Who is your ONE player that needs a great year in 2019?

[BeanieAntics]

If I can only pick one player it's Sean Newcomb. Between him and Teheran, if they both are on one game and off the next and you never know what your going to get from them both, it's going to be a bad year. We need one of them to step up and be a tor pitcher and I think Newcomb is most likely between the two to be able to do that. If I could pick a pitcher and a position player the position player would be Inciarte. I think we really need him to step up and lead off to make the lineup longer.

See I think the calculus in a question like this is to find the player or players who are the least proven, but with the highest upside. A guy like Inciarte isn't going to give you a 5 WAR season. He is what he is: a solid 3 win CF who relies on great defense. His value has been remarkably consistent over the years and I think we can feel comfortable in him doing the same thing this year. I'd also take Newcomb out. He still has a lot of questions to answer about his game, but I think we can safely assume his floor is around a #4 starter.

I'd also take out Freeman, Acuna, Markakis, Flowers, McCann, Donaldson (tentative on health), Teheran, Gausman, Folty, and the bullpen. There are questions surrounding some of those guys, but most of them have established some sort of value window i.e. the best we could expect vs. the worst.

That leaves guys like Ozzie, Dansby, Camargo, Riley, Touki, Soroka, Wright, Wilson, Anderson, and Gohara. That is the group that I'd be inclined to pick from because so much uncertainty surrounds them. They all have the upside to be stars, but still a generally uncertain floor with maybe the exception of Ozzie.

Now that I think about it, the correct answer to this question may be Allard. If I had a magic wand and could turn one player into a star, I think he'd be the best choice. He's the least likely of all our top prospects to produce anything notable on their own so if I could give him some magic I'd feel comfortable allowing the rest of our guys to develop and provide value on their own.

[thethe]

See I think the calculus in a question like this is to find the player or players who are the least proven, but with the highest upside. A guy like Inciarte isn't going to give you a 5 WAR season. He is what he is: a solid 3 win CF who relies on great defense. His value has been remarkably consistent over the years and I think we can feel comfortable in him doing the same thing this year. I'd also take Newcomb out. He still has a lot of questions to answer about his game, but I think we can safely assume his floor is around a #4 starter.

I'd also take out Freeman, Acuna, Markakis, Flowers, McCann, Donaldson (tentative on health), Teheran, Gausman, Folty, and the bullpen. There are questions surrounding some of those guys, but most of them have established some sort of value window i.e. the best we could expect vs. the worst.

That leaves guys like Ozzie, Dansby, Camargo, Riley, Touki, Soroka, Wright, Wilson, Anderson, and Gohara. That is the group that I'd be inclined to pick from because so much uncertainty surrounds them. They all have the upside to be stars, but still a generally uncertain floor with maybe the exception of Ozzie.

Now that I think about it, the correct answer to this question may be Allard. If I had a magic wand and could turn one player into a star, I think he'd be the best choice. He's the least likely of all our top prospects to produce anything notable on their own so if I could give him some magic I'd feel comfortable allowing the rest of our guys to develop and provide value on their own.

Get the logic here but I also think some consideration needs to be given to whether that player will have the opportunity to even have a great year and while I wish the best for Allard I think he is currently at best the 4th or 5th option for the 5th spot and would require some significant injuries/poor performance to get an opportunity. If you take it as a given that the top 4 is Folty/Gausman/Newk/Teheran (Not a huge leap here) then you have Touissant/Fried/Gohara/Soroka/Wright/Wilson/Allard as those next options. Of course me being a super Fried fan I think he is first in line. There are just too many bodies for Allard to jump to where he even gets his chance so he would be eliminated in my mind. I kind of mess around with it but I'm kind of serious. Fried is legit and more so than my belief I think the Braves believe that and he will be given first crack. Therefore, as the 'first' fifth starter, if he take the bull by the horns and absolutely lights it up then the Braves all of a sudden have one of the more productive rotations in baseball.

Edit: Yikes - Forgot Touki. Makes it even more challenging for Allard to be that guy and now my guy Fried.