Braves Minor League Moves
By Fred Owens
Braves signed minor league free agent Brandon Boggs today and released Jordan Parrazz. Boggs takes Parraz’ spot at Gwinnett.Original Photo credits : Steve Mitchell (Boggs) Brad Barr (Parraz) – USA TODAY Sports
The Braves signed minor league free agent outfielder Brandon Boggs and assigned him to Gwinnett 25. To make room for Boggs the Braves released Jordan Parraz.
Since being selected by the Texas Rangers in the fourth round of the 2004 draft, the switch hitting Georgia Tech product has ten minor league seasons under his belt, six of them in AAA where his line consists of 89 doubles, 17 triples and 38 home runs and a slash of 264/.376/.420/.796. before being released by the Twins this season he appeared in 21 games for AAA Rochester.
On the major league side of his record Biggs appeared in 130 (114 with the Rangers and 16 with the Brewers) from 2008 to 201. in those games he compiled 18 doubles, four triples, 10 home runs, 43 RBI and scored 34 runs with a slash of .209/.315/.380/.695. To say Boggs has had an up and down career would be slightly understating it.
When the Rangers drafted him in 2004 he was seen as a player with tools and potential. Here’s how Baseball Prospectus (membership required) saw him prior to the last five seasons.
| 2008 | There’s a whole lot to like about Boggs; he’s a great athlete, a fine center fielder, has pop in his bat, and draws walks. . . a whole lot not to like …(he) does most of his damage against lefties, and strikes out like he has an incentive in his contract to do so. . . |
| 2009 | . . . more was expected as far as Boggs’ upside when he was picked. . .he’s in danger of being an organizational soldier stretched to fulfill a utility outfielder role. . . a switch-hitter, his pop is really all from the right-hand side, and he can be overpowered by high-velocity offerings. He’s stretched in center, leaving you with an outfield reserve who only sticks if he strikes his skipper’s fancy. |
| 2010 | Boggs is somewhere between useful and useless, a chasm that has killed the careers of better fourth-outfielder aspirants.. . .(he’s) seen potentially useful, someone who can play all three positions, sometimes providing modest power, draw a few walks, switch-hit. |
| 2011 | . . .lost his place (on the 40 man roster) but the versatile outfielder with power and patience will return to Triple-A in 2011 with the skill set to force his way back into roster contention. |
| 2012 | . . .could potentially represent a new market inefficiency—a valuable bench player who doesn’t hit for a lot of average or power and doesn’t make a big impact on either defense or the basepaths. Still he’s posted a .389 combined on-base percentage at the Triple-A level, and as a pinch-rally-starter and backup leadoff hitter, he could make a viable spare outfielder. . . |
If you think that sounds a lot like the guy they released your right. Both Boggs and Parraz are players who were almost but not quite a major league talent. It seems the Braves tired of the Parraz experiment and decided to shuffle the deck chairs by bringing in Boggs. Maybe he’ll have an Angel Pagan type epiphany, but it’s unlikely.