Infielder Erick Aybar has played only shortstop so far in his first season with the Braves, but the slumping veteran will likely move to second base for some games soon.
Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said he wants to make the move so he can get versatile rookie Daniel Castro more time at shortstop. Castro, a strong defensive player at several positionis, started at shortstop in the only three games Aybar has missed so far, including Sunday and Monday when Gonzalez gave the veteran a breather.
The switch-hitting Aybar was batting .134 overall and .043 (1-for-23) against left-handers before Tuesday, when he was back in the lineup against Red Sox lefty David Price. Aybar’s defense the first couple of weeks wasn’t much better than his offense, but the former Gold Glove winner has been solid in the field lately.
“Eric’s been pretty darn good the last couple of days,” said Gonzalez, who told Aybar about his plan to play Aybar some at second base. “We’ve talked about internally, and we’ve talked about it with Erick. I don’t know when we’re going to do it, but we’ll do it. It won’t be anything that’s going to be for a month or a week or anything like that.
“My conversation with Erick was that, hey, I want Castro to still develop as a young shortstop, and I’m going to run him in there for a game or two, but I still want your bat in the lineup against certain pitchers and that kind of stuff. And he was fine with it. So it’s all up to me when I decide to do that. But again, I don’t think it will be a permanent move. I think it’ll be a day-by-day decision.”
Aybar started 35 games at second base as an Angels rookie in 2007, but played only two innings at the position in 2008 and hasn’t played any second base in a regular-season game since then.
What went unspoken was that Aybar could be replaced sooner than expected by one of the Braves’ two elite shortstop prospects, Ozzie Albies or Dansby Swanson, both thriving for their minor league affiliates after making strong impressions while spending much of spring training with the Braves’ major league team.
Albies, only 19, was batting .333 (24-for-72) with three doubles, two triples and a .400 on-base percentage in 19 games at Double-A Mississippi.
Swanson, 22, No. 1 overall draft pick last year out of Vanderbilt, had a .324 average (23-for-71) with nine doubles, one home run, four stolen bases and a .900 OPS in 18 games at high Single-A Carolina in his first full professional season.
Aybar was acquired from the Angels along with two top pitching prospects in a November trade for former Braves Gold Glove shortstop Andrelton Simmons. Aybar, 32, is in the final year of his contract and a placeholder until one of the prospects is ready. But the Braves hoped for far more production from him.
If he doesn’t play a lot better between now and the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, there might not be many, if any, teams with trade interest in Aybar.
