Atlanta Braves 2017 Season Review and Offseason Preview

Catchers hitting

Coming into 2017, starter Tyler Flowers had a career line of .232/.302/.384 and backup Kurt Suzuki had a .256/.311/.372 line over his career. Over their combined careers, the Braves catchers had hit a home run every 41.9 at bats coming into the season.

In 2017, Flowers hit .281/.378/.445 with 12 home runs in 99 games while Suzuki hit .283/.351/.536 with 19 home runs over 81 games. Combined, they hit a home run every 19.1 at bats on the season.

On top of taking a position that many expected would be an offensive black hole and making it one of the lineup’s strengths, both Flowers and Suzuki played very well behind the plate, with Flowers continuing to grow into one of the best framers in the game while Suzuki did very well handling knuckle-baller R.A. Dickey.

Young hitter performances

Not every young hitter that came up from the minor leagues performed well, but it was very pleasing to see the performance of a number of young players that came up for the Braves over the season.

Ozzie Albies only got 57 games at the big league level, but he made a big impression in that short time, hitting .286/.354/.456 with 9 doubles, 5 triples, 6 home runs, and 8 stolen bases.

Johan Camargo also hit very well as a rookie, playing around the infield. The switch-hitter showed his changed approach at the plate in hitting .299/.331/.452 with 21 doubles, 2 triples, and 4 home runs over 82 games.

While he was an “older” rookie at 27, the emergence of Lane Adams as the fourth outfielder was a very positive development for the Braves in 2017. While an excellent Twitter follow and a sharp guy off of the field, Adams had not had much chance to show his skills on the field at the major league level before 2017, when he hit .275/.339/.468 over 85 games and 122 plate appearances, hitting 5 home runs and stealing 10 bases.

Young pitcher performances

The focus of the Atlanta Braves’ rebuild has been on pitching, and they got to see the first wave of the top arms of that rebuild begin to filter into the major leagues this season.

Lefty Sean Newcomb got the most time at the major league level, getting 19 starts, throwing exactly 100 major league innings, with a 4.32 ERA, 1.57 WHIP, and a 57/108 BB/K ratio. He did struggle with control issues, but he showed excellent raw stuff, as evidenced by getting over a K/9.

Lefties Luiz Gohara and Max Fried each got a selection of starts over the season, combining for just 55 innings, and while their ERA wasn’t great, Gohara showed impressive stuff, with an 8/31 BB/K ratio over 29 1/3 innings, and Fried really finished strong, posting a 3.81 ERA total in his 26 innings.

Relievers Dan Winkler and A.J. Minter are expected to be important parts of the 2018 Atlanta Braves bullpen. Winkler posted a 2.51 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, and a 6/18 BB/K over 14 1/3 innings. Minter showed electric stuff, posting a 3.00 ERA and 0.96 WHIP, but showing out with a 2/26 BB/K ratio over 15 innings.

Veteran Pitchers Blowing Up

The Atlanta Braves intended to have their pitching staff slowly guide in their young prospects to the major league roster over 2017, and to help that transition along, the front office brought in three veteran starters to fill out the rotation, likely assuming one or more would become trade fodder in the mid-summer. Instead, Bartolo Colon was so bad that he was released with an 8.14 ERA after 13 starts.

Bullpen veterans were not much better. The Braves had veteran closer Jim Johnson to anchor their bullpen until he posted a 5.56 ERA and 1.48 WHIP. Rex Brothers and Eric O’Flaherty were brought in as lefty specialists, but combined for a 7.50 ERA and 1.52 WHIP over 42 innings over 49 appearances.

Last, but not least, while he didn’t have a terrible season, by any means, Julio Teheran struggled for his standard of production, producing a 4.49 ERA and 1.37 WHIP over 32 starts and 188 1/3 innings with a 72/151 BB/K ratio.

Early season struggles of Dansby Swanson

Swanson was a preseason favorite for the National League Rookie of the Year award. He has good contact skills with solid power and speed with a personality that was thought to be a great presence in the Braves lineup for years to come.

Instead, at the end of May, Swanson was hitting .185/.272/.287 with 10 extra base hits and just one stolen base, with a 22/50 BB/K ratio. He did rebound in June, but inconsistent playing time led to some struggles again in July, and he was sent to AAA for a short time in late July/early August.

Swanson did finish the season with a .268/.360/.348 line, not getting the gap power that he usually showed, but he did show much better work with zone control, posting a 24/36 BB/K over the last 49 games he played.

MLB Investigation

The big news the day after the season was the sudden resignation of General Manager John Coppolella. Coppy, as he was widely known in the game, was reportedly accused of completing violations of the international signing rules for MLB, which led to his immediate resignation, as well as the resignation of the international director Gordon Blakely.

Coppy had built a tremendous farm system through trades, drafts, and international signings, and there is some significant concern that some of that may have been acquired through less than legal means, per baseball’s rules. More importantly, the issues that led to Coppy’s resignation brings instability into the organization at a time when it looked to be headed toward a significant step forward.

General Manager

Obviously, there’s not a whole lot more that can go on before the general manager situation is resolved. John Hart is currently acting as interim general manager from his post as president of baseball operations, but he also doesn’t have a contract for 2018 currently, so it is entirely feasible that the Braves could pursue a pair of front office leaders, one to take the president’s role, with a younger GM to work with that person.

The big name that is being rumored currently is former Atlanta Braves assistant GM Dayton Moore, who has worked as Kansas City’s main man since 2006. However, the Royals have really come through the build that Moore led on that franchise, and to remain there would likely mean heading into another rebuild with the organization. He has a tailor-made General Manager candidate in his top assistant in Kansas City, J.J. Picollo.

Of course, if not Moore, there would be many who would be interested in the job with a young core like the Braves have, but likely they would want to see how the MLB investigation works out before diving into the job.

Bullpen

The Braves have built up tremendous depth in their minor league system in starting pitching, and a handful of those arms found their way to the major leagues in 2017. The starting rotation next season will likely be focused around Julio Teheran, Mike Foltynewicz, and likely three arms in their first full season. That will make the bullpen a high priority in 2018.

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Currently, the only reliever that is under contract is Jim Johnson, though the Braves very well may eat the $5M remaining on his contract to let him go this offseason. That would leave Arodys Vizcaino, Ian Krol, and Dan Winkler as arbitration eligible. Krol could be a non-tender candidate, but it’s quite likely that the team brings back Vizcaino as the closer and Winkler as an important part of the bullpen.

It would not be surprising at all if the Braves chose to use one of their young starter arms in a swing/relief role, and they have a couple of young relievers in Akeel Morris and Corbin Clouse that could be knocking on the door very soon, and 2016-2017 offseason acquisitions Jacob Lindgrin and Jesse Biddle both could contribute from the left side.

With that understood, the team could dip into the free agent market, and there should be plenty of payroll room to do such. That would make the Braves a good candidate to make a run at Wade Davis, Addison Reed, and/or Bryan Shaw to work in their bullpen as veteran back-end relievers.

Next: Braves Coppy Resigns

Move either/both of Kemp and Markakis

The biggest need for the Braves this offseason could actually be a situation where they don’t need to acquire a player but instead need to remove someone from the roster.

The Atlanta Braves have arguably the top prospect in the game in Ronald Acuna, one of the best young outfielders in the entire game, and he’s really going to be ready in the spring to make the jump to the major leagues. However, the Braves currently have $68.6M in 2018 contracts on the books, and just short of $35M of that is committed to Matt Kemp, Nick Markakis, and Ender Inciarte. Most likely, the Braves will want to move at least one of Kemp or Markakis to make room for Acuna at the major league level.

Many teams invest money in a free agent bat to improve their lineup. The Atlanta Braves very well may make the most impact by investing money to entice another team to take Kemp or Markakis to get Acuna’s bat and defense on the team.