Mauricio Dubón is perfect example of why Braves are winning big

It’s not every manager who would keep sending out the utility player when the high-priced free-agent signee is healthy and available.

But Braves manager Walt Weiss penciled in Mauricio Dubón again at shortstop Friday night, and Dubón once again justified his faith.

The Braves opened their three-game weekend series against the Pittsburgh Pirates with a 6-3 win at Truist Park, and Dubón’s influence was as hard to miss as the team’s red jerseys.

He homered for the third game in a row — a career first — with a third-inning blast that tied the game at 3. He also drove in the go-ahead run in the fifth with a missile-like double and defended his position flawlessly.

All this while dealing with cold symptoms, too.

“I told the guys I’m going to have my kid sneeze on my face every night from now on,” said Dubón, who probably won’t be doing public service announcements for the CDC anytime soon.

Credit the 31-year-old Honduran for continuing to be a supremely valuable addition, playing all over the field, batting up and down the lineup, and delivering one key hit after another. Kudos to Weiss for committing to sticking with the hot hand, even if it means playing the $6.1 million backup ahead of the $20 million expected starter (Ha-Seong Kim).

And a nod to president of baseball operations and general manager Alex Anthopoulos for not meddling with the lineup — and having the smarts to trade for Dubón in the first place.

There are many reasons why the Braves continue to maintain their status as the best team in baseball, now 43-21 after Friday.

Dubón exemplifies it as much as anyone or anything else.

“It’s easy for me to write Dubón’s name in the lineup just because of what he’s been doing all year for us,” Weiss said. “He seems to be in the middle of a lot of really good things this year.”

He has delivered above expectations, coming in as a backup to Kim who could play all over the field and handle himself at the plate. But with Kim’s offseason finger injury and then his slow start, Dubón has seized the opportunity and made it difficult for Weiss to keep him out of the lineup.

He has played shortstop, third base, center field, and left field and shone at each spot. He has batted in every spot in the order except third.

Going into Friday’s game, his .710 OPS was above his career average (.672) and his performance with two outs and runners in scoring position (.440 batting average, 1.340 OPS) was not a typo. (Both of his hits Friday were on 1-2 counts, further evidence of his coming through in tight spots.)

He has played in 60 of the team’s first 64 games, starting 58 of them, hardly what you would expect of a utility player.

It may indeed be easy for Weiss to write Dubón into the lineup. And, given that he had homered the two previous games, it probably was.

But, Weiss acknowledged, it doesn’t always happen that way. Even if he has merited it, the walk-on doesn’t always start over the scholarship player. (Perhaps the analogy needs to be updated for the name, image and likeness era.)

“Working for Alex, it’s awesome, to be honest,” Weiss said. “He’s not coming down, handing me lineups. I know that still happens around this league. Never has he done anything like that.”

Dubón is exactly what Anthopoulos wanted after the Braves adjusted their approach to backups. Injuries in recent seasons to valuable starters such as Austin Riley, Ronald Acuña Jr. and Ozzie Albies (to say nothing of getting burned by PED user Jurickson Profar) and a lack of production from backups led Anthopoulos to reassess their value.

Where last year’s highest-paid backup made $790,000, per Spotrac (Eli White), Anthopoulos was quite willing to swap the superior glove, light bat and smallish contract ($1.4 million this year) of shortstop Nick Allen to the Houston Astros for Dubón and his $6.1 million contract for 2026, knowing he could provide punch at the plate and be a first-rate defensive option all across the field.

It has worked, not only because Dubón has been productive at the plate and in the field and not only because he has contributed to the team’s chemistry, but also because, as noted above, Weiss has been willing to give him the chances he has deserved.

It doesn’t mean Kim, hitting .102, won’t eventually take back shortstop. But it does mean he’ll have to play well enough to earn it.

Asked about the message that Weiss sends by playing the players most capable of helping the team win, Dubón called it “unreal.”

For Weiss, it’s a juggling act and requires communication to let all of his players know where they stand.

“But my responsibility to this organization, to everybody that’s involved in this building and outside this building, my responsibility is to try to win games every night and I can’t lose sight of that,” Weiss said. “That’s the bottom line and that’s what I signed up for.”

Weiss made good on his responsibility again Friday night, an obligation that has produced dividends far greater — thus far — than anyone could have predicted.