Atlanta Braves: Top Bounce-back Candidates for 2020
By Seth Carter
While Josh Donaldson brought the rain to the Atlanta Braves in 2020, there were a handful players who were caught in the storm without an umbrella.
The Atlanta Braves still have some holes to fill in free agency, particularly at starting pitcher, catcher and third base. Signing free agents is not the only way to improve the team.
Getting a bounce-back season from a player or two can feel like a major addition. Adding two or three major pieces along with having a player or two who have ‘come back to life’ equals an exponential difference in roster quality.
Josh Donaldson’s umbrella-carrying ways still couldn’t keep out all of the praise being rained down upon him for his 2019 comeback. But the players we are covering in this article were more like news reporters in the middle of a hurricane who get smacked upside the head by a stop sign, or a fish.
In this piece we will cover some of the Atlanta Braves’ own major bounce-back candidates for 2020. These are players whose numbers did not live up to their track records.
Some can hopefully be blamed on injuries, some cannot. No matter who we sign in free agency, there is no doubt if these three players bounce back to form in 2020, it could be equivalent to a major addition to the roster.
A team has its heroes, its peasants, warriors and fallen warriors. We need to bring some of those fallen warriors back to life to maximize our mid-level payroll. So, in the spirit of Warcraft, here is a look at three of the players we hope the Mage of the Braves will bring back from the dead as the warrior-zombies we need to tomahawk-chop our way through the NL East and the postseason in 2020.
Without further ado… here are three bounce-back candidates for the Atlanta Braves.