Top of the Order: The Braves’ Ghost Bench
Welcome back to Top of the Order, where every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I’ll be starting your baseball day with some news, notes, and thoughts about the game we love.
Matt Olson’s streak of consecutive games played is expected to hit 500 on Saturday against the Padres, but he’s far from the only iron man in Atlanta this season. Third baseman Austin Riley, center fielder Michael Harris II, right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr., and designated hitter Marcell Ozuna have started every Braves game at their respective positions, and Orlando Arcia has started 36 of 37 games at shortstop. Second baseman Ozzie Albies would’ve been in the Never Takes A Day Off club, too, if he hadn’t missed eight games with a broken toe — yes, only eight games.
All told, except for catcher and left field (where Jarred Kelenic and Adam Duvall platoon), the remaining seven positions have had 259 starting opportunities (seven positions times 37 games), with only nine of them going to backups: six for Luis Guillorme (five at second and one at shortstop) and three for David Fletcher at second base. But that lack of playing time hasn’t stopped the Braves from shuffling players into and out of the two bench spots not occupied by one of the two left fielders and backup catcher Chadwick Tromp. (Starting catcher Sean Murphy has not played since Opening Day, when he strained his oblique; while Travis d’Arnaud, an All-Star catcher in his own right, has started 24 games behind the dish.)
Atlanta signed Guillorme to a $1.1 million contract in the offseason, a move that seemed to assure him a spot for the entirety of the season, even though he didn’t fit the roster perfectly. (Guillorme doesn’t have the speed to be a pinch-running threat, for example.) With all those bulletproof starters, the Braves didn’t really need him to do much of anything; he’d be there in case of an emergency because he could play any of the four infield positions. However, it turns out the Braves really didn’t need him, as Guillorme is now a member of the Angels. Outfielder Forrest Wall, who occupied the last bench spot on Opening Day (along with Guillorme, Duvall, and d’Arnaud), is now back in Triple-A.
In all, the two bench spots that don’t belong to a catcher or a left fielder have been occupied by five players this season: Wall, Guillorme, Fletcher, Luke Williams, and Zack Short, who was acquired from the Red Sox ahead of the Guillorme trade. Currently, the two rotating members of the ghost bench are Short and Williams. Those five have combined for just 34 plate appearances across 21 games, with Atlanta sticking to its brand of having its everyday players be exactly that.
Of course, after I filed this column, the Braves lifted Riley from last night’s 4-3 loss to the Mets with what Atlanta announced was “left side tightness.” As of now, it’s unclear whether Riley will be in the lineup tonight against the Cubs, but the Braves said his exit was precautionary, so the discomfort — for now it feels too early to call it an injury — doesn’t seem to be serious.
3B Austin Riley was removed from tonight’s game as a precaution with left side tightness.
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) May 13, 2024
During this era of load management, teams stress the importance of having a deep bench, but that just doesn’t seem to be necessary for the Braves. Indeed, one of the main reasons the Braves have been so good these last few years is their most talented position players have also been their most durable.
Christian Scott Looks Legit
Christian Scott has acclimated himself quite nicely to the big leagues in his first two starts with the Mets. In his debut on May 4, he pitched six innings of one-run ball against the Rays. He followed that up with eight strikeouts in Saturday’s quality start against the aforementioned tough and durable Braves lineup. The Mets lost both starts, though, providing Scott with one run of support in each game.
Scott, who entered the season ranked no. 98 on our Top 100 Prospects list, was heralded coming up through the minors for having a fastball that — as Eric Longenhagen and Tess Taruskin wrote — “jumps on hitters,” though that’s been his least impressive pitch thus far. He has demonstrated the promise of the pitch getting opponents to whiff on 37% of their swings against it, but it has been inconsistent, as batters have also piled up nine hits off the heater, including a home run. That actually portends well for Scott since it shows that he can get by on more than just his signature pitch. He also has two devastating breaking balls that, along with his fastball, could make him a capable member of the next great Mets rotation.
Weekend Wrap Up
Let’s run through some things that stood out to me this weekend:
• Tyler Glasnow and Michael King had a pitcher’s duel for the ages on Friday. Each starter threw seven innings: Glasnow allowed just one run on one hit (a solo homer to Luis Campusano) and struck out 10; King didn’t give up a run and struck out 11, surrendering just two hits. The homer kept the game at 1-0 until the top of the eighth, when Yuki Matsui coughed up the lead on a Freddie Freeman sac fly. Ultimately, Luis Arraez delivered the victory with a walk-off hit in his first home game with the Padres; he’s helped to lengthen the lineup in a big way, mostly as San Diego’s DH.
• Jo Adell kept his hot streak going over the weekend. His Saturday homer was his third in four games, and his wRC+ is now 134. With Mike Trout on the shelf and Taylor Ward scuffling, Adell is the only Angel I’d be particularly afraid to pitch to right now, and yet he remains in the seventh spot in the lineup. That rigidity for the sake of comfort feels unwise.
• We’ll have more on Paul Skenes’ debut later on today, but my general take on his outing is that he looked good! Surprising for the top pitching prospect in the sport, I know. The command definitely came and went, but the stuff looked like it can get anybody out, and I think his splinker will prove to be his best pitch, especially at neutralizing lefties. Skenes allowed three runs over four-plus innings, though two of those runs came in after he was removed with runners on first and third and nobody out in the fifth. He finished with six hits, including a home run to Nico Hoerner, two walks, and seven strikeouts.
As hyped and box-score-filling as Skenes’ outing was, it was far from the most interesting thing about that game. Once Skenes departed, the Pirates issued six (!!!) bases-loaded walks in the fifth inning, with a long rain delay in the middle of all the chaos. Despite that ignominious relief-pitching performance, the Pirates still won, 10-9, thanks to five homers.
Jon Becker manages RosterResource's team payroll pages, assists with all other aspects of RosterResource, and also dabbles in creating new features as a Junior Developer. Follow him at your own peril: @jonbecker_ on Twitter and @jon-becker.com on Bluesky.
These recaps are great after a weekend away. Small note: the homer on Friday night’s Pads/Dodgers game was Campy (who had the only 2 Padres hits before arraez), not Higgy.
Was definitely Campusano who hit the solo shot.
Fixed! Good catch.
Every other team has at least a position or two where the difference between a bench player and the incumbent starter is a hot/cold streak away from being a toss-up. The Braves are good enough at every position that there is no point giving ABs to anyone else.
“Matt Olson’s streak of consecutive games played is expected to hit 500 on Saturday”
Just to save any curious folks the math: to beat Cal (as if!!), Olson would have to keep clocking in every day until about June 2037, at age 43.
That one isn’t ever getting broken.
No general manager or owner will ever let a player get even close, because the pressure to keep playing them every day after, say, 1000 games would be immense.
People always say DiMaggio’s record is the unbreakable one, but for my money Ripken’s record is the only untouchable one. The only way I could’ve seen anyone breaking it is if they had started it during Ripken’s own streak — the game has changed too much since then for it to ever really be in the cards again.
Yeah, there’s no outside-the-game impediments to most records. Even an insane hit streak like DiMaggio’s has only a bit more than a third of a season’s worth of games to matter. Consecutive games played has to bow down to injuries, inconsistency, managerial decisions, public perception, and other matters.
The only way I could see someone breaking it is a super durable lifetime designated hitter who keeps his power stroke through his late 30s.
I thought i read somewhere recently that DiMaggio only faced 18 pitchers in his streak. I wonder how many pitchers a batter would face today in an average 54 day period
For reference, the difference between Olson’s (eventual) 500 straight games and tying Cal’s streak is the entire length of Lou Gehrig’s streak + two games. Just incredible stuff.
If you’re going to comment on two of Skenes runs being given up after he was lifted, it seems like you should mention that they were both walked in, just two of the SIX! runs walked in by Pirates pitchers during the top of the fifth.
Scott is not only super impressive and likely the best Mets starter with Senga out but he’s by far the most efficient starter. He is really the only Met starting pitcher that throws strikes consistently and has been able to go into the seventh in both starts. He’s gonna have another real tough test on Thursday in Philadelphia’s bandbox stadium.
While Scott wasn’t quite as obscure as deGrom was when he literally came out of nowhere to make his debut almost ten years to the day before I couldn’t help thinking I was watching a video of that first start deGrom made in 2014. The physical resemblance and the stuff just jumped off the screen. It is unrealistic to think Scott will reach the heights that deGrom got to but he looks like a potential top of the rotation starter.
So, do the Braves’ manager and front office have a different view than most teams as to the value of rest days for their starters? Do they believe that the rest of baseball is overrating the value of rest days? Or it it just that their starters are so healthy, and so much better than their bench players, that, if you put (say) the Dodgers’ or Reds’ brass in charge of the Braves, the Braves’ starters would all still be playing every single day?
Every team other than the Braves has played 39-42 games this year. Scheduling and rainouts have limited the Braves to 37. There are 96 players that have played 38+ games so far, which is about 3.3 per team.
Most if not every team has at least a couple guys that are basically playing every day. I think it has more to do with personnel than philosophy as to why the Braves have more.
They not only have very good position players, but the only three that are over 30 are Ozuna who is the DH, and then d’Arnoud and Duvall who are part of those two platoons. In fact, the Braves have long been a team that has aimed to have two capable catchers in order to reduce the wear and tear on the #1 guy, so they clearly do look at rest, load management, whatever.
It’s not about the manager or front office. It’s about the players.
The best ability is availability. That’s the culture of the club for position players. Do what you have to do to be available for all 162 games. Sometimes that means doing less off the field. Sometimes it means playing through minor aches and pains during the season.
Most of the Braves lineup is under 30, with only Travis d’Arnaud (35), Marcell Ozuna (33), and Matt Olson (30) being 30 or older. Everyone else is under 30 aside from Adam Duvall (35), who is platooning with Jarred Kelenic (24).
Catching in Atlanta heat during the summer drains the body. That’s why Atlanta has had two catchers sharing responsibilities since 2018. They understand the value of rest for the catching position.
Everyone wants to be in the lineup every day.