<img alt="Philadelphia Phillies v Atlanta Braves" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Sn4-pfR4CeK_wl9WzhQRwbFlRA0=/0x0:8640x5760/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73535016/2166938486.0.jpg">
Photo by Kevin D. Liles/Atlanta Braves/Getty Images
Atlanta’s newest third baseman won’t replicate Austin Riley’s productivity, but could he provide positive offensive value? The Gio Urshela era is upon us, and all things considered, the Atlanta Braves were fortunate that a player of his caliber was available on August 20. Make no mistake, this isn’t to suggest that Atlanta’s new third baseman will come close to replicating the offensive production of the injured Austin Riley, but there is some hope that he can at least provide positive offensive production for the final six weeks of the regular season.
Urshela has spent parts of nine seasons in the majors, including 92 games with the Detroit Tigers prior to joining Atlanta after being released by the Tigers. This season had been the worse offensive season since Urshela became a line-up regular with the New York Yankees in 2019.
Through June 19, 2024, Urshela had put up a respectable .284/.325/.361 slash line with the Tigers, but then slumped to numbers similar to those he had at the time of his release, sporting a .243/.286/.333 line which was good for a 73 OPS+ and 73 wRC+. For his career, he’s been basically league average with a 99 OPS+ and 99 wRC+. He has never had a power-laden profile, only his 2019 season saw him exceed 20 home runs, carrying a career .412 slugging percentage.
Last season, in an injury-shortened 62 games with the Los Angeles Angels, Urshela posted a 92 wRC+ lowered by a concerning drop in slugging. In 2022, with the Minnesota Twins, he was above average offensively with a 119 wRC+.
In 2024, a number of the 32-year-old’s expected stats provide some hope. Again, this isn’t purporting that he could be the 133 OPS+ player he was in 2019, but there is a modicum of optimism that he could be near league average.
His BABIP was .271 with the Tigers, well below his career average of .313. Admittedly, his hard hit rate has been a career-worst 28-percent this season - but his sweet spot percentage and squared-up percentage are both above average as has been his xBA.
He’s also still well above average in his whiff percentage and strikeout rate. He’s still making contact, but unfortunately, his hard hit rate and exit velocity has been atrocious this season - two areas the Braves, even with their overall offensive struggles, have ranked amongst the best in baseball at as a team.
This season has also seen him hit 50-percent of his batted balls on the ground - the worst of his career. Again, that is an area that the Braves could be able to tweak to at least get him back to numbers closer to his career norms.
For his career, Urshela has had almost even splits against left-handed and right-handed pitchers, but this year, he’s been markedly worse against left-handers, providing at least a faint hint of hope that he is due for normalization. He also hit much better away from the Tigers’ home ballpark. While neither of those numbers provide anything but straw-grasping hope, that’s where we are this season.
This really is a cup half-full/half-empty situation with Urshela. He hasn’t been good this season - there’s a reason he was on the market this late in the year - but there’s also a few glimmers of hope that he can give the team more than Luke Williams or Zack Short could. The Braves still have Yuli Gurriel at Triple-A, with the 40-year-old set to play some third base in case the 2021 American League batting champ gets a late-season call-up to Atlanta.
With Ozzie Albies hopefully able to return to the Braves line-up by mid-September and Whit Merrifield performing at league-average level in his 20 games with Atlanta, the hope with Urshela is that he came simply provide something near his career averages for six weeks to keep the Braves post season hopes afloat.
In his first start with the Braves, Urshela went 0-for-3 with a bases loaded walk to drive in the final run in Atlanta’s 3-1 victory of the Phillies. While that performance didn’t set the world on fire, it was a productive debut for another of the unexpected Braves starters in this truly bizarre 2024 campaign.
<img alt="Philadelphia Phillies v Atlanta Braves" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Sn4-pfR4CeK_wl9WzhQRwbFlRA0=/0x0:8640x5760/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73535016/2166938486.0.jpg">
Photo by Kevin D. Liles/Atlanta Braves/Getty Images
Atlanta’s newest third baseman won’t replicate Austin Riley’s productivity, but could he provide positive offensive value? The Gio Urshela era is upon us, and all things considered, the Atlanta Braves were fortunate that a player of his caliber was available on August 20. Make no mistake, this isn’t to suggest that Atlanta’s new third baseman will come close to replicating the offensive production of the injured Austin Riley, but there is some hope that he can at least provide positive offensive production for the final six weeks of the regular season.
Urshela has spent parts of nine seasons in the majors, including 92 games with the Detroit Tigers prior to joining Atlanta after being released by the Tigers. This season had been the worse offensive season since Urshela became a line-up regular with the New York Yankees in 2019.
Through June 19, 2024, Urshela had put up a respectable .284/.325/.361 slash line with the Tigers, but then slumped to numbers similar to those he had at the time of his release, sporting a .243/.286/.333 line which was good for a 73 OPS+ and 73 wRC+. For his career, he’s been basically league average with a 99 OPS+ and 99 wRC+. He has never had a power-laden profile, only his 2019 season saw him exceed 20 home runs, carrying a career .412 slugging percentage.
Last season, in an injury-shortened 62 games with the Los Angeles Angels, Urshela posted a 92 wRC+ lowered by a concerning drop in slugging. In 2022, with the Minnesota Twins, he was above average offensively with a 119 wRC+.
In 2024, a number of the 32-year-old’s expected stats provide some hope. Again, this isn’t purporting that he could be the 133 OPS+ player he was in 2019, but there is a modicum of optimism that he could be near league average.
His BABIP was .271 with the Tigers, well below his career average of .313. Admittedly, his hard hit rate has been a career-worst 28-percent this season - but his sweet spot percentage and squared-up percentage are both above average as has been his xBA.
He’s also still well above average in his whiff percentage and strikeout rate. He’s still making contact, but unfortunately, his hard hit rate and exit velocity has been atrocious this season - two areas the Braves, even with their overall offensive struggles, have ranked amongst the best in baseball at as a team.
This season has also seen him hit 50-percent of his batted balls on the ground - the worst of his career. Again, that is an area that the Braves could be able to tweak to at least get him back to numbers closer to his career norms.
For his career, Urshela has had almost even splits against left-handed and right-handed pitchers, but this year, he’s been markedly worse against left-handers, providing at least a faint hint of hope that he is due for normalization. He also hit much better away from the Tigers’ home ballpark. While neither of those numbers provide anything but straw-grasping hope, that’s where we are this season.
This really is a cup half-full/half-empty situation with Urshela. He hasn’t been good this season - there’s a reason he was on the market this late in the year - but there’s also a few glimmers of hope that he can give the team more than Luke Williams or Zack Short could. The Braves still have Yuli Gurriel at Triple-A, with the 40-year-old set to play some third base in case the 2021 American League batting champ gets a late-season call-up to Atlanta.
With Ozzie Albies hopefully able to return to the Braves line-up by mid-September and Whit Merrifield performing at league-average level in his 20 games with Atlanta, the hope with Urshela is that he came simply provide something near his career averages for six weeks to keep the Braves post season hopes afloat.
In his first start with the Braves, Urshela went 0-for-3 with a bases loaded walk to drive in the final run in Atlanta’s 3-1 victory of the Phillies. While that performance didn’t set the world on fire, it was a productive debut for another of the unexpected Braves starters in this truly bizarre 2024 campaign.
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