Team History
1946: 92-62, 1st (won World Series)
1947: 90-65, 1st (lost World Series)
1948: 76-78, 5th, 16 1/2 GB
1949: 85-69, 4th, 1 1/2 GB
Key Additions: 1B Steven Lutes (trade - NYG), CF Curt Holdaway (trade - NYG), LF Jacob McKnight (trade - NYG)
Key Losses: 1B Manuel Mares (trade - NYG), SP Kazufumi Duke (sale - CHC), LF Sam Brooks (trade - NYG), SS Ramon Campos (trade - BRK), George Stephens (sale - PIT)
The Braves took a major gamble in a blockbuster trade with the New York Giants and along the way also sold off the 1949 Rookie of the Year in Kazufumi Duke. They insist that they're retooling, not rebuilding, but it seems like a repeat of their pennant race in 1950 would be an upset.
Pitching
Code:
Name W L SV ERA G GS IP ▴ HA R ER HR BB K WHIP OAVG BABIP WAR
Nick Ranallo SP 16 14 0 3.86 36 36 275.1 291 128 118 24 97 78 1.41 .272 .273 3.8
Joe Brewer SP 18 9 0 2.23 32 32 262.0 203 80 65 11 70 180 1.04 .208 .243 9.6
Jeff Long SP 16 12 0 4.09 32 32 222.0 201 112 101 24 112 117 1.41 .243 .256 2.1
Kazufumi Duke SP 8 5 0 2.98 25 24 175.1 166 70 58 9 50 74 1.23 .247 .265 4.5
Ricardo Reyes SP 4 7 0 5.40 33 13 125.0 130 88 75 6 103 36 1.86 .276 .284 -0.1
Bob Hustead SP 4 7 0 5.17 16 13 78.1 85 51 45 7 43 14 1.63 .274 .269 0.2
Jamie Deegan SP 0 3 0 6.32 5 1 15.2 18 12 11 2 10 11 1.79 .286 .320 0.0
Miguel Garcia CL 5 7 12 4.54 51 0 79.1 84 49 40 3 54 33 1.74 .278 .302 0.5
Keith Turner RP 4 2 2 4.95 39 0 83.2 95 47 46 11 34 38 1.54 .292 .300 -0.2
Tony Love RP 8 2 1 2.43 42 0 66.2 51 20 18 4 32 30 1.24 .209 .222 0.7
Dave Meyer RP 1 1 0 6.23 4 3 26.0 31 18 18 4 5 14 1.38 .304 .318 0.4
Mike Kaski RP 1 0 0 0.00 1 0 2.0 2 0 0 0 1 1 1.50 .250 .286 0.1
Dusty Rodriguez RP 0 0 0 5.40 1 0 1.2 1 1 1 1 3 0 2.40 .167 .000 -0.2
The Braves are, as always, anchored by Joe Brewer, who through 4 seasons is the all-time major league leader in strikeouts. He missed a month last season; had that not happened, maybe the Braves would have won their 2nd pennant. Missing from this team's roster is Kazufumi Duke. Word on the street is that the team was unhappy with his unwillingness to go far in games - he completed just 6 of 25 starts - and a lingering fear that he might be too smart for his own good, whatever that means.
Ricardo Reyes struggled mightily last season and might not be in the rotation going into the season. If he's relegated to the bullpen, he'll compete for a spot with Miguel Garcia, who also had big-time control issues. Well... it's 1950; everyone has control issues...
Catcher
Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR
Danny Kozak C 91 267 28 48 11 2 5 25 78 51 44 0 0 .180 .313 .292 .605 0.2
Harry Rawson C 65 196 25 44 10 1 6 25 74 45 44 0 0 .224 .370 .378 .748 1.3
Oscar Ortiz C 26 68 3 9 1 0 1 8 13 7 8 0 0 .132 .205 .191 .396 -0.5
Harry Rawsom, previously a New York Giants farmhand, emerged as the starter in the second half of last season. With Danny Kozak gone in a sale to the Chicago White Sox, Oscar Ortiz, who has a good enough arm but can't hit at all, figures to be the backup.
Infield
Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR
Manuel Mares 1B 145 556 100 202 41 7 24 116 329 77 10 8 9 .363 .441 .592 1.033 6.3
Nick Donahoe 1B 37 54 2 7 0 0 0 1 7 6 9 0 0 .130 .242 .130 .372 -0.4
Jonathan Cartagena 2B 79 338 50 99 17 3 5 49 137 21 46 4 8 .293 .331 .405 .737 1.5
Marvin Krueger 2B 51 202 33 54 12 2 5 16 85 33 11 0 0 .267 .376 .421 .796 1.4
Charlie Malone 2B 14 35 4 6 0 0 1 1 9 4 5 1 0 .171 .256 .257 .514 -0.0
Jake Kay 3B 72 232 22 51 12 0 0 19 63 31 21 0 0 .220 .311 .272 .582 -0.3
Justin Knepler 3B 34 113 28 37 7 3 13 31 89 24 23 1 0 .327 .445 .788 1.233 2.0
David Sanders 3B 39 109 14 24 5 0 0 8 29 16 13 0 0 .220 .317 .266 .584 -0.0
Danilo Palangan 3B 29 85 10 22 4 0 3 9 35 9 11 0 0 .259 .333 .412 .745 0.6
Austin Manley SS 107 373 34 105 14 0 2 39 125 20 47 1 6 .282 .317 .335 .652 0.4
Ramon Campos SS 70 231 22 51 21 2 1 27 79 19 29 2 0 .221 .285 .342 .627 0.4
Fidele Mendoza SS 11 45 2 8 0 0 0 4 8 0 3 0 1 .178 .196 .178 .373 -0.4
Manuel Mares was the anchor of the lineup last season, as he's been since the league restarted after the war, but he was reportedly unhappy with the direction the team is going in and so now he gets to experience true badness with the bottom-feeding Giants. Steven Lutes is his replacement; he's great when he plays but he missed all of 1947 and significant chunks of the last 2 years with injuries.
The Braves swapped longtime second-sacker Marvin Krueger with the Pirates for a guy in Jonathan Cartagena who had fallen out of favor there. Over the course of the season, he earned the starting role in Boston and is now considered a team leader. Go figure.
The Braves elected to cut ties with 3B Dusty Mattison after a truly awful 1948 (.202, 7, 67) and mostly paid for it with a whole lot of iffiness last season. Going into 1950 they've penciled in the former Phillies prospect Ken Battist, who, if nothing else, has a great baseball name.
Ramon Campos missed half the year and the Braves going forward seem to be happy with his replacement in Austin Manley. Campos was an All-Star in 1946 but has hit .209 and .221 the past two seasons, and at 31 years of age he's no longer even an elite-level shortstop. Anyway, enough about a guy who's no longer on the team. Manley, at 27, figures to be a full-time starter for the first time in his career. He's not a great fielder but hit for a good average for a middle infielder last year.
Outfield
Code:
Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB K SB CS AVG OBP SLG OPS WAR
Sam Brooks LF 110 435 76 143 33 8 13 70 231 59 11 2 5 .329 .410 .531 .941 5.5
George Stephens CF 96 225 40 67 14 2 4 25 97 32 11 7 3 .298 .381 .431 .812 1.4
Jamie Mason CF 67 194 21 45 4 2 1 10 56 17 18 5 4 .232 .297 .289 .586 0.3
Bill Rivera RF 152 624 69 198 35 3 13 102 278 23 12 0 0 .317 .341 .446 .786 1.4
Tom DeGirolamo RF 116 337 56 82 10 4 0 24 100 59 26 5 12 .243 .357 .297 .654 0.5
Nate Gerhart RF 39 121 11 22 6 0 4 18 40 18 16 0 0 .182 .286 .331 .616 -0.3
Sam Brooks held down the lineup as much as Mares did but the Braves thought that his lack of power held them back in '49 and so they moved both to the Giants for a pair of players in Steven Lutes and Jacob McKnight who figure to at least hit more dingers.
That trade also brought in their new starting center fielder, Curt Holdaway. Holdaway has won the Gold Glove the past 3 years and figures to be a big defensive upgrade over George Stephens, who is gone to the Pirates.
Right field is manned by "Big Bill" Rivera, who also doesn't really have the power you'd expect for a corner outfielder, but the Braves could send *everyone* away, and Rivera has the kind of bat control that makes scouts salivate.