The shortstop position was a black hole at times in 2024. Is Nacho ready to grab that opportunity?
The fifth-ranked prospect in the system will start 2025 in Gwinnett. His opportunity in Atlanta last year was a little uninspiring he was called up probably a year too soon. The Battery Power minor league crew likes him as a utility infielder at worst. The power definitely needs to improve for him to grab a regular role anywhere.
I would label this daily question, “are we really rolling with Orlando Arcia at short” but I’ll try to stay on a positive note here. But Orlando was literally the worst hitting shortstop by wRC+ in the first half last year. To start the second half, he started flat ignoring pitches and then randomly attacked like 20% of pitches. He grabbed 10 walks and put up a .302/.413/.547 line from the All-Star Break to August 6th. But then those numbers retreated. Paul DeJong and Jose Iglesias are out there in free agency if the Braves want to make a move, but the projections don’t rate them as that much better than Arcia. Iglesias supposedly wants a multi-year deal for some reason as well.
So what say you, fam? How many MLB plate appearances will Nacho Alvarez get this year? 50? 150? 0? Maybe Orlando finds his groove and it won’t matter. But I’m ready for Nacho time when he is.