LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Eury Perez, Eric Young Jr., Todd Cunningham, Zoilo Almonte.
Those are the four candidates to replace injured center fielder Melvin Upton Jr. in the Braves’ opening day lineup. It’s also an early speculated order of the odds that each of those players gets the job, going from most likely to least, although it’s really too soon to know with any high degree of certainty.
“You’re kidding anybody if you don’t see it as an opportunity,” Young said of the situation. “It’s an unfortunate situation. Melvin hopefully gets healthy soon and gets back to playing the game that he loves the way I know he can. But in the meantime, I came into camp with a bunch of gloves, ready for whatever situation or scenario they threw at me. And right now with my speed, we’ve got a void in center and I’ve got this opportunity and just got to go out there and make the most of it.”
Perez might have the upper hand because he’s a natural center fielder who hit .310 with a .371 OBP and 26 stolen bases in 67 games last season with Washington Nationals minor league affiliates. But he has just 23 total plate appearances in the majors during callups with the Nationals in 2012-2013 and the Yankees in 2014.
Young is the only player in the bunch with extensive major league experience – nearly 1,600 plate appearances in 504 games over parts of six seasons. But the speedy “EY” is just a .252 career hitter, had a .229 average and .299 OBP last season with the Mets, and has far more experience in left field (197 starts) than in center (34 starts).
Cunningham is probably, as Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez noted, the most fundamentally sound outfielder of the bunch. However, he’s almost 26 and has but eight plate appearances in the majors – in 2013 – and he spent the past two seasons in Triple-A, totaling 10 homers and 39 steals in more than 1,000 PAs in that span. He had a .675 OPS in 2013 and .754 in 2014.
Almonte had 18 homers in 454 PAs for the Yankees’ Triple-A affiliate last season and was one of the best hitters in the Dominican Winter League this offseason, but the 220-pound outfielder has only limited experience in center and is better suited for the corner positions.
“I think the other three guys have played (center) more than Almonte, but we’ll see,” Gonzalez said. “We’ll run them out there and watch. Even E.Y. Jr. has got, I think, 30-some games in center field in the big leagues. Perez is a natural center fielder. (Braves third-base coach) Bo (Porter) had him with the Nationals and he really likes him as a defender.”
