Braves Preview - Bench & Defense

The Braves won last year's wildcard thanks largely to its depth. Guys like Omar Infante, Eric Hinske, and Brooks Conrad were heroes of the regular season because of their abilities to play multiple positions and come off the bench with timely hits.

Infante is gone (now a Marlin), but the Braves bench still looks to be a strength. If the Braves keep 11 pitchers on the 25-man roster, the bench will probably look like this:

David Ross (C)
Eric Hinske (OF/1B)
Brooks Conrad (IF)
Joe Mather (OF)
Diory Hernandez (SS)
Jordan Schaffer (OF)

Ross is a solid back-up MLB catcher and Hinske is a great left-handed bat coming off the bench. Conrad will be interesting to watch - can he rebound from the playoff defensive meltdowns?

Mather is the new addition from the Cardinals. He once had great promise, but a wrist injury stunted his career in St. Louis. Whether he can help the Braves off the pine will be the difference of whether the Braves have a good or great bench.

Hernandez is a defensive player with no pop. Schaffer was once thought to be the future, but the suspension and his inability to get on base two years ago have taken the shine off him. He may get his chance if McLouth doesn't recover, but I don't know any Braves fan who is excited about Schaffer anymore.

Defensively - Prado in left could be an adventure. McLouth seems fine to me - no Andruw Jones, but not a disaster either. Heyward is legit in right, making all worries about dealing away Frenchy seem silly.

The infield worries me. Uggla is not known for his defense, but it may not be as bad as perceived. Chipper is okay on the hot corner, but he lacks the range of his younger days. Gonzalez is a solid defensive shortstop though he went into a pretty lousy defensive funk last season. Freeman? Who knows. The Braves could easily give up some runs in the infield, but hopefully the Uggla offensive upgrade will counter any problems there. 

McCann isn't a Gold Glove catcher, but has dramatically improved over the course of his career. I love seeing teams try to run against him at this point - he threw out 36 runners last year (career high) and only allowed 5 passed balls.

Forecast: I'm confident about the Braves' depth; less so about its defense though I think it may be better than it looks on paper.