Grading the work of Alex Anthopoulos and the Atlanta Braves front office
By Bill Felber
Farm system
With his focus on extending all that young talent at hand, Anthopoulos dedicated only minor effort to mining new talent.
That was a clear departure from previous seasons. Just last year the system yielded Harris, Grissom. Contreras, and Strider.
This season’s rookies are less glamorous; in fact, none of them have done better than ride the major-minor shuttle, and none are currently active. That’s probably because none of the four have produced a positive contribution; on an Anthopoulos team you don’t stay around long doing that.
The longest look went to starting pitcher Jared Shuster. Called up in April and again in May, he made nine problematic starts resulting in a 4-2 record but a 5.00 ERA. Shuster got 45 innings of experience, amounting to a -0.2 WAA.
Dylan Dodd has gotten frequent bus miles between Atlanta and Triple-A Gwinnett. With the big team, he’s made five appearances resulting in a 7.40 ERA in 24 innings and a -0.7 WAA.
The other system products are pitcher A.J. Smith-Shawver and shortstop Braden Shewmake. Neither stayed long and neither was much good while they were up.
As a unit, the four have handicapped the Braves’ 2023 progress to the tune of -1.2 WAA. That’s not enough to threaten the team’s grasp on first place, but against all the good stuff Anthopoulos has done it does stand out.