At one point in Saturday’s game against the Marlins, Braves shortstop Dansby Swanson and second baseman Ozzie Albies joked with each other that having Johan Camargo at third base made it feel like the 2016 Double-A Mississippi Braves again, and what a good a feeling that was.
They'll have it on a regular basis now that Camargo has been named the Braves' starting third baseman. General manager Alex Anthopoulos said after releasing veteran Jose Bautista on Sunday morning that Camargo will move into the regular role, playing against right-handers and lefties.
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Camargo had been penciled in as the opening-day third baseman before spring training, but an oblique strain in March landed him on the disabled list to start the season. The Braves signed veteran Ryan Flaherty and had him play third base for a few weeks, then signed Bautista in hopes that the 37-year-old former home-run champion could regain his stroke and play a competent third base while providing the Braves a potent middle-of-the-order hitter.
Nearly two months into the season, and after two weeks filling in for Swanson while the shortstop was on the disabled list, Camargo finally has a starting job of his own.
“Everything just kind of moves at its pace and everything happens the way it’s intended to be,” Camargo said through a translator Sunday morning. “First and foremost I’m kind of sad to see Jose go, he’s a great ballplayer and it was great to have him here. But obviously I’m grateful for the opportunity and excited for it.”
Camargo hit just .226 (14-for-62) with six extra-base hits (two homers) and 13 RBIs in 24 games before Sunday, but he had 13 walks, a .368 on-base percentage and one of the team’s highest line-drive rates and lowest batting averages on balls in play – indications that he’s had some bad luck and that his overall numbers could be due for a correction.
“There’s been some hard times, the numbers prove that,” Camargo said. “It happens, that’s baseball, everyone goes through it. But like I’ve said before, you’ve got to keep our head up high and just keep going, keep working and have the confidence in yourself and know that eventually things will turn around and go the way that you hope they do.”
As a rookie in 2017, Camargo hit .299 with 27 extra-base hits and a .783 OPS in 241 at-bats. He was playing well at shortstop when Swanson was demoted to Triple-A in late July, but Camargo’s opportunity ended abruptly with a freak knee injury that occurred as he stumbled running onto the field. Swanson was recalled and Camargo was DL’d for much of the remainder of the season.
“He’s a heck of a player, he’s a great athlete and he just has a feel for the game that most people don’t have,” Swanson said of Camargo. “And he’s able to do it on both sides, defensively and offensively. We kind of saw last year how well he was able to swing it.
“This year he has put the ball in play and hit it hard, just no results. But he’s trying to get out of that and find some holes and continue to put good at-bats together. If he can continue to do that, you definitely can help produce and help us be better.
The 24-year-old Camargo is an above-average defender and helps solidify the infield defensively, playing alongside Swanson, 24, and budding star Albies, 21, his former Double-A Mississippi teammates. Standout first baseman Freddie Freeman is a relative greybeard among the group at 28.
“I’m happy and honored, obviously we all played together in the minor leagues,” Camargo said. “So it’s a great feeling to be here in ‘the show’ with the guys and doing it up here.”
The Braves’ production at third base slipped significantly of late, with four different players getting starts at the position in the past 10 games before Sunday including five starts by Bautista in the last nine games before he was released.
Power-hitting prospect Austin Riley was recently promoted to Triple-A – he had three homers and eight RBis in one game May 13 -- and is the Braves’ future at the position. But they want to make sure not to rush Riley, 21, to the majors until they’re reasonably sure he’s ready.
Flaherty surpassed expectations early as the starter at third base and gave the Braves robust production before cooling off and moving into his accustomed utility role, but the Bautista experiment failed as he looked his age while batting .143 (5-for-35) with two homers, 12 strikeouts and a .593 OPS in 12 games for the Braves, including 1-for-11 with seven strikeouts in his last four games.
Enter Camargo, who only hit 7-for-43 (.163) with one homer and a .566 OPS in 15 games filling in for Swanson, the homer coming in the same May 2 game in which Swanson was injured and Camargo replaced him in the sixth inning.
Braves officials and coaches agreed Camargo’s performance was better than the stat line indicated, and that it was time to give him the position that had seem earmarked for him before his injury at spring training.
“Even though, since Dansby has been hurt, (Camargo’s) numbers as a starter weren’t great, there was a lot of underlying things that gave us reason for optimism,” Anthopoulos said. “His exit velocities were up, his decision-making’s been good, his walk rate’s been good. There’s just been a lot of bad luck.”
