5 Atlanta Braves who must step up in the 2023 season
The Atlanta Braves are coming off of a disappointing 2022 season that saw the team upset in the first round by their division rivals. While it was clear that the Phillies got hot at the perfect time, the Braves had reason to feel over the course of the entire season they were clearly the superior team.
Despite the rough ending to the season, the Braves are still defending division champs and have reason to believe they can be World Series contenders again a season after winning it all.
For the Atlanta Braves to get back to this level, however, they will need key contributors to step up their level of production in 2023.
This isn’t referring to Matt Olsen, Ozzie Albies, Max Fried, Austin Riley, Ronald Acuña Jr., or Kyle Wright who have all established a level of consistency.
Atlanta is clearly the division favorite with this level of talent alone. However, for the team to win it all they will need unexpected players to step up just as Joc Pederson, Jorge Soler, and Eddie Rosario did at the end of the 2021 season.
It wasn’t simply the Braves stars that fueled their World Series run, but unexpected contributors and veterans stepping up their level of production. For the Braves, this needs to happen throughout the 2023 season to contend for another title starting with a veteran who clearly took a step back last season.
1. Charlie Morton
A year after being a major part of Atlanta’s World Series run, Morton took a step back finishing the year with a 4.34 ERA and didn’t bring the same level of consistency as the veteran brought in his first season with Atlanta.
At 39, it is difficult to know what level Morton is still capable of reaching. Part of this regression could well be attached to the previous season as well.
Morton breaking his leg and continuing to get outs was a performance that makes the pitcher a legendary part of Braves history. Despite being pulled 16 pitches later, Morton was a huge reason Atlanta was able to make the World Series and found the resilience to continue to win after the injury.
Now more than a year removed from the injury, will Morton return to the level of production he gave Atlanta in his first season? Serious injuries take time to bounce back from both physically and mentally. Perhaps with a full and healthy offseason, Morton will return to the pitcher he was in the 2021 season.
With Kyle Wright dealing with an injury to start the year and only question marks past Max Fried and Spencer Strider, it would be a much-needed boost to the Atlanta rotation.
2. Orlando Arcia
Arguably the most heated debate for Atlanta Braves fans during the offseason and throughout spring training was how to replace current Chicago Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson. Replacing Swanson was expected to happen in free agency or perhaps by putting Vaughn Grissom in a new position.
Instead, after a battle throughout the spring, Atlanta decided to move forward with Arcia as the starting shortstop. It was a surprising decision considering Arcia isn’t known for his ability at the plate. However, considering the clear defensive upside it makes a level of sense.
While Grissom may still earn a shot at being the starting shortstop, for now, Arcia is tasked with replacing Swanson and that comes with a level of responsibility. Go ahead and pencil Arcia in ninth in the Atlanta Braves order, but the focus here isn’t on the offensive value but playing at a consistent level in the field.
If Arcia can play at a high level until Grissom proves ready to take over and hit close to or slightly above his career .243 average, the Braves will be surprisingly solid despite making the odd decision of moving forward with Arcia.
3. Marcell Ozuna
This isn’t to debate whether or not Ozuna should still be on Atlanta’s roster or whether or not the team made the right decision allowing the outfielder to return but dealing with the reality that Ozuna will be a contributor in 2023.
Marcell started out as a much-needed power source hitting 18 homers and batting .338 in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. Ozuna followed this up by hitting .213 and .226 over the past two seasons hitting thirty homers in the two years combined.
If Ozuna can get anywhere close to the level he played in the 2020 season or in his seasons with the Cardinals the Braves lineup has an argument as the best in the league.
Marcell is here for one simple reason, to hit the ball a long way and drive in base runners. His defense has regressed throughout his career and left Ozuna as a below-average left fielder. The Braves are going to give the outfielder consistent chances to attempt to find the form he showed during the 2020 season.
If Ozuna can return to this level or even be the productive hitter he was with the Marlins and Cardinals the Braves lineup alone could carry them on another World Series run.
4. Eddie Rosario
Let’s be realistic … Eddie Rosario isn’t the hitter the veteran turned into during Atlanta’s series against the Dodgers in the NLCS. It was an otherworldly display that has Rosario going down in Atlanta sports lore alongside Joc Pederson and Jorge Soler.
What those three players did for the city of Atlanta cannot be understated. However, the focus remains on what is ahead, and, being realistic, Rosario isn’t turning into that hitter over the course of a full season.
Realistic expectations should be for Rosario to return to the career .270 hitter he has been and not the liability the outfielder was on offense at times during the 2022 season. Rosario is far too good to have another season as awful as the 2022 campaign.
Far more realistic than Ozuna returning to form is Rosario turning back into the player he has been his entire career before struggling last season. Looking at his history in the league, it says the 2022 season was the outlier and Rosario will be back to giving Atlanta consistency at the plate.
5. A.J. Minter
What Brian Snitker chooses to do starting the year for the final three to four innings of games remains unclear with Kenley Jansen now with Boston and Raisel Iglesias starting the year on the injured list. The Atlanta bullpen will look a bit different start the year and the obvious player that needs to step up is A.J. Minter.
Minter has had an up-and-down career but has brought a level of consistency over the past three seasons and remains one of Atlanta’s most important arms. With a rotation that, when healthy, will have Morton, Strider, Wright, and Fried, the Atlanta bullpen should often be fresh even in today’s pitch count age.
To begin the year, however, as starters finish stretching out and Atlanta attempts to get fully healthy there is arguably no reliever more important than A.J. Minter.
Minter is Atlanta’s most likely closer for the first weeks of the season a position Atlanta could opt to keep the reliever in leaving Iglesias in the same role as the previous season if Minter is able to mentally take the next step as a closer.