The
Atlanta Braves enter the 2018 campaign having endured four straight losing seasons and three straight seasons of at least 90 losses. Those struggles have been largely by design, as the Braves have undertook a deep rebuild from which they're just starting to emerge. While another sub-.500 effort is probably in the offing, they're ready to build around what may be the best farm system in baseball. New GM Alex Anthopoulos's task is to sort out the best long-term pieces while positioning the roster to contend as soon as 2019.
As for 2018, let's break it down ...
The Acuna question
After completely dominating the high minors last season and then walloping pitch after pitch in spring training,
Ronald Acuna -- perhaps the top prospect in all of baseball -- is without question ready for the highest level. That's especially the case considering it's Preston Tucker who's in essence blocking his path to Atlanta. Obviously, the Braves are
manipulating Acuna's service time in order to gain an extra year of control over him. That's rational from the standpoint of management, as the Braves aren't likely to contend this season. However, it very much goes against the principle of baseball being some kind of meritocracy.
Acuna absolutely deserves to be on the active roster, and he's proved himself to be ready for the majors. Instead of getting what he deserves, though, the Braves are pretending he needs two weeks of time at Triple-A.
After April 13, the Braves will have that extra year of control, and soon after that point you can expect Acuna to be promoted to Atlanta. That means he's in line for almost a full season in the bigs, which means he remains a frontrunner for NL Rookie of the Year honors and all the rest. The mystery is why the MLBPA, fresh off a similar fiasco involving
Kris Bryantand the
Cubs, didn't seek to address this during the last round of CBA negotiations. As Acuna demonstrates, players are still paying for that faulty prioritizing.
Upside in the middle infield
Acuna rightly gets the most attention among the Braves' multitude of young players, but don't sleep on the middle infield. Second baseman Ozzie Albies is still just 21 years of age, and he acquitted himself very nicely in a 57-game look last season (112 OPS+ and eight steals over that span). Albies showed advanced on-base skills coming up through the minors, and coming into the 2017 campaign both MLB and Baseball America tabbed him as the No. 11 overall prospect in baseball. Obviously, Albies has a high ceiling.
Let us also not forget about shortstop Dansby Swanson. Swanson in his rookie season of 2017 struggled badly (69 OPS+), but bear in mind he's still just 24 years of age. Also bear in mind that Swanson was a consensus top-five overall prospect going into that rookie season. To be sure, 2018 is a critical season for him, but it's far too soon forget about him. Swanson was not so long ago one of the best prospects in the game.
I'm hoping he pulls it together but if not I'm keeping Ruiz at 3B and sliding Camargo into SS
