Atlanta Braves: could an outfield platoon work?
The Atlanta Braves re-inked Nick Markakis to a 1-year deal for the 2020 season… but it already looks to be a different season than that past five.
On Monday, the Atlanta Braves signed a 14-year MLB veteran outfielder with over 2,350 career hits and a .288 batting average.
They also can’t trade him without his consent (he has ’10-and-5′ rights now)… though it’s pretty likely that the team doesn’t have that in mind.
No, the Braves seem to have a different plan for Nick Markakis this year – one that would reduce his role but could make the team more productive in the meantime.
Markakis has been a full-time outfielder virtually since he first laced up his cleats for the Baltimore Orioles way back in 2006. Since then he’s matched or exceeded 155 games per year on eleven occasions.
The exceptions? His first season, 2012, and this past season – one in which he suffered a late broken wrist from a pitched ball.
He’s been a model of consistency… never hitting worse than .269 and usually within shouting distance of that .288 career mark.
So why platoon? Because it will probably help the offense.
In 2019, Markakis hit .298 against right-handed pitching with a 112 runs-created (wRC+) mark and an .816 OPS. He also reached base at a strong .371 clip. Those numbers would have been quite competitive with Ozzie Albies‘ marks this season.
On the Flip Side
Against lefties? Not so good… 71 wRC+, .653 OPS while hitting just .245 with a .310 OBP.
That wasn’t all so bad, since the ratio of RHP to LHP was 3:1 this past year. But it does add up… particularly when the opposition chooses to bring in a southpaw in late game situations.
This hasn’t always been the case, but the spread widened considerably in 2019 (his 2018 OPS split was .828 vs. .765, for example) and has become a liability.
So yes – Markakis is a platoon candidate.
He may not be the only one
Ender Inciarte hasn’t exactly had the best of years at the plate in either 2018 or 2019, but he also exhibits a bit of a platoon split.
His case may be more difficult, owing to his defensive prowess, but to be honest… he needs to hit better period, and a healthy 2020 would go a long way toward determining how Brian Snitker wants to arrange his outfielder come next Spring.
All that brings us to Adam Duvall.
Duvall would be the projected platoon tag-team partner of Markakis that the Braves are undoubtedly considering for 2020.
Whether that happens in left or right field remains an open question, but the numbers don’t lie:
Adam Duvall, right-hand hitter:
- .333 against southpaws
- .235 against right-handers
The numbers go on from there: .386 OBP, .744 slugging (!), 1.130 OPS, 178 wRC+. Yes, that’s against lefties.
Against right-handers, he’s about as bad as Inciarte was, period. Duvall should probably never hit against a right-handed pitcher. He’s kind of like Matt Diaz… only more so.
Together… this Frankenstein combination of “Dukakis” might be tough to stop – an OPS over .900 with consistency that could make them MVP candidates… if that were possible.
It would be like inserting another Josh Donaldson in the lineup (or – if things go badly – a replacement Donaldson in the lineup).
So if you’re wondering why the Atlanta Braves brought Nick Markakis back for one more season… that’s it.
The numbers don’t lie… so it’s likely we’ll go ‘Up, Up, and Away’ in our beautiful platoon.