RADIO
The Braves traded for Hector Olivera from the Dodgers at the deadline last year, and after Olivera recovered from a wrist injury he was called up for the month of September in Atlanta. In a minuscule 24 game, 87 plate appearance sample, he hit two homers with 11 RBIs with a .253 average.
While it was encouraging to see his strikeout rate at a healthy 13.8%, the contact he made just wasn’t good – he registered a 32.4% soft contact rate. It was his first exposure to the majors and it was a small sample size, but as of now he needs to show that he deserves consistent playing time. He is working as an outfielder in the offseason, trying to build some versatility on top of playing third base.
As Atlanta is rebuilding, the playing time shouldn’t be an issue, but if he struggles early on he could find himself rotating in and out of the lineup with the likes of Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn. Steamer has him projected for 480 plate appearances that will only generate 11 home runs and a .261 average, but there’s a reason he was a sought after bat coming out of Cuba (he triple slashed .323/.407/.505 there in his career) and he could very well take a step forward as he becomes more familiar with the majors.
