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Love him or hate him, Atlanta Braves are a better team with Ender Inciarte

By Jake Mastroianni

ATLANTA, GEORGIA - APRIL 01: Ender Inciarte #11 of the Atlanta Braves rounds second base after hitting a solo homer to lead off the first inning against the Chicago Cubs on April 01, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GEORGIA - APRIL 01: Ender Inciarte #11 of the Atlanta Braves rounds second base after hitting a solo homer to lead off the first inning against the Chicago Cubs on April 01, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
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MIAMI, FLORIDA – AUGUST 09: Ronald Acuna Jr. #13 of the Atlanta Braves celebrates with Ender Inciarte #11 after hitting a two-run home run in the fifth inning against the Miami Marlins at Marlins Park on August 09, 2019 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
MIAMI, FLORIDA – AUGUST 09: Ronald Acuna Jr. #13 of the Atlanta Braves celebrates with Ender Inciarte #11 after hitting a two-run home run in the fifth inning against the Miami Marlins at Marlins Park on August 09, 2019 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /

One of the hottest topics among Atlanta Braves fans this year has been the play of Ender Inciarte and if he belongs on this team.

The Atlanta Braves center fielder is a bit of an enigma as he can be such a spark plug at times, but he tends to struggle out of the gate.

In his career, he’s hitting .259 in the first half of seasons and .314 in second halves.

And we’ve pretty much seen that be the case in his time with the Atlanta Braves, and to some, it is very frustrating.

This season it seemed to be amplified and Braves fans jumped all over him. There aren’t many Braves fans left on Twitter who he hasn’t blocked.

Brian Snitker placed him at the top of the lineup to start the year in what he has even admitted was a dumb decision. Ronald Acuña Jr. is our leadoff hitter for now and forevermore.

But even more than that, it put a lot of pressure on Ender to produce out of the gate, which we all know he struggles with.

Hindsight is always 20/20, but who knows if you start the season with Ender in the eight-hole if things play out differently.

But as it happened, he hit under .200 for most of the first month of the season and peaked at .237 on May 3 before dropping to .218 by May 14 and then going on the IL for two months.

I am someone who was a big believer of Ender Inciarte entering the season and even wrote an article about he and Dansby Swanson being the two most important players for the Atlanta Braves offense in 2019.

And even after his early-season struggles, I was writing about why the Atlanta Braves need to keep him when everyone was trying to trade him.

I’m not saying that to toot my horn now that Ender is having an impact, but there is a reason why I think he can still make a huge impact on this team.

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