If I had a guess, Rob’s favorite player is likely Spencer Strider. He just feels like the no nonsense type that walks on the mound, doesn’t give a s*it, and gets things done. However, Rob has also had a love affair with Forrest Wall for quite some time, and there is no mistaking what Wall has done in the early stages of spring training to prove his worth.
*WARNING…SPRING TRAINING HOT TAKES ARE COMING*
Forrest Wall’s Spring Training
First off, Wall looks to have lowered his hands a bit this offseason which has helped him stay in the zone and increase his loft on the ball. While none of his HRs have come with insanely high exit velocities, his loft has been just enough to clear the fence 3 times (think Ozzie Albies). In camp thus far, Wall is carrying a 1.596 OPS. While that’s highly unsustainable and pitchers are way behind position players at the moment, adding some power to a player that already has an elite glove and speed could very well pay off for a team that carries a strong outfield trio, but not a lot of depth.
Speaking of that elite glove….
Out the gate, Wall looks to be cemented into the 4th OFer role, and considering he’s highly capable of putting up quality defense at all 3 positions, he’ll likely be Snitker’s first choice as a regular should one of Ronald Acuna Jr., Michael Harris II, or Jarred Kelenic hit the IL.
Current and former #Braves that are out of options:
•Luis Guillorme
•Pierce Johnson
•Angel Perdomo
•Jackson Stephens
•Kyle Muller
•Sean Newcomb
•Bryse Wilson
•Evan Phillips
•Christian Bethancourt
•Michael Tonkin
•Jacob Webb
•Cristian Pache
•Sam Hilliard
•Joey Wentz
•Jay Jackson
•Touki Toussaint
Of the candidates outside the org, who do you think is back in the #Braves MiLB system before season’s end?
That is a motley crew. The only player I want back on that list is Evan Phillips. The player I liked the most of those prospects in his time here was Kyle Muller, and it’s still hard for me to believe that his mixture of athleticism, build, and velocity hasn’t panned out. He was one of the best 2-way HS baseball star to come out that year. He was good for us at every level, but he was abysmal in the hitter-friendly PCL.
I really like Forrest Wall. However, I do wonder if the Braves might prefer to carry a fourth outfielder who can bat right-handed, since they’ve already got two left-handed hitters in Kelenic and Harris. Eli White is essentially the RH version of Wall — he’s exceptionally fast (98th percentile or better in Sprint Speed in each of his qualifying seasons) and he can play all three OF positions reasonably well. He’s not going to add any value with the bat, but I doubt Wall really would, either.
Oh look, another former Brave to go all Dan Uggla on us:
https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39665951/report-eddie-rosario-nationals-agree-minor-league-deal
Those two walk-off homers by Rosario vs the Braves this year are really gonna sting.
Amazing that all he was able to get was that deal with the Nats of all teams
It is surprising for a competent 20 HR hitting corner outfielder could not get more, but the track record for Rosario minus his magical 2021 run with us is of a marginal aging starter, bordering on replacement level since 2020. I would not want to invest much in him, but it seems like someone would need a DH with pop. There’s always the possibility he turned down small MLB deals and those holes got filled before he realized he didn’t have any options.
Newcombe, Wentz, Muller, Touki. Those guys were supposed to be in our rotation right now. Crazy.
A
@dren_braves
inspired tweet:
Outside of the Orioles, there’s no other team in baseball that’s been more positively impacted by their farm than the #Braves in the last 3 years.
Strider
Harris
Elder
Shawver
Waldrep
Acquisitions:
Sale, Iglesias, Olson, Murphy, Kelenic, Bummer, Jimenez, Pierce, Kerr
For a team that’s been in the 25-30 range for their farm for those 3 years, this is truly unreal. Has AA used the farm? You bet your ass he has.
Wow, Ryan, you nailed it, and thank you for the shoutout. Yeah, I’d say Strider is definitely my favorite Brave right now, but Forrest Wall has definitely earned a spot on someone’s roster. I don’t think his minor league career suggests he deserves a starting spot somewhere, but he could be a 1-1.5 WAR bench player if used right. Defensive replacement for Kelenic in the late innings, pinch-runner in the late innings, some spot starts. He’s a former first round pick who might be finding his stride as one of the best 4th outfielders in the game.
Probably another guy Colorado ruined…
Is Joey Votto a Hall of Famer? A lot of black ink, 64 career WAR. I say yes.
100% but maybe not first ballot. Todd Helton set the bar for modern 1B and Votto leaps over it
Now Kowar has to have TJS. With that and Cole Phillips and Grissom’s injury (and Indigo Diaz too), AA is looking more and more prescient.
The Braves have enough of their own with Ian Anderson, Blake Burkhalter, JR Ritchie, Huascar Ynoa, and now Angel Perdomo. One can only hope several of those are on the down side (i.e. close to end of recovery).
I know it’s “only” spring training but Dylan Lee needs to get it together. He has not be stellar and always feels like one of the last dudes in the pen anyway
Lee needs more time to get his mojo back. With Giles going I think Stephens may be the last man standing. This year with Lopez involved, the Gwinnett shuttle for SP may included a shuttle between SP and RP for Reynaldo. I do wonder when we might see any of Giles, Lee, Daysbel, Kerr, etc… back in the majors.
Lee is only effective with some sort of mojo. I think we saw this with Ryan Weber a few years ago.
We’re not worried about Kelenic, are we? Clearly an altered swing, clearly still getting comfortable, right?
Right? 😬
I watched the game yesterday. Microscopic sample size but I liked what I saw, especially in the second at bat. He mostly got breaking balls but did a good job of laying off to get the walk. I expect him to get a ton of breaking balls out of the zone early in the year, even while batting 9th, given his past strikeout rates.
New thread.