Good morning. This is Leadoff, the early buzz in Atlanta sports.
Baseball statistics/analytics website FanGraphs has posted its annual position-by-position power rankings for all 30 MLB teams – an interesting exercise because it measures each team's personnel against the competition, rather than assessing it in a vacuum.
The Braves’ lineup doesn’t score highly in the analysis.
FanGraphs ranks the Braves at or near the bottom of the major leagues at five of the eight everyday positions – catcher (28th), second base (26th), third base (30th), left field (29th) and right field (29th).
The Braves rank highest at first base (5th) and rank in the middle of the pack at shortstop (15th) and center field (16).
FanGraphs acknowledges Braves fans might be taken aback by the low ranking in left field.
“’But (Matt) Kemp hit really well last year!’ You’re saying it. I know you’re saying it. He hit 35 homers! Sorry, a .304 OBP is still a .304 OBP,” FanGraphs writes. “… And the move to the other outfield corner did little to stanch the flow of runs he permitted.”
Even FanGraphs seemed surprised it didn’t rank the Braves higher than 15th at shortstop: “We’re in the middle of the pack, and we’re just now getting to Dansby Swanson, 2015’s first overall draft pick, a guy who hit .302 as a 22-year-old big-league rookie. Yeah, there are a lot of talented shortstops. I’m actively writing this right now, and I’ve thought about this whole crop of shortstops before, but this is still blowing my mind. 15th place. Dansby Swanson!”
You can find the full rankings here.
Or you can wait another week — the Braves’ season opener is a week from today — and start seeing how the teams stack up on the field.
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