It’s a pivotal road trip for the Atlanta Braves as they look to finish the month of April on a high note and inch closer to the .500 mark.
We’ve heard time and time again how a team can’t win a division in April, but it can certainly lose one.
As things stand right now the Braves sit 6.5 games behind the streaking New York Mets. Hopefully, Atlanta can have a good week and get out of the basement of the NL East.
The second West Coast trip of the season got off to a much better start for the Atlanta Braves after they slugged past the Arizona Diamondbacks in tune of a 8-2 victory last night.
It seems the bats have finally awaken, and Atlanta is beginning to get production at the bottom of their lineup. One guy in particular has played the role of the hero in Atlanta’s last two victories.
Eli White got the start over Jarred Kelenic in right field last night and rewarded the Braves with a two-hit night. On Sunday, White hit the game-winning home run in the eighth inning against the Cardinals.
While it seems Eli White is destined to get some more stops in right field in the immediate future, the speedy White could provide some value at shortstop as well.
Eli picks up right where he left off!#BravesCountry pic.twitter.com/AzuCPqREQN
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) April 26, 2025
Braves need to let Eli White play at shortstop before Acuña Jr. comes back
The argument to put White at shortstop basically boils down to if you prefer Kelenic in the lineup or one of Nick Allen or Orlando Arica.
However, once Ronald Acuña Jr. returns an outfield of Alex Verdugo, Michael Harris II, and Ronald Acuña Jr. leaving White looking for playing time.
That’s why it’s important to see if White can handle shortstop at an adequate level defensively like he did this spring.
The upside with White’s bat is clearly better than Allen and Arcia at this point, but Allen has at least shown he can be a very solid defender (95th percentile in OAA) at a premium position.
White is routinely hitting the ball hard and ranks in the 99th percentile in sprint speed, so he has tools that need to be in the Braves’ lineup until his production proves otherwise.
Although Nick Allen has a .273/.322/.327 slash line his xwOBA is just .259 and ranks in the ninth percentile in average exit velocity.
So it’s fair to assume the regression monster is coming for Nick Allen, and it’s exactly the reason why Atlanta needs to see if professor White can cook at shortstop.
