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How Atlanta Braves position players stack up in the NL East: shortstop

By Alan Carpenter

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 22: Trea Turner #7 of the Washington Nationals makes a leaping throw to first to retire Kevin Plawecki #26 of the New York Mets not pictured during the seventh inning at Nationals Park on September 22, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 22: Trea Turner #7 of the Washington Nationals makes a leaping throw to first to retire Kevin Plawecki #26 of the New York Mets not pictured during the seventh inning at Nationals Park on September 22, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) /
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ATLANTA, GA – JUNE 29: Head Groundskeeper Ed Mangin of the Atlanta Braves waters down the infield before the game against the Cleveland Indians at Turner Field on June 29, 2016 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA – JUNE 29: Head Groundskeeper Ed Mangin of the Atlanta Braves waters down the infield before the game against the Cleveland Indians at Turner Field on June 29, 2016 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images) /

We’re continuing with our series in ranking the Braves’ starting roster against our NL East rivals.  Today we stop at short.

The shortstop position is a very difficult one to gauge – and nowhere more so than with the Atlanta Braves.

There are few ‘elite’ shortstops around – those who can combine power with skill at the position in the field.  You can identify them rather quickly in fact:  current names like Lindor, Baez, Seager, Turner, Correa, and Simmons.

One of those names resides in the NL East… and we’ll get to that in the ratings discussion later.  Until then, let’s review the team performances from 2018:

  • Nationals – 4.8 fWAR (4th in the National League)
  • Braves – 1.9 fWAR (7th)
  • Marlins – 1.1 (10th)
  • Phillies – 0.7 (12th)
  • Mets – 0.6 (13th of 15)

The best of the NL were the Cubs, Dodgers, and Rockies in that order (6.8, 6.0, 5.3).  The worst was Milwaukee at a -1.7 (as a team, their shortstops hit .215 with an OPS of .579), but there’s a fairly sharp division between the “haves” (The Top 3) and the “have nots” at this position.

The best defenders at the position in the league – by the metrics –  were the Marlins and then the Braves.  Arizona, Chicago, and Washington followed closely behind.

The worst?  The Mets… with the only negative defensive rating score in the league.

That defensive result is a clear testament to the work Dansby Swanson had put in with Ron Washington… and it certainly helped his overall WAR numbers while also providing a boost for his pitchers.

The Lineup for 2019

Here are the roster assignments that we’re anticipating at shortstop for the NL East for this up-coming season (with their backups):

Before we launch into the shortstop rankings, here’s a set of links to the positions rankings we’ve already presented in the past couple of weeks:

With that introduction, let’s break it down…

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