Atlanta Braves: Team preview and prediction for 2020 season

Atlanta Braves: Team preview and prediction for 2020

What might put the Atlanta Braves over the top in their lineup is the addition of Marcell Ozuna. They brought in the very guy who was leading the Cardinals team that eliminated them in last year’s NLDS. Ozuna mashed 29 homers last season and stepped up big time for the Cards as it took Paul Goldschmidt a little while to get going. Ozuna was the big bat in that Cardinals lineup and now the Braves have him to be their everyday left fielder.

On top of Ozuna, the additions of Travis d’Arnaud as the starting catcher and Adeiny Hechavarria as a utility infielder are going to come in handy. The catcher’s position wasn’t terribly productive on offense last year and a big need the Braves needed coming into 2020 was an infielder coming off the bench with them dropping Charlie Culberson from the 40-man (though Culberson could very well make the team again out of Spring Training).

They lose Josh Donaldson to free agency, the fact that they have Austin Riley on the come-up certainly eases the blow. Riley was a very good teammate last year playing 58 of 80 games in left field with Donaldson anchoring third base. And with the power numbers and high ceiling Riley has, more playing time in his natural position should, by all means, expose his potential. He’s competing with Johan Camargo who is having a very nice Spring himself, but judging by what went on last year, there’s a very good chance Camargo will find himself back in Triple-A at some point opening the door wide for Riley to seize the role.

There’s a concern of how will Ender Inciarte rebound after a tough 2019 marred by injuries on top of poor performance. Inciarte is marked as the starting center fielder, which should slide Acuna Jr. over to right and Nick Markakis to the bench, but the fact that the Braves held on to Inciarte tells you all you need to know about how much they think of him moving forward. They could’ve very easily dropped him this offseason, but instead, he’s still on board and one of the prime veterans Nick Markakis is probably going to see himself a brand new bench role in 2020.

But no matter, this Braves lineup is one of the strongest in baseball and it’s led primarily by youth, which makes it highly possible we see this group win a handful of division titles and maybe even a World Series at some point. They have hitters stacked 1-8 in the order and they have one of the best middle infield pairs in all of the game in Ozzie Albies and Dansby Swanson, both of whom are also becoming major threats at the plate. This group is in a great spot.