Infield prospect Ozzie Albies arrived in the majors Tuesday, and the undersized dude had quite an outsized impact on the Braves lineup, with Brandon Phillips moved to an uncertain role and his future with the team up in the air.
Also changing job descriptions were Freddie Freeman, who's back to being a full-time first baseman, and Matt Adams, who played left field Tuesday for the first time since the Cardinals tried the big lug out there in April and decided he was not an outfielder.
Adams had played only first base since being traded to the Braves in May after Freeman fractured his wrist. He’ll be in left field most of the time while Matt Kemp is on the disabled list with a once-again strained hamstring.
Albies, at 20 the youngest player in the majors, was immediately inserted in the lineup at second base for Tuesday night's series opener against the Dodgers, and manager Brian Snitker made it clear that Albies would be the primary second baseman for the forseeable future, leaving veteran second baseman Phillips in a state of limbo.
“We’re a different (team) than we were a few weeks ago,” Snitker said. “Matt (Kemp) went down, so we just keep (Adams’) bat in the lineup in left field. With Ozzie in here; I’ve talked to Brandon about maybe playing some third base. Get Freddie back to first. Like I say, we’re a different team than we were a few weeks ago. Kind of ever-evolving, I guess.
“We’ve got some versatility in the guys we have here, we’ll try to make it work.”
Snitker mentioned to Phillips the possibility of playing some third base, but it wasn’t clear how receptive Phillips would be to playing a position he’s never played except for one game in Double-A 16 years ago.
“It’s funny, it’s just weird how things have a way of working out,” Snitker said. “We got Brandon and he’s been really, really good. But it’s time to see the kid.”
He said he spoke with Phillips on Tuesday and would again Wednesday about possibly playing third base, but the Braves know there’s a chance that Phillips, 36 and a pending free agent, might balk at that idea. Snitker said at least Phillips didn’t outright shoot it down when he first brought it up.
Phillips declined through a team spokesperson to speak Tuesday with a reporter about the situation. He had a limited no-trade clause – 12 teams to which a trade required his approval – but it wasn’t believed the Braves received any serious trade offers for him before Monday’s non-waiver trade deadline, or else they almost certainly would’ve dealt him.
“He’s thinking,” Snitker said of the part-time third-base possibility he mentioned to Phillips. “He wasn’t going to play today anyway because he had (a ball) drill him in ankle yesterday, so he was a little sore. I talked to him about it (third base). Talk to him again tomorrow and see where we’re at.”
“Yeah, pretty much,” Snitker said. “He’ll tell us (with his performance). Again, if we’re going to give him a taste of this league, the speed of the game, we need to play him. Hopefully it’s a situation where he gets out there and…. I’m looking forward to playing him and seeing him.”
The Braves optioned outfielder Micah Johnson and reliever Akeel Morris to Triple-A to open roster spots for top prospect Albies, who was at second base in his big-league debut, and Lucas Sims, who was to start against the Dodgers on Tuesday in his debut. Big doings for the kids.
“It’s good to see (Albies) up here and it’s good to see the Braves are pushing the young guys like when I was coming through (the minors),” Freeman said. “They pushed us, and it’s cool to see that they’re doing that again. If they think Ozzie’s ready, then it’s good for us.
“He’s a good kid, good head on his shoudlers. He works hard. He’s obviously impressed us the last couple of years in spring, and he impressed me those three days I was at Gwinnett this year (on injury rehab).”
If Adams is to stay in left field – he’s not a player who would make it through waivers and be dealt in August – then whither Kemp when he returns from the DL, which could be a little over a week but might be considerably longer?
Kemp and Phillips – along with reliever Jim Johnson – are veterans with significant salaries who could potentially make it through waivers and be traded this month.
“We’ll try (Adams in left field) until Matt (Kemp) comes back,” Snitker said. “And Danny (Santana) can go out there, Sean (Rodriguez) can go out there, we have some flexibility. If we want lefty-righty, we have those pieces to do that. We’ll just see how it goes.”
And when Kemp returns? “We’ll deal with that when it gets here,” Snitker said. “Lot of things can transpire before then. We’ll just take it today and tomorrow right now.”
Meanwhile, the Freeman third-base experiment appears to have been short-lived – the veteran first baseman moved back to his regular position Tuesday, after playing 16 games at third base since returning from the DL on July 4 including seven of the past eight games. He made the switch voluntarily to keep Adams’ bat in the lineup at first base, but the Braves are a far better defensive team with Freeman at first base.
Sean Rodriguez, Johan Camargo and Danny Santana are third-base options, though Camargo has been the primary shortstop since Dansby Swanson got sent down to Triple-A a week ago.
