

Should a Roster be Young or Old? Braves have a ….

If you were to go through and examine a major league baseball team’s roster, is it better to have a young roster or an old roster? The Atlanta Braves now have a pretty young team, but that wasn’t the case for all of 2017.

You could say that it is taken in a few different ways. The older roster shows that you have veterans who can be leaders in the clubhouse and know ‘how to win’ in tough situations. But, veterans could also be past their prime and unable to make as big of a contribution as the team would like.

When we started 2017, that’s where the Braves stood.

Having a younger roster though includes players who are quick, always on top of the ball, who make fascinating plays day in and day out. However, these players very rarely have been put in tough situations, making it harder to win the big games right away.

That’s kinda where we’re at right now with the Braves.

So is there a right or wrong answer to the type of roster a major league baseball team should have?

Several Veterans Close to the 2,000 Hit Mark

Heading into the season, the Braves led the league in the average age of players, with an age of 30.4. Since getting rid of veteran guys like Bartolo Colon and Jaime Garcia, the Braves have now fallen to 28.2 in the MLB.

That ranks the Braves 23rd in the MLB…pretty big change from just a few months ago.

The Philadelphia Phillies and the San Diego Padres are tied for 30th in the MLB with an average age of 26.4 in 2017.

If the Braves traded away R.A. Dickey at the deadline, it would be interesting to see where they would have fallen to. I’m guessing pretty close, if not lower, than the Padres and the Phillies.

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The good part of this for the Braves is that several veterans on the roster, are making an impact in the statistical category, strengthening their push to maybe a Hall of Fame bid.

Starting with Nick Markakis, who got his 2,000 hit last Thursday night against the Dodgers, ironically, making him the only 285th player ever to get 2,000 hits in a career. Not bad for a guy who has 163 career home runs and 854 career RBI’s.

Since Markakis got to 2,000, it made me start thinking about who on the Braves could be next to acquire this feat.

Brandon Phillips has 1,972

Matt Kemp has 1,614

Kurt Suzuki has 1,114

Freddie Freeman has 1,027

No one else on the Braves 40-man roster has above 1,000 hits on their career

Could BP get 28 more hits prior to the end of 2017? I think that’s pretty possible. I wonder if it’s ever been done that two players on one team got their 2,000 hits in the same year.

Next: William Contreras to become the talk in the minors

But is that veteran to youth movement the problem for the Braves?

These veterans, yet good still, are past their prime and unable to provide that young excitement and big play ability to a team?

I think the youth movement is almost here. We see it very clearly with the Ozzie Albies call up and moving Phillips over to third base. If Dansby Swanson had been playing better in Atlanta, I doubt BP would still be on this team. But there it is again, playing the what if game.

Atlanta may call up hot hitting prospect Ronald Acuna in September. The 19-year-old is mashing Triple-A pitchers and a lot of folks are saying he has what it takes to be playing in the MLB right now. 2018 may actually be realistic.

What about this 2018 lineup of youth…

Inciarte CF

Swanson SS

Freeman 1B

Kemp LF

Flowers C

Acuna RF

Camargo 3B

Albies 2B

Pitcher

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