With Austin Riley, the Braves may be able to acquire the ideal Ronald Acuña Jr. replacement.
The Braves of Atlanta must quickly find a replacement for Ronald Acuña Jr., and third baseman Austin Riley might provide them with one.
There’s an unexpected benefit for the Atlanta Braves in their search for a Ronald Acuña Jr. substitute. Just over a week ago, Acuña Jr. suffered a season-ending knee injury that rendered him irreplaceable. As such, it is genuinely difficult to discover a “replacement” for one. Alex Anthopoulos, nevertheless, will give it his all.
With Adam Duvall, Michael Harris II, and Jarred Kelenic in their outfield, Anthopoulos and Brian Snitker are happy for the time being. The latter option, nevertheless, has shown to be the weakest thus far. It also doesn’t help that Marcell Ozuna and JP Martinez, Atlanta’s right field depth after Duvall, are utterly dreadful. Martinez is a young player, and Ozuna is a terrible defender.
To whom may the Braves look? They still haven’t called the White Sox about Tommy Pham and other players, according to Bob Nightengale. Anthopoulos implied that he had inquired about a well-known figure, but he did not say who.
Having the same agent as Austin Riley is one of the more practical ways to increase outfield depth.
The Braves may select Austin Riley as their next outfielder.
Riley and Dylan Carlson, an outfielder with the St. Louis Cardinals, are represented by Matt Hannaford. Despite his struggles at the plate, Carlson is still a top prospect and a previous Gold Glove winner outfielder. Similar to Kelenic, Carlson might benefit from a change of environment, which the Braves can provide along with playing time.
Carlson would be cheap because he is in his final year of a contract with the Cardinals. St. Louis had thought that going into the 2024 season, he would improve at the bat, but thus far, he is slashing.a disgusting.369 OPS and 133/.235/.133. With a -0.6 WAR, he’s been among the worst outfielders in baseball, to put it simply. If it weren’t for his defensive steadiness, that number would be considerably higher.
It would be a risky move to trade away anyone right now because the Cardinals outfield is having trouble. However, Jordan Walker has returned in the last week, hitting a home run in Triple-A for the first time since September. Lars Nootbaar will eventually make a comeback. Even in a restricted capacity, St. Louis cannot afford to keep using Carlson on the field.
The Braves step in at this point. It sounds far more plausible to start over as Atlanta’s fourth outfielder than to truly help the Cardinals make a postseason push.
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