The Braves find themselves in a precarious position at this year’s trade deadline. Alex Anthopoulos will not be a seller, not with the talent still on the roster, but Atlanta is without Ronald Acuna Jr. and Spencer Strider for the season, Ozzie Albies for possibly the rest of the season, and Max Fried indefinitely.
It’s hard to make a case that Anthopoulos should go “all-in” while his two best players are lost for the season, and two others are potentially on the shelf until the postseason.
Again, Anthopoulos won’t be selling, but there’s a case to be made that he should be cautious in using what little prospect capital the organization has. That’s why Jeff Passan of ESPN believes the Braves are “adding, but not all-in” with one name, in particular, that he linked to Atlanta — Lane Thomas.
“The Braves are primed to add an outfield bat — they’ve long liked Washington’s Lane Thomas — and hope a repeat of their injury-pocked 2021 championship is in the cards,” Passan writes.
Thomas has played in 71 games this year and doesn’t have the most exciting slash line — .246/.315/.396 with 8 home runs — but absolutely mashes left-handed pitching.
The Nationals outfielder is batting .329 with a .932 OPS and 3 homers in 99 plate appearances against southpaws this season. His 166 wRC+ against lefties is among the best in baseball, and he has excellent plate discipline. Thomas is a perfect platoon option for the Braves’ left-handed batters like Jarred Kelenic and Eddie Rosario.
The knock is the six-year veteran’s splits against right-handed pitchers — .210 batting average and .613 OPS in 215 plate appearances. That trend is consistent with his entire career too, as he owns an .889 OPS against LHP and a .679 OPS against RHP.
He’s not the strongest defender in the field, but the Braves’ main goal at the trade deadline should be improving the offense. The 28-year-old is also under team control for 2025, so this could be a trade target that checks a lot of boxes for Anthopoulos.
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