Future SS

Enscheff said:
A pretty good article on talking chop about this. I agree they should probably do some sort of SS/2B rotation to evaluate both guys AND to keep both players' prospect value as high as possible.

http://www.talkingchop.com/2015/12/15/10144788/comparing-ozhaino-albies-and-dansby-swanson-braves
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Instincts

The first thing I notice when I watch Ozhaino Albies play is his positioning and reactions. He seems to know where balls are going and reacts to them with as quick a first step as anyone I've seen. His instincts in the field are off the charts good, and I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone in the minor leagues who is a more natural defender than Albies. Swanson as well has natural abilities. He positions himself to make all the plays he needs to make and does a good job of getting jumps on balls. Swanson has great instincts, but it's just hard to find someone who plays like Albies.

This was exactly my observation of Albies. There were three highly-regarded defensive SS in the Southern League last year (Guerra, Jorge Mateo, and Albies) and Ozzie was the best of the three at this...he always seemed to get a jump on the ball that allowed him to be in a good position to throw. He has great spatial awareness and seems to find the right line. This will serve him well at 2B, for sure, but it's reason enough to make SS an open competition.
 
Julio3000 said:
Instincts

The first thing I notice when I watch Ozhaino Albies play is his positioning and reactions. He seems to know where balls are going and reacts to them with as quick a first step as anyone I've seen. His instincts in the field are off the charts good, and I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone in the minor leagues who is a more natural defender than Albies. Swanson as well has natural abilities. He positions himself to make all the plays he needs to make and does a good job of getting jumps on balls. Swanson has great instincts, but it's just hard to find someone who plays like Albies.

This was exactly my observation of Albies. There were three highly-regarded defensive SS in the Southern League last year (Guerra, Jorge Mateo, and Albies) and Ozzie was the best of the three at this...he always seemed to get a jump on the ball that allowed him to be in a good position to throw. He has great spatial awareness and seems to find the right line. This will serve him well at 2B, for sure, but it's reason enough to make SS an open competition.
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It will come down to the arm, IMO. His instincts will play just as well at 2B, as you said, and with Freeman's limited range at 1B, you could argue that, depending on who we have at 3B, his range is actually more valuable to us at 2B. And if the range and instincts are pretty comparable and one has a clearly better arm, that's the guy who should be at SS.

I don't really know what's going to happen and who is better at what, just making some guesses.
 
smootness said:
I would be beyond shocked.
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Agree. He should be available for the right price.......but that price should be huge. I get that there's little HR power there. But it seems like most ppl think he'll hit his fair share of doubles.

Swanson will be the SS IMO. And Swanson and Albies project to be plus up the middle defense beyond 2020 and likely plus hitting.

I wouldn't move Albies to 2B until I was 100% sure that is where he is going to go. Don't make the same mistake they made with Peraza moving him too early.
 
Chico said:
Just for shiats and giggles.........What if we trade Albies?
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hell no. He's the next Altuve. Just put him at 2B and leave him alone. We'll have one of the best DP combos in the game in the not too distant future
 
Trading Albies does nothing to help us and doesn't make any sense given what we're trying to accomplish. I realize no one is legitimately speculating, but it's not even worth discussing.

I don't think we moved Peraza to 2B too early. We traded him to LA as a SS, his value wasn't diminished. He just didn't have all that much value, and LA has a good FO. That trade wasn't a good one, but moving Peraza to 2B had nothing to do with it.
 
smootness said:
Trading Albies does nothing to help us and doesn't make any sense given what we're trying to accomplish. I realize no one is legitimately speculating, but it's not even worth discussing.

I don't think we moved Peraza to 2B too early. We traded him to LA as a SS, his value wasn't diminished. He just didn't have all that much value, and LA has a good FO. That trade wasn't a good one, but moving Peraza to 2B had nothing to do with it.
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That seems contrary to most of the reports I've read. But ok, you seem very sure your opinion is fact.
 
smootness said:
Trading Albies does nothing to help us and doesn't make any sense given what we're trying to accomplish. I realize no one is legitimately speculating, but it's not even worth discussing.

I don't think we moved Peraza to 2B too early. We traded him to LA as a SS, his value wasn't diminished. He just didn't have all that much value, and LA has a good FO. That trade wasn't a good one, but moving Peraza to 2B had nothing to do with it.
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Easy killer! People can speculate and discuss whatever they want. It's the whole reason for a message board. I was really just bringing it up out of boredom, since nobody is targeting an 18 year old kid in the offseason, and we're not going after a big name since we're not going to be competitive.

We didn't trade Peraza as a SS though. He played mostly 2B with as many games at OF as he did SS. Infield prospect or utility guy are closer than SS
 
Russ2dollas said:
That seems contrary to most of the reports I've read. But ok, you seem very sure your opinion is fact.
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That sounded more definite than I meant it. It's certainly just my opinion, but I have to believe we still pushed Peraza as a SS in the deal...and if we didn't, then my guess is that most teams saw Peraza as a 2B already anyway. I just don't think moving Peraza around because we had Simmons at SS did much to reduce his value.
 
Chico said:
Easy killer! People can speculate and discuss whatever they want. It's the whole reason for a message board. I was really just bringing it up out of boredom, since nobody is targeting an 18 year old kid in the offseason, and we're not going after a big name since we're not going to be competitive.

We didn't trade Peraza as a SS though. He played mostly 2B with as many games at OF as he did SS. Infield prospect or utility guy are closer than SS
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Sure, people can say and think whatever they want. I never suggested otherwise. I said it's not worth discussing because it's not going to happen and shouldn't.
 
If you've not seen Albies, you can't appreciate his reaction and speed. He's a good and can be great at SS. IMHO though, he's going to move to 2B and I think he will excel. That report on TC was spot on.
 
Keep Swanson at SS and move Albies to 2B. I don't want to have a second baseman with Dan in his name ever again.
 
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