A few weeks ago I asked readers on Twitter and Facebook to express their wishes for players on the 2020 Braves. I asked them to exclude variations on “stay healthy”, and now I guess everyone’s wish would be for there to be an actual 2020 season. With those two as givens, here’s some of the best wishes and my thoughts.
Ronald Acuña Jr.
Acuña gets his 50/50 and we all lose our minds.
-E. Hendrix
Acuña wins the MVP trifecta: NL, NLCS, World Series.
-Y. Patel
There were a lot of wishes for Acuña to reach his stated goal of an unprecedented 50 HR/50 SB season, or getting at least to the 40/40 mark that he just fell shy of last year. My wish for him would be slightly more moderate — to get back to the +.370 OBP marks he had in the minor leagues. The power will be there and even this bump in OBP could have him lead baseball in runs scored.
Ozzie Albies
That Ozzie Albies wins the MVP.
-P. Knight
No, this isn’t from my burner account. My wish for Albies is to further simplify his right-handed swing. He had tremendous progress in this area in 2019 and he’s on the path to be not only a top player at his position but a top player in baseball.
Adam Duvall
For Adam Duvall to get enough ABs to prove to everyone why he’s still around.
-J. Suttles
Duvall was having a strong spring and seemed to be on the path of commanding at least the right-handed half of an outfield timeshare. My wish for Duvall would for swing changes that allowed him to reverse his career trends and post a .326/.437/.746 batting line against left-handed pitchers in his time with Gwinnett and Atlanta last year would continue.
Mike Foltynewicz
For Folty to win 20 games, go 210 innings, have a sub 3 era and win the Cy Young.
-C. Murphy
That would be a remarkable turnaround for Foltynewicz. This spring he was really working his change-up. This is a pitch that he’s been working on for a long while but, but just last season started throwing it more regularly, almost 10% of pitches thrown to mixed results. When it’s on it’s a thing of beauty, and something that allows his fastball to play up. My wish is for Folty’s change-up to be more consistent game-by-game and that he has the confidence to throw it more.
Freddie Freeman
Freddie finally winning the MVP like he’s deserved for a while now.
-A. Davis
Freddie Freeman wins World Series MVP. That means Freddie is healthy at end of season and that the team wins it all. What more could you ask for?
-A. Trever
Since I ruled out wishing for good health, a lot of Freeman wishes went to something like winning a MVP, which is a nice stand-in for being healthy. Freeman was having arguably MVP seasons in 2017 and 2019 before injuries derailed him (broken wrist in 2017, elbow bone spurs last season). My wish will be just a little bit different. I wish Freeman will win a second Gold Glove… and I’m cheating too because if he does it means his elbow is healthy.
Max Fried
Max Fried – Cy Young 2020.
-T. Ferguson
I like this one because it’s simple and to the point. Fried took some big steps forward in 2019, and pitch evaluation systems (and good ‘ole fashioned scouting) have Fried’s secondary pitches now among the games’ best. Most intriguingly, Fried developed a strong slider to go with the big overhand curve. My wish for Fried is to get better pitch sequencing to help put away hitters earlier in at-bats and avoid the long-ball.
Félix Hernández
King Felix has a real King Felix season.
-M. Grinnan
I don’t think the royal Felix will be appearing in Atlanta like in his heyday of 2009-15 when he was arguably the best starting pitcher in the American League, but it would be a story of national interest if Hernández can become a solid, dependable starter again. Anibal Sanchez resurrected his career with the Braves by mostly abandoning his 5-pitch repertoire and focusing almost completely on executing his already good change-up and developing a new pitch, his cutter. It’s clear Hernández wants to trod a similar path, so my wish is for Felix to settle on whichever two or three pitches he is most comfortable with and find a way to make them work every time out.
That said, there’s probably no other player on the squad more adversely affected by the COVID-19 suspension of games than Hernández. The delay will allow Cole Hamels to get healthy, reducing the number of open rotation spots from two to one. I do not believe the Braves will reserve that one spot for Hernández.
Ender Inciarte
We need a productive year from either Ender or Markakis, like a 3 or 4 win season so we aren’t shuffling the third OF spot all season long.
-C. Hayes
Of the two, Inciarte’s defensive ability make him more likely to achieve a 3 WAR season; of his four seasons with Atlanta, last year’s injury-plagued campaign was the only one where he didn’t approach or exceed that mark, while Markakis only approached 3 fWAR once as a Brave. That said, growing up as a fan of Earl Weaver’s Orioles, I am actually a fan of platooning and mixing-and-matching, and I wouldn’t be opposed to the Braves going to a similar system for the non-Acuña/Ozuna outfield spot. For Inciarte, I have one simple wish… to get off to a good start. Perhaps a latter start date to the season and avoiding chilly April weather, will help him accomplish it.
Luke Jackson
For Luke Jackson to wipe away all memory of his high-profile struggles.
-B. Flashpants
For Luke Jackson to gain ability to lock in on first batter.
-M. Blindside
There may be no more polarizing Brave than Luke Jackson. The righty compiled a 4.53 ERA for Atlanta in 2017-18 and was designated for assignment no less than three times in that span. When he ended up making the team to start the 2019 season, many saw this as a reflection of the poor depth in the bullpen. As it turned out, the bullpen would implode early in 2019, but not because of Jackson. From the end of March to early May, Jackson would reel off 14 consecutive scoreless appearances, becoming the most reliable bullpen arm while the team essentially completely turned over the rest of the bullpen before it stabilized in June.
That all said, the wish above about Jackson locking in on the first batter has a ring of truth to it. Jackson allowed a .254/.371/.339 batting line against the first batter he saw in 2019. Getting out #1 would go a long way to winning over those fans that still wince when they see Jackson enter the game.
Nick Markakis
For Markakis to get under 350 ABs… that means Snit is doing something right.
-R. Sabbath
After a solid career as the everyday right fielder for five seasons in Atlanta, the plan for the Braves seems to be to move Markakis to a part-time role at best, or a strictly bench role at worst. Markakis is a career .250/.464/.600 hitter in limited opportunities as a sub. My wish for Markakis would be for him to embrace the role of a late-inning pinch hitter and have several heroic late-inning moments for the Braves in the playoffs.
Sean Newcomb
For Sean Newcomb [and Kyle Wright] to earn rotation spots, and prove all season long that they deserve it.
-D. Herbert
Sean Newcomb to live up to his potential as a starting pitcher, and stop walking so many.
-P. Fisk
For Newk to pitch like his stuff suggests he can.
-S. Reader86
Sean Newcomb has a 4.04 ERA as a starting pitcher with the Braves, holding batters to a .243/.338/.385 batting line against him. After an emergency shift to the bullpen after a rough start to the season, Newcomb pitched to a 3.00 ERA and a .213/.292/.366 batting line against. There is nothing about Newcomb’s profile — his stuff, his durability, his willingness to learn — that indicates he shouldn’t be a success in a starting rotation.
Max Fried is only one of many pitchers who have credited stints pitching in the bullpen with helping them understand what it takes to be successful as a starting pitcher. My wish for Newcomb to follow a similar path, and rebuild his case as a starting pitcher.
Marcel Ozuna
That Marcel Ozuna’s bet on himself with a one year deal works out for the Braves.
-B. Sasser
There were several wishes along these lines, that Ozuna performs well enough to secure himself a multi-year offer from a team next season, similar to Josh Donaldson in 2019. There is an adage that there’s no such thing as a bad one-year contract. The meaning of this is that even if things go poorly, a team isn’t locked into paying out dead money for an extended length of time. I generally believe that to be true, but it’s a dicier proposition when it’s a team expected to contend for a World Series. In that case, a poor performance that sabotages a postseason run could still be devastating, and the knowledge that at least the payroll didn’t suffer long-term damage is not likely to be of comfort to anyone.
While a return to his 2017-level performance would be tremendous for both Ozuna and the Braves, my wish for him is to simply repeat his batted-ball profile from 2019, where all indications are he suffered from terrible luck on balls in play. And maybe hit the ball the other way just a bit more to give defenses something to think about.
Cristian Pache
Pache is Rookie of the Year.
-Steven
This is an interesting wish because for Pache to be in the running for Rookie of the Year, something unfortunate would need to happen to a major league outfielder, either health or performance-wise. As injuries are inevitable though, that Pache would hit well enough in Gwinnett to make him the choice to fill in the gap would be a positive, and him winning the Rookie of the Year would likely mean good things for the Braves.
I have a very simple wish for Pache – let the ball travel just a little bit more into the zone. Pache has the wrist strength to be able to handle fastballs the other way, and it would go a long way to allowing him to adjust to off-speed.
Austin Riley
For Austin Riley be the guy he was for about six weeks last year.
-J. Boggs
That Austin Riley earns 150 starts.
-K. Hendrix
That Riley drops his K% to <30%.
-G. Leath
That Austin Riley’s season out-performs Josh Donaldson.
-J. Betts
No Braves player had more wishes bestowed upon him than Austin Riley. Several were of the line of wishing he could hit the slider, though analysis seems to show he hit it about as well as anyone else, but a steady diet of them made it tougher for him to pull the trigger on the fastball. But it perhaps shows how badly fans don’t want third base production to fall off in the wake of Donaldson’s departure, and that Riley is identified as the player who could possibly fill the gap. Interestingly, there was not a single wish for Johan Camargo.
My wish for Riley is to stay basic. When he strays from the approach and the mechanics that got him to the majors, he gets in trouble.
Mike Soroka
For Soroka it would be to pitch just a touch better and solidify himself in the Cy Young and ace conversation.
-M. Mahaney
This was the only wish for Soroka, perhaps reflecting the amount of trust the fans have in the young Albertan. “More of the same, please” after all is kind of boring even if it would be wholly sufficient. My wish would be just to command the change-up just a little bit better and use it more as a put-away pitch.
Dansby Swanson
Dansby Swanson having a breakout year, and being moved up in the order between Acuña and Freeman.
-M. Young
Dansby hits .275 with 25 HR, 85 RBIs and 25 stolen bases. Gold Glove defense at short.
-M. Bibbs
Swanson had the second most wishes after Riley, and many of them were along the same lines, including a couple about hitting the slider, or justifying his first-overall draft selection. I am of the opinion that draft placement doesn’t matter at all the second after contracts are signed, and Swanson didn’t do too bad against the slider in 2019. I also think almost all of Swanson’s issues over the last three seasons are injury related (wrist in 2017 and 2018, heel in 2019), so my wish for him is to improve on recognizing off-speed in general – not just the slider, but the change and curve as well – and use his hands more to shoot the ball opposite field. Swanson could lead the league in doubles if he can do this and (say it with me) stay healthy.
Touki Toussaint
That Touki becomes an All-Star closer and saves 40 games.
-D. Rodgers
Touki is traded to a team with openings and he gets a full season in rotation.
-N. McCollough
Toussiant was having a splendid spring before the shutdown, utilizing a new windup and generally looking more poised and controlled on the mound. He was getting more strikes with the fastball and his split-change. But as the wishes above indicate, there still is a question about his role going forward. I remain steadfast in the opinion that Toussaint would have a strong career as a starting pitcher. My wish for Toussaint is for him to force his way back into Atlanta’s starting rotation plans.
Drew Waters
For Drew Waters to become the good A.J. Pollock without the injuries sooner rather than later.
-T. Poe
First of all, friend-of-the-blog Tommy Poe is writing a fun series on his own blog pitting the best Braves teams of all time against each other using the Out Of the Park 2020 game, and everyone should check it out. Second of all, for Drew Waters to start turning into pre-injury A.J. Pollock, he would need to drop his strikeout rate by a whopping ~15%. This is a wish I can get behind.
Kyle Wright
That Kyle Wright hits his absolute ceiling.
-G. Vedak
For Kyle Wright to establish himself and stay in the rotation all year. If he turns a corner, the rotation looks scary for years to come.
-Z. Delaney
This spring Kyle Wright was doing everything to make the Opening Day rotation. Long regarded as the Braves pitching prospect that combined stuff and polish, it took him until late in 2019 to really see the results at the AAA level that you’d expect before fully establishing a major league presence. When the league resumes, I think it’s very likely that the Braves will give Wright that first look as the 5th starter. My wish is for him to command the curveball, and always throw to a good pitch framer.
Here’s some more of my wishes:
Johan Camargo – I wish that he gets 600 plate appearances and is one of the most valuable players on the team without having a set position.
Travis d’Arnaud – I wish that he keeps the patience at the plate that he reincorporated into his offensive game last season.
Tyler Flowers – I wish that he wouldn’t call four fastballs in a row with any pitcher.
Adeiny Hechavarría – I wish that he has a reason to bat flip at least once a week.
A.J. Minter – I wish that he rediscovers the slider that made him shoot through the minors.
Will Smith- I wish that he is used whenever the game is most on the line, regardless of the inning.
Bryse Wilson – I wish that his slider becomes at least a major league average pitch so that his fastball can play up.
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