Olivera is Bowden's #1 Player to Watch This Spring

I just wish he was able to play third. Finding a third baseman that can hit is so much harder than finding a left fielder. We would be a much better team with Inciarte in right, Mallex in center, Markakis in left, and Olivera at third.

For a guy who everyone raves about his athleticism, he was shockingly bad at third.
 
DOB tweeted Olivera's swing is compact and quick and that he's hitting balls hard. Good to hear. Last year his swing was long and slow and he was making weak contact.

I'm becoming more optimistic about him. I never see him being a star or hitting for much power but if he could get on base a fair bit he won't be useless.
 
Yeah I saw it on mlb.tv today and it's obvious that his swing is much better. He's gonna hit a lot of balls hard in the gaps this year.

He also did not look very comfy in left.
 
weso1 said:
Yeah I saw it on mlb.tv today and it's obvious that his swing is much better. He's gonna hit a lot of balls hard in the gaps this year.

He also did not look very comfy in left.
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The defense still worries me. It's surprising he's been so bad both at third and in left considering the fact that everyone raves about his athleticism.
 
I'll also say this about Olivera. He kind of has a Mike Trout type body and swing up there now. He looks like a guy that's going to hit a lot of HR's. Certainly not saying he has Trout's bat speed, but he's going to be an intriguing hitter this year.
 
striker42 said:
The defense still worries me. It's surprising he's been so bad both at third and in left considering the fact that everyone raves about his athleticism.
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He could still be good in the end out there, but just looked like a guy that needs a lot more practice to get comfortable.
 
striker42 said:
The defense still worries me. It's surprising he's been so bad both at third and in left considering the fact that everyone raves about his athleticism.
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Part of it is probably that he hasn't played those positions much. Is it that his range is bad, or does he just have an issue reading the ball off the bat? Because one of those can be remedied with experience.
 
GovClintonTyree said:
Perhaps we could try him at his natural position. I'll bet his bat plays there...
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Right now I'd consider anything. However, he looked really clunky at third base. If he was struggling with having enough quickness to play third (quickness, not speed) then I doubt he'd have enough to play second.

Personally, I'd still be giving him plenty of time at third. Olivera is so much more valuable to us if he solves our third base issues for a little while.
 
mfree80 said:
Are we really beating this dead horse yet again?
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I'm sorry, but I'm watching a replay of the game against the Mets on MLBN right now. When he came to bat, I thought "man he looks pretty good," but then immediately asked myself "why the **** is this guy on this team?"
 
Olivera getting a hit with his new swing:
http://m.braves.mlb.com/atl/video/v...braves-on-the-board/?affiliateId=clubMEGAMENU

Olivera's first major league hit:
http://m.mlb.com/video/v442003483/miaatl-olivera-hits-tworun-single-for-first-ml-hit/?game_pk=415636

This is the only AB of his I've seen all spring so this is a terrible basis for analysis. Still, here I go. The first thing I notice is that he's much quieter at the plate. Next he seemed to stay inside the ball better instead of going out and around it and producing a weak grounder. We saw a ton of weak grounders last year. The swing doesn't seem quite as long and loopy as last year.

That being said. The swing still seems a bit longer than ideal. As long as he has the bat speed and the hands to make up for it, everything will be fine. I do wonder how gracefully he'll age though if that's as compact as he can make his swing.
 
striker42 said:
Olivera getting a hit with his new swing:
http://m.braves.mlb.com/atl/video/v...braves-on-the-board/?affiliateId=clubMEGAMENU

Olivera's first major league hit:
http://m.mlb.com/video/v442003483/miaatl-olivera-hits-tworun-single-for-first-ml-hit/?game_pk=415636

This is the only AB of his I've seen all spring so this is a terrible basis for analysis. Still, here I go. The first thing I notice is that he's much quieter at the plate. Next he seemed to stay inside the ball better instead of going out and around it and producing a weak grounder. We saw a ton of weak grounders last year. The swing doesn't seem quite as long and loopy as last year.

That being said. The swing still seems a bit longer than ideal. As long as he has the bat speed and the hands to make up for it, everything will be fine. I do wonder how gracefully he'll age though if that's as compact as he can make his swing.
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Still has that silly hitch at the beginning..

here is another where he is more upright from last year.

http://m.braves.mlb.com/atl/video/t...center-for-a-triple/?affiliateId=clubMEGAMENU

Seems when he is taller in the box, he is more balanced and drives the ball the other way.
 
smootness said:
It's not really a hitch. It's a bit weird, but it's just a timing mechanism for him, like the stutter step Chipper used.
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It's him loading up but I'm not a fan of where it leaves the bat. He's wrapping it. Gives it a longer path to travel. It's not as pronounced as last year but still less than ideal.
 
striker42 said:
It's him loading up but I'm not a fan of where it leaves the bat. He's wrapping it. Gives it a longer path to travel. It's not as pronounced as last year but still less than ideal.
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More of what I was saying.. He loads back and thus makes his swing too long..meaning he has to start it earlier which leads to getting fooled easier... But I am definitely no expert on these things..
 
http://www.myajc.com/news/sports/ba...rnallink_referralbox_free-to-premium-referral

Good article (premium but they let you see 5 a month free). It has a lot of good quotes from the hitting coaches who still aren't happy with his swing in games. Apparently he reverts to some old bad habits in games. He wraps his bat like we saw (not as bad as last year but not what you want). He's also taking his front foot off the ground and crouching too much.

I think it's safe to say the scouting reports that called Olivera "plug-and-play" ready were a bit off. Honestly, he could probably use more time in AAA working on defense and the new swing.
 
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