Atlanta Braves acquired outfielder Joc Pederson from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for minor league first baseman Bryce Ball.
Who is Joc Pederson?
Joc Pederson is a 29-year-old outfielder who will mostly be known by Braves fans for his 7-season tenure with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Pederson reached free agency in the 2020/21 offseason and signed a one-year contract with the Chicago Cubs for $4.5 million, which includes a 2022 option for $10 million and a buy-out of $2.5 million. The Braves will be on the hook for the rest of his contract for 2021 and the buy-out if the team chooses not to exercise the option, so the team added approximately $4.53 million in guaranteed salary to the payroll with this deal.
Pederson is hitting .230/.300/.418 on the season with 11 home runs, 11 doubles, 74 strikeouts (25.8%), good for a 95 wRC+ and 0.2 fWAR in 287 plate appearances. This is more-or-less in line with his recent career norms, with the main difference being a drop in his home run rate, only 3.8% this season compared to 6.2% over the previous three seasons.
What’s most notable about Pederson’s career, besides his plus pull power to right field, has been his extreme platoon splits. Over the previous six seasons, Pederson’s 126 wRC+ against right-handed pitchers is 13th among all major league outfielders with at least 1500 plate appearances. Over the same period, he has a 66 wRC+ against left-handed pitchers. Because of this, Los Angeles long ago limited his exposure to lefties.
If Atlanta does the same — and they should — they could substitute in Ehire Adrianza or Abraham Almonte against left-handers, or Guillermo Heredia if Atlanta should choose to promote centerfield prospect Cristian Pache within the next two weeks.
What Atlanta Traded
Prospect Bryce Ball was Atlanta’s 24th-round selection in the 2019 draft out of baseball factory Dallas Baptist University. The 23-year-old is noted as being one of the largest position players in the minor leagues at 6′-6″ and 240 pounds. Ball has prodigious raw power and an advanced feel for the strike zone. When Ball makes contacts, it tends to be very loud contact.
Ball is currently 14th on the OFR Prospect List, which currently reflects our feeling at the beginning of the year. That list will be updated within the next couple of weeks, and Ball was slated to fall several spots after a disappointing first half with the high-A Rome Braves. As of this writing Ball is only hitting .207/.354/.396, and my personal observation showed a somewhat passive hitter who let too many hittable pitches go by while searching for a perfect pitch to lift out of the park. That led to to many 2-strike counts and eventually having to swing at pitchers’ pitches. Ball’s 47.3% groundball rate has been far too high for a hitter with Ball’s combination of power and lack of footspeed.
All of this can obviously change however, and the pieces are there for the Cubs to develop him into his upside of prodigious power hitter. That said, another mark against him is very poor range, footwork, and hands at first base. If he is going to make it, his bat will have to carry him, preferably to a designated hitter role.
Final Thoughts
The discourse among pundits and Braves fans over the last several weeks has been if Atlanta will be buyers or sellers before the trade deadline. In a season where most expected Atlanta to contend for its fourth consecutive division title, the team has not had a record over .500 the entire first half.
Then just before the All-Star break, the team lost its best player, outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr., for the rest of the season to an ACL tear.
The Atlanta front office has responded quickly, picking up a quality veteran outfielder. While no one could make up the production of Acuna, a top five player in all of baseball, Pederson should at least help make up for some of the lost production of Marcell Ozuna, this year’s expected everyday left fielder and number 3 hitter. It’s not a clean replacement given Pederson’s need for a platoon partner, but at least against right-handed pitchers Pederson is likely one of the best options available on this July’s trade market.
What’s more, Atlanta has completed this trade well before the deadline. If the team responds and shows signs of life, Atlanta can continue to add. If not, Pederson can be flipped before the deadline.
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