With Ronald Acuna Jr expected to return to the Atlanta Braves sometime in the near future, the organization has some decisions to make.
The Braves are much better than they showed over the first few weeks of the regular season. If anything, Atlanta still has an opportunity to win a World Series if things go its way.
Health will be the top priority, but if they can get that out of the way, the Braves have a lot of talent and are capable of being a very good team.
With Acuna back, however, there could be a situation where they look to trade some of their young players to add talent at the deadline. One of the names that came up was Jarred Kelenic, who Clint Manley of Sports Talk ATL suggested the team to trade.
“With the Braves finally back at .500 for the first time since Opening Day, it’s clear that, despite such a terrible start, this is still a playoff-contending team, and a buying one come the July 31st trade deadline.
“With Acuna coming back soon, and Profar as well some time next month, the team should have quite a surplus when it comes to outfielders. Maybe, like in 2019, trading one of them could net the Braves a nice bullpen piece for the stretch run,” he wrote.
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Kelenic is a tough player to evaluate. One of the top prep players in the country coming out of high school, he hasn’t exactly lived up to the hype. He was hitting .167 for Atlanta before being demoted.
There have been points throughout his MLB career that he’s proven to be a decent player, but for the most part, he’s been below average, hitting .211 with 455 strikeouts in 1,344 at-bats.
