Atlanta Braves State of the System: First Base
The Atlanta Braves are one of the model organizations of baseball, with long term contractual control at almost every position on the diamond.
And that's a good thing, because some positions are lacking in quality or quantity options down in the minor leagues.
Our own Jake Mastroianni already wrote about the shortstop issue in the minors, with Ignacio Alvarez and not much else waiting in the wings at the moment for potential major-league contributors.
(To point out: That article was written before the Braves signed SS Jose Perdomo in international free agency a few weeks ago...but with him being only seventeen, there's still a lot of time before he'd be a major league option.)
Another position that's majorly lacking in the minors, in both quality and quantity, is first base. Looking at the options, FanGraphs only lists four first basemen in the organization at the moment:
Bryson Horne: Horne, an undrafted free agent in the shortened 2020 draft out of Columbus State University in nearby Columbus, GA, batted .216/.267/.333 with seven homers across 99 games in High-A Rome and AA Mississippi last season. He is Rule 5 eligible.
Justin Janas: A 12th rounder in the 2022 Draft out of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Janas got on base plenty but struggled to hit for power during his time in the lower minors, batting .283/.365/.376 with four homers in 118 combined Single-A and High-A games.
Drew Compton: Compton, an undrafted free agent out of Georgia Tech, joined the organization after this year's draft and batted .246/.340/.392 across 37 combined Rookie-ball and Single-A games.
Elian Cortorreal: Originally signed as a second baseman in the 2022 IFA class, Cortorreal's journey stateside saw him kick in to first base for more than half of his starts, where he batted .220/.439/.322 with one homer.
Obviously, the defensive bar is lower at first base than other positions on the field, and there's several players currently playing other positions that could eventually move over to first if needed (or if their defense didn't improve at their original position).
Cade Bunnell: The 2019 40th rounder spent the entire season in AA Mississippi, playing all four spots in the infield as well as a few games in left field. He batted .201/.313/.368 with 16 homers, but also 179 strikeouts, in his 113 games.
David McCabe: We're pretty high on McCabe as a potential major league piece in the future; he made a cameo at first in the Arizona Fall League, making seven of his sixteen starts there. His defense remains a work in progress at third, and there's a very real chance his future role at the big league level is as a 1B backup to Matt Olson and future DH after Marcell Ozuna's contract has expired.
(Catcher Drake Baldwin is another I think could fill that DH and backup role, as well, in this case after Travis d'Arnaud's time with the organization is up.)
What would Atlanta do if Matt Olson missed time?
In the short term, you'd probably see Austin Riley get some playtime at first base if it were just for a few days. Riley made three starts and logged a total of 53.2 innings at first base across 2021 & 2022, and is probably your go-to backup for Olson (as utilityman Luis Guillorme has never played the position).
If Olson requires an extended absence, though, I'd expect Atlanta to make a trade similar to when they lost Freddie Freeman in 2017. With Freeman going down with a fractured wrist in May and facing a ten-week absence that season, the Braves traded Yuan Jepez to the St. Louis Cardinals to acquire Matt Adams and installed him in Freeman's place.
(That also introduced us to Freddie Freeman, third baseman, for a sixteen game span after he returned from injury and offered to shift over to third to keep Adams in the lineup.)
Ultimately, Olson's ironman streak - his last start at a position other than first base was August 24th, 2021, when he was Oakland's DH, and his last missed game was May 1st of the same season - means that a backup first baseman isn't a key piece needed on the bench.
Designated hitter Marcell Ozuna, who worked at first base prior to games last season and even in postseason workouts, could also be an option, along with backup catcher Travis d'Arnaud, who made 16 starts at first in 2019 while with Tampa Bay.
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