I had questions about Vaughn when I first saw him,” Anthopoulos said (link via Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution). “ I can see how the scouting community might have questions about Vaughn. Atlanta has placed a decent amount of trust in their highly-touted young players in recent seasons, and president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos expressed optimism about the in-house candidates over the weekend.Īnthopoulos acknowledged that some have defensive concerns with Grissom but noted that well-respected infield coach Ron Washington has offered strong reviews on his offseason work. There’s no indication the Braves have explored the possibility of adding a stopgap shortstop, though. Veteran shortstop Elvis Andrus remains unsigned and would seem a viable fit on paper for a win-now Atlanta team in a competitive division. 243/.295/.369 line in just under 2200 career plate appearances. Arcia has a much longer MLB track record but owns a modest. He has just 41 MLB games under his belt and comes with some questions about his ability to handle the position defensively, as many prospect evaluators have suggested he’d be a better fit for second base or left field. Grissom, 22, is seemingly the organization’s shortstop of the future. They’ll enter the season with something of a question mark at shortstop for the first time in six years as a result.Īs things stand, shortstop looks like a two-man battle between young infielder Vaughn Grissomand utilityman Orlando Arcia. That’s why the Braves chose to roll with Arcia to begin the season, and they will continue to do so until they feel like Grissom can be a competent major-league shortstop defensively.The Braves watched Dansby Swanson depart in free agency this winter. He proved that last year with the Braves and has dominated at the plate everywhere he has played. They know Grissom can be a productive offensive player at the major-league level. However, what the Braves need to see from Grissom at the AAA level is the opposite of what they need to see from Shewmake. He has a couple of hits, including a triple, and has walked three times through two games, giving him an on-base percentage of. Grissom is also off to a promising start early on. Hopefully, this is a sign of things to come. Consistent offense is all the Braves need to see from Shewmake before they deem him ready. The sample size is mall, but if he can keep this up, it won’t be long before he’s in Atlanta. Shewmake followed it up with a two-hit performance yesterday, which included a double. 6 prospect Braden Shewmake came up clutch! He struck out his first four times up, but then this happened in the bottom of the ninth inning.įirst game of the season and they’re already hitting walk-off homers at Braves Triple-A!Ītlanta’s No. Shewmake’s first game at the plate started off a little rocky. That will play everyday of the week, and most importantly, it should have the Braves feeling comfortable about giving both Shewmake and Grissom more time in AAA, who are already making noise in Gwinnett. He’s made every play that’s been called of him defensively, which was expected, but offensively, he’s also racked up four hits and a walk over nine plate appearances. I’m not sure how long that will last, but so far, it is working out for all parties involved.Īrcia has been nearly flawless in Atlanta over two games. The club chose to roll with the veteran Orlando Arcia over Braden Shewmake and Vaughn Grissom, to the surprise of many. Without a doubt, the Braves biggest concern coming into Opening Day was at shortstop.
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