Atlanta Braves: William Contreras Has to Be in the Lineup Every Day
The Atlanta Braves offense as a whole seems to be clicking. But William Contreras needs to be a part of that equation every day for the foreseeable future.
Players will go through hot and cold streaks during a season. And William Contreras is currently as hot as anyone can be for the Atlanta Braves right now.
The hard part for a manager is recognizing early when a player is on a hot streak and putting them in a position where they can be impactful.
For example, if your normal seven-hole hitter is starting to heat up, you might want to move him to the top of the order for better run production.
On the flip side, it’s the job of the manager to recognize when that hot streak is coming to an end.
Right now it’s pretty obvious that William Contreras is still in the middle of a two-week hot streak, and Snitker needs to continue to play that card.
In the month of May, he slashed .280/.379/.640 with 5 home runs and 8 walks in just 50 at-bats.
Over his last 10 games, he’s 13-33 (.394) with 5 doubles and 3 home runs.
He has an OPS on the season of 1.094. That doesn’t seem sustainable when you consider his .759 OPS in the minors, but again, the kid is on fire.
We’ve always known the bat is there for Contreras.
Over the last two seasons at Triple-A, he’s slashed .291/.345/.435 with 9 home runs in 57 games.
The only real question on Contreas has been his defense behind the plate. He has grown tremendously in that area this year.
Atlanta has even tried to work him into the lineup as an outfielder, but that didn’t go great.
He’ll likely get another shot out there as they have to find ways to get his bat in the lineup.
That’s tougher to do when he’s a catcher as he’s going to catch once or twice a week.
The designated hitter helps out a ton, but Ronald Acuna Jr. is taking up that spot on a lot of days until he gets fully healthy, which may not ever happen this season.
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Bottom line is, the kid is on fire and needs to be in the lineup pretty much every day until this hot streak comes to an end.