Braves: William Contreras could be obvious trade bait this offseason

We take a look at why Atlanta Braves catching prospect William Contreras could be trade bait this offseason.

Going into the 2019 season it was pretty clear that William Contreras was the catcher of the future for the Atlanta Braves.

But after they took Shea Langeliers with the ninth overall pick in last year’s draft, to me that showed a change in how the team views Contreras.

I’m not saying you can’t have two very good catching prospects in your system because you never know how each one is going to adjust as they move up.

However, you don’t invest that much in Langeliers unless you feel like he’s going to be your catcher of the future.

And I’m of the belief that a good catching duo involves a young, every day catcher that catches 130 games and a veteran to back him up who can catch 30-40 games.

That’s exactly what the Philadelphia Phillies did with J.T. Realmuto last year as he started 130 games at catcher and back-up Andrew Knapp started 30.

Obviously that’s a little bit of a different situation as Realmuto is an All-Star catcher, but I still feel that’s the best situation to have at catcher.

But I have to admit, Atlanta has done a great job the last four of five years of keeping two veteran catchers and having them split duties with success.

That can’t be the case with Langeliers and Contreras though — both of them need to be the primary back-stop and I choose Langeliers.

Contreras has fallen out of favor after a disappointing 2019 season in which he hit just .255/.315 with 6 home runs between High-A and Double-A in 381 at-bats. And his averages were even worse at Double-A.

MLB.com currently ranks Contreras as the eighth-best Braves prospect, while our current rankings dropped him all the way to 23.

His bat hasn’t developed the power that many hoped it would, and while he has a great arm he’s not considered an elite defender.

But he still has a ton of value and upside and that is why he could be great trade bait this offseason.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have been rumored to want a catching prospect for Starling Marte, and a straight-up trade for Contreras could get it done.

With teams desperate for young catching help, and Atlanta now having a bit of a surplus, now is the best time for them to capitalize on Contreras’ value and trade him.