Power is the last piece
Eli White was always an interesting acquisition for the Atlanta Braves. He’s a versatile defender with useful speed on the bases and in the outfield. The issue was the bat, specifically the power. He only broke .300 in slugging percentage once before arriving in Atlanta, while posting a 66 wRC+. The fun thing is in that 2022 season of 66 wRC+, he also posted 0.6 WAR in 117 PAs. That’s near All-Star level production while not hitting your way out of a bowl of mac and cheese. Fangraphs comes up with some crazy outliers on defense, but still. They’re not that wrong.
So will Eli White ever develop consistent power? Did he already make an adjustment and we’re just now learning about it? I gotta tell you, the idea of Eli White hitting for even slightly above-average power with his existing skill set is erotic, pornographic even. An outfield with an Eli White with 15-20 HRs, Michael Harris at around his 2025 projected level, and Ronald Acuña murdering the baseball would win a lot of games and help push the Braves deep into the playoffs.
Daily Notes
Record: 11-14
Yesterday’s wOBA and xwOBA: .345 / .318 (Season rank: 12th | 7th)
Yesterday’s wOBA and xwOBA allowed: .288 / .226 (Season rank: 21st | 20th)
Yesterday’s homers: 0
Yesterday’s homers allowed: 0
Record when out-xwOBAing: 8-6 (League: 281-101)
Record when out-xwOBAed: 3-8 (League: 101-281)
Record when out-wOBAing: 11-2 (League: 324-59)
Record when out-wOBAed: 0-12 (League: 59-324)
Record when outhomering: 6-3 (League: 194-56)
Record when outhomered: 0-7 (League: 56-194)