Dubón making case to remain a regular when injured Kim returns for the Braves

In February, Mauricio Dubón was quite clear as to what has shaped his mindset and baseball personality over the years.

Dubón has made a career of proving doubters wrong. Often an afterthought on an MLB roster, the former 26th-round pick is a rare native of Honduras playing professional baseball at the highest level.

Lo and behold, a little more than two weeks into the season with yet another new team, Dubón is doing it again, making folks take notice of his play in the field and at the plate.

He came to the Braves via a November trade that sent Nick Allen to the Astros. Then, Ha-Seong Kim tore a tendon in his finger on his throwing hand in January, and the door of opportunity once more creaked open for Dubón.

After Sunday night’s 3-for-4, two-RBI performance in a 13-1 win against the Guardians, Dubón is hitting a team-best .351, is tied for the team lead in hits (20) and is second with six doubles, 11 RBIs and an OPS of .934. In the field, where he has started 11 games at shortstop, Dubón has also logged innings at third base, left field and center field.

“For me, it’s always, ‘I want to help the team win,’ no matter if that’s either offense or defense,” Dubón told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Saturday.

None of Dubón’s numbers should be a surprise considering he hit .278 with the Astros in 2023, drove in 47 runs the following year and has had a WAR (wins above replacement) of at least 1.0 the past three seasons. Oh, he has a pair of Gold Gloves, too.

In 2022, Dubón was part of the Astros’ World Series title run.

“Look, I’ve said this before about other players, but a guy that’s been an important piece on a championship club means something,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “It certainly means something to me, and you can see why. With Dubón, there’s a winning pedigree there. There’s a high baseball IQ, a willingness to do whatever it takes to try to win a game.

“So, he’s been a really valuable piece to have already a few weeks into the season, and he’s played four positions already? And plays them all well. There’s a short list of guys in this game that can do that. He’s been great.”

Truth be told, however, it took Dubón some years to come into his own.

The 31-year-old was originally drafted by the Red Sox in 2013 out of Capital Christian High School in Sacramento, California, and he didn’t make his MLB debut until 2019, appearing in two July games for the Brewers before being dealt to the Giants. During the last of his three-plus seasons with the Giants, Dubón’s offensive production began to fade in contrast with his popularity with fans in San Francisco.

He was traded to the Astros in 2022 for Michael Papierski. Papierski played five games with the Giants before being traded to the Reds and hasn’t played in the majors since.

Braves outfielder Mike Yastrzemski was also a teammate of Dubón’s in San Francisco.

“It’s really cool, because when I played with him, he was young, he was getting his first crack of the big leagues and trying to figure some things out, trying to figure out what his role was, trying to figure out how to stick,” Yastrzemski said. “And then he got traded, and I got to watch him from afar kind of really grow into a great player.

“And now I get to reunite with him and see it firsthand. And it’s amazing the strides that he’s taken, the confidence that he has. I’m really happy for him in that sense, and I’m glad to be playing with him again.”

The elephant in the room for the Braves and Dubón is what happens when Kim returns from the injured list (possibly as soon as next month). If Dubón continues to perform at the same level, both at the plate and in the field, it will be hard to make him a reserve.