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The Atlanta Braves have a bench problem in spring training - namely, nobody wants to be on it.
President of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos admitted last week that the bench options for the 2024 roster aren't as robust as they potentially could be, primarily because of one issue: Lack of playing time.
Atlanta's position player core plays primarily every single day, and so there's not a lot of opportunities for at-bats or defensive innings to be had among the bench options. And that's what is making designated hitter Marcell Ozuna's continued work at first base incredibly useful.
The 33 year-old Ozuna, who won a Gold Glove in the outfield earlier in his career but made only two defensive appearances last season has continued last season's pregame work at first base in spring training.
Ozuna was captured on film by the Atlanta beat taking groundballs and doing defensive drills behind starter Matt Olson at first base, similar to what he did in pregame drills and even for the pre-NLCS squad games last season.
Marcell Ozuna taking some reps behind Matt Olson at first base. pic.twitter.com/S19SQWYVw9
— Miles Garrett (@MilesGarrettTV) February 20, 2024
Manager Brian Snitker confirmed that this wasn't just a practice thing for Ozuna, but that you'd see him playing some infield defense during spring training.
“I just think it’s a good way to get him active and keep him moving, and it’s good exercise,” Snitker told the media. “I’m gonna get him in some games there, just to be doing something other than just DH’ing.”
And it's not really just a thing for Ozuna to do - he's not that bad, actually.
“He’s OK. “His hands are good. He looked good last year, so I told him after the season was over before we left that I was gonna do that with him. We’ll see how it works out and where it goes," said Snitker.
And that defensive versatility, if it works out, is nothing but a good thing for the Braves roster - Matt Olson played every single game last season (and the year before, and the one before that - Olson's last missed game was May 1st of 2021, where Seth Brown started at first base over him), but the few times he's gotten time off late in a game while in Atlanta, Austin Riley has been the primary backup behind Olson, necessitating another move at third base.
And with the potential configuration of Atlanta's bench, having your DH be able to take reps at first base is useful. Catcher Travis d'Arnaud, who has played first base in his career (he made 16 starts there in 2019, while with the Tampa Bay Rays), is locked into a spot, as is utility man Luis Guillorme. Given Anthopoulos' discussion about "speed" being a factor in the outfield bench spot, Forrest Wall's the logical choice to open the season on the bench, leaving only one spot either for an infielder that would be the primary backup at shortstop or another outfield and/or pinch hit option.
So if Ozuna could come into a game late to spell Olson without needing to reconfigure the rest of the infield, that's just one more underrated reason to value the veteran.
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