<img alt="Detroit Tigers v Atlanta Braves" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/dbLu8War7XSG5EdmXGkP8xhRZPo=/0x0:4181x2787/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73532341/2158358835.0.jpg">
Photo by Casey Sykes/Getty Images
Will the Braves’ attempt to find help in the wake of Austin Riley’s injury actually be helpful? In a pretty obvious follow-up to the horrid news that Austin Riley is going to miss most if not all of the remaining 2024 regular season, the Braves are apparently connecting with the recently-released Gio Urshela:
Gio Urshela, released on Sunday by the Tigers, is closing in on a major league agreement with the Braves, The Post has learned. Atlanta announced Monday that third baseman Austin Riley would be lost 6-8 weeks with a fractured right hand.— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) August 20, 2024
The move isn’t really surprising, though it’s still in the “rumor” stage at this point. The Braves don’t really have any good options. Nacho Alvarez Jr. A) couldn’t hit fastballs and B) is apparently down for the count with pneumonia, which, woof. Luke Williams, Zack Short, and their ilk aren’t really “options” except in the literal sense that you can plug them in at third base; the Braves already learned that the hard way when they 69 PAs of 60 wRC+, -0.1 fWAR ball earlier this year. And while this is the team that once moved Freddie Freeman to third base, that’s not the sort of thing the current regime would mess with.
So, instead, welcome aboard, Gio Urshela. Is Urshela actually a solution? Not really. Before we even get to the bat, he’s not actually a particularly good third baseman — he has a career - 15 OAA across about 5,200 innings at the hot corner, which is about -4 per full season. Basically, he’s below average, but not awful. One relative plus is that he doesn’t seem to have gotten worse at fielding as he’s aged.
On the hitting front, though, there’s reason to suspect this move won’t provide any salvation whatsoever. Urshela could barely hit as a part-timer before he joined the Yankees (57 wRC+, xwOBA below .300 in all three seasons) but broke out in the Bronx in 2019-2020 (133 wRC+, an xwOBA above .350). He fell back to earth with a below-average but not awful line in 2021, and then got traded to the Twins, where he had a solid season with the bat. Since then, though, it’s been dire. Salary-dumped off the Twins ahead of 2023, he had a sub-.300 xwOBA for the Angels; he posted -0.5 fWAR in 325 PAs for the Tigers (.271 wOBA, .305 xwOBA) before his DFA.
Basically, Urshela comes to the Braves with a league average-y .309 wOBA and .311 xwOBA over his last 1,101 PAs going back to the start of the 2022 season, but the downside is that the successful stretches dragging those numbers up happened in 2022. There’s maybe the hope that his relative success in New York and Minnesota, which have more obviously-successful hitting approaches, can be replicated in Atlanta, but there’s not exactly a lot of time to get him on board and making adjustments.
But, hey, what other options do the Braves even have?
Urshela basically projects as a below-average regular at this point, with an average-y bat and below-average defense. If that’s what he provides, the Braves will take it, as it’ll at least stop them from bleeding wins.
<img alt="Detroit Tigers v Atlanta Braves" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/dbLu8War7XSG5EdmXGkP8xhRZPo=/0x0:4181x2787/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73532341/2158358835.0.jpg">
Photo by Casey Sykes/Getty Images
Will the Braves’ attempt to find help in the wake of Austin Riley’s injury actually be helpful? In a pretty obvious follow-up to the horrid news that Austin Riley is going to miss most if not all of the remaining 2024 regular season, the Braves are apparently connecting with the recently-released Gio Urshela:
Gio Urshela, released on Sunday by the Tigers, is closing in on a major league agreement with the Braves, The Post has learned. Atlanta announced Monday that third baseman Austin Riley would be lost 6-8 weeks with a fractured right hand.— Joel Sherman (@Joelsherman1) August 20, 2024
The move isn’t really surprising, though it’s still in the “rumor” stage at this point. The Braves don’t really have any good options. Nacho Alvarez Jr. A) couldn’t hit fastballs and B) is apparently down for the count with pneumonia, which, woof. Luke Williams, Zack Short, and their ilk aren’t really “options” except in the literal sense that you can plug them in at third base; the Braves already learned that the hard way when they 69 PAs of 60 wRC+, -0.1 fWAR ball earlier this year. And while this is the team that once moved Freddie Freeman to third base, that’s not the sort of thing the current regime would mess with.
So, instead, welcome aboard, Gio Urshela. Is Urshela actually a solution? Not really. Before we even get to the bat, he’s not actually a particularly good third baseman — he has a career - 15 OAA across about 5,200 innings at the hot corner, which is about -4 per full season. Basically, he’s below average, but not awful. One relative plus is that he doesn’t seem to have gotten worse at fielding as he’s aged.
On the hitting front, though, there’s reason to suspect this move won’t provide any salvation whatsoever. Urshela could barely hit as a part-timer before he joined the Yankees (57 wRC+, xwOBA below .300 in all three seasons) but broke out in the Bronx in 2019-2020 (133 wRC+, an xwOBA above .350). He fell back to earth with a below-average but not awful line in 2021, and then got traded to the Twins, where he had a solid season with the bat. Since then, though, it’s been dire. Salary-dumped off the Twins ahead of 2023, he had a sub-.300 xwOBA for the Angels; he posted -0.5 fWAR in 325 PAs for the Tigers (.271 wOBA, .305 xwOBA) before his DFA.
Basically, Urshela comes to the Braves with a league average-y .309 wOBA and .311 xwOBA over his last 1,101 PAs going back to the start of the 2022 season, but the downside is that the successful stretches dragging those numbers up happened in 2022. There’s maybe the hope that his relative success in New York and Minnesota, which have more obviously-successful hitting approaches, can be replicated in Atlanta, but there’s not exactly a lot of time to get him on board and making adjustments.
But, hey, what other options do the Braves even have?
Urshela basically projects as a below-average regular at this point, with an average-y bat and below-average defense. If that’s what he provides, the Braves will take it, as it’ll at least stop them from bleeding wins.
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