The Atlanta Braves Center Field Shuffle

With Mel Upton Jr. on the DL and unlikely to play until May, the Braves are shuffling the baseball cards to choose who starts opening day in center field  The question is, without an obvious king has someone stacked the deck?

Look at me, I could be in center field

Since the departure of Andruw Jones following the 2007 season 20 different players have manned center field for at least one game. Barring something unexpected this year will see more of the same. Upton was going to be the man on opening day until he injured his foot, now the race appears to be between Eury Perez, Todd Cunningham and Eric Young Jr. There was talk of  Zoilo Almonte but he’s a center fielder in the same way Matt Diaz was a center fielder so let’s forget him.

Jeff posted his perspective on the position and our sister site Grading on the Curve gave their view; both chose Cunningham as the ultimate winner based on his longevity in the organization and skillset. Quinn Barry put it this way.

"I think Cunningham’s relationship with the Braves and balanced package (of skills)will earn him the Opening Day nod alongside Johnny Gomes and Markakis."

The Braves aren’t very high on Cunningham or wouldn’t have brought in Young (in particular) or Perez.  Without them the Braves had enough fourth outfielder type candidates to go with Upton Jr. and Nick Markakis. I think the signings indicate the Braves doubt Cunningham will hit enough to stay and prefer the speed of Perez or Young so let’s look at those two.

The Suspects Candidates

Eury Perez (25) is a a center fielder by trade. Of his 698 minor league appearances 585 were in center as were six of his seven major league appearances. He’s a plus defender in center with an above average arm. Offensively Perez isn’t a power guy but has a quick bat and .384 minor league OBP largely due to his speed as he’s a free swinger who seldom walks. On base he’s serious stolen base threat with what Baseball America (subscription required) called “double plus speed, a tool that sometimes draws 80 grades” on the 20-80 scouting scale.

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BoSox Injection

EY Jr. is a journeyman utility player. He started as a second baseman but his defense wasn’t up to standard there and transitioned to a fourth outfielder. In his career he’s played mostly left with just 42 games in center and wasn’t particularly good there. He was known to take bad routes and have trouble reading the ball off the bat.

Like Perez his game is built on speed and though Perez is probably faster EY has major league experience as a successful base stealer totaling 76 steals in 93 attempts in the last two seasons. He strikes out near league average and doesn’t walk a lot either and with an OBP .318 over the past three seasons isn’t exactly an on base machine either.

From that it would appear Perez would get the first hard look but managers fall in love with players and play them in spite of their obvious shortcomings, it has always been thus. This spring it appears the Fredi Gonzalez has a man crush on Eric Young Jr. as the former Met has started in every game so far instead of Perez.

So far Young is 2 for 11 with a homer, a walk, a strikeout and three stolen bases against the spring starters and early pitchers. He’s also made some nice plays in center including starting a relay today to throw out Tony Gwynn Jr. at third as he tried to stretch a double into a triple.

For Perez the numbers are very similar. He’s 3 for 11 with a walk and a strikeout and two runs scored mostly against second half of the game pitchers. All of the hopefuls numbers are below.

The usual ‘this is spring training’ and“sample size’ warnings apply here; rarely do early spring numbers correlate with seasonal production.

That’s A Wrap

While spring lineups mean almost nothing, starting regularly ahead of your rival does. Young’s consistent presence in center to start games points to Gonzalez and the Braves favoring him right now. Having said that we are still a month away and EY is notoriously streaky and injuries happen so nothing is decided yet. Cedric Hunter looks to be receding into the sunset quickly however so I suspect he’s as good as out.

EY’s homer today makes his OPS look a lot better than it really is – sample size  is the culprit. Young and Perez are essentially the same player with EY having the slight advantage of being a switch hitter with virtually equal splits and major league experience.

Watching this small positional battle should keep us busy while we wait to see if another signing (Hector Olivera) or trade may happen. Stay tuned here at the the Take and we’ll keep you up to date.

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