The second Brave to have visa problems, Willy Aybar, arrived at camp on Saturday. Aybar looks to be headed for a role as Chipper's backup, which should get him plenty of at bats this year. Aybar will be working out at every infield position except first and in left field. If he is at least decent in all four positions then we have a very good looking bench with him and new Brave Chris Woodward, who would both be capable of playing secondbase, shortstop, thirdbase, and leftfield. Versatility is a great commodity to have coming off the bench, especially versatile players that can hold their own offensively too.
One of the possibilities that still exists is to move Aybar in as the full time secondbaseman and leadoff hitter. I am definitely a fan of that and then keep Kelly on as a leftfield/second base lefty bat off the bench. Going into camp it certainly looks like it is Johnson's job to lose though, but in Aybar's major league career while leading off he is a .321 hitter and boasts a .421 OBP (148 ABs). People seem to forget that this battle isn't exclusively between Martin Prado and Kelly Johnson; Orr and Aybar definitely could jump into the starting lineup if they really impress this spring.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment