There are many stories involving the Braves coming up to the All-Star break, but none is more intricate than the one about what to do at shortstop.
Orlando Arcia, an offensive zero who has played below average defense, has been the worst qualified player in baseball for almost three months. An excerpt from an essay I wrote about how Orlando Arcia has somehow been worse than as horrible you think he has been so far this season. However, the Braves haven’t been keen to swap him out for Nacho Alvarez, their rising farm star.
Alvarez, who was recently promoted to AAA, is quickly emerging as one of baseball’s top 100 prospects. In just 23 games, he is hitting.323, with six home runs and a.963 OPS. Although the sample size is small, throughout his minor-league career, he has demonstrated a penchant for being able to get on base at a high rate. It’s realistic to anticipate that he will be more offensively proficient than Orlando Arcia has been this season, at the absolute least.
Still, it’s not that simple. Even though Arcia’s defense has declined recently, he is still considered an above-average player, which is important at a position like shortstop, particularly with Ozzie Albies playing terrible defense at second base. The Braves don’t want a disaster-class defensive middle in back of their pitching staff, and not everyone has what it takes to play shortstop in the major leagues, as Vaughn Grissom showed a year ago.
The circumstances surrounding Nacho Alvarez this year bear a striking resemblance to those surrounding Vaughn Grissom a few years prior. Grissom lost a lot of trade value and his confidence when the Braves pushed him into the shortstop position too soon. In the end, everything worked out since Grissom was traded for Chris Sale, who is pitching for the Braves like a Cy Young, but it’s obvious that the team isn’t willing to trade Alvarez for another player.
That’s probably the reason Alex Anthopoulos hasn’t terminated Orlando Arcia just yet. Alvarez’s trade value is at its highest point to date right now. That trade value will significantly decline if he emerges and is unable to play shortstop defensively. The Braves would be left with their hands bound as well. Everybody in baseball would know that Alvarez wouldn’t have a place to play in Atlanta.
While it’s probably preferable for the Braves to keep Alvarez in Gwinnett as long as possible, they might be forced to give him a chance if they don’t get a shortstop before the trade deadline.
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