If the Atlanta Braves secured these potential trade targets, they would be immediate stat leaders for the team.
Honestly, if the Atlanta Braves stood pat at this year's MLB trade deadline, I would probably still choose them as my absolute favorite to take home the World Series trophy this year. After all, they've looked dominant as-is and have just about every piece you'd think they might need to get the job done.
Ronald Acuña Jr. is a runaway MVP leader, and if he weren't so dominant, Sean Murphy would be right up there with the other National League talents.
The only real deficiency the Braves have is with their pitching, and even there, deficiency might be putting it unfairly. It's simply the only area the Braves could still make huge upward leaps in with an extra player.
So, while they ultimately could stand pat, much has been said about possible candidates the Braves could add. But how would those players stack up with the current roster based on their stats so far this season?
Let's take a look at a few mentioned trade candidates and how they would align with the team this year. The criteria here will be that candidates have to have been suggested for the Braves by someone other than me (i.e. another writer on our own site or another outlet, and ideally both) and they have to be the equivalent of top-three on the team now in a key statistical category. I won't be inventing stats or pulling out crazy percentile measurements of Statcast metrics as the top-line stat to look at in this article.
Jorge Soler would be a home run runner-up
Jorge Soler is a former Atlanta fan favorite that helped the Braves win a World Series, earning a World Series MVP in the process. Once a midseason acquisition for the Braves — along with Eddie Rosario, Adam Duvall, and Joc Pederson that same year — could he be the same this year?
Realistically, it's tough to see the Miami Marlins trading Soler directly to the Braves in-division considering the Marlins are just 2.5 games back from a wild card spot of their own. That said, we did look at what a trade might look like, and other outlets have identified Soler as a possible Braves target, too.
Complications of convincing Miami to do this aside, our job here in this article is just to assess how proposed targets would emerge as statistical leaders.
Soler, with his 23 home runs this year, would come in behind Matt Olson, who has 29, and just ahead of Ozzie Albies with 22. Infusing another player pacing for 40 home runs on the year would be simply unfair for the Braves.
Austin Hays would be a double machine
Home runs are nice, but living and dying by the long ball is not the way to go. Just ask the New York Yankees, who have the fifth-most home runs but the third-fewest doubles, ultimately working out to the 14th-highest run differential, just middle-of-the-road.
When the bats go cold, you need to generate offense the old-fashioned way: Getting on base and running the paths well.
The Braves don't quite have that issue. They lead the MLB in home runs and also have the highest run differential. The one area they could continue to build up offensively is doubles, though, where they rank 15th, just middle of the road.
Austin Hays, who was tossed out as a potential candidate here, could help fill that gap.
So far this season, Hays has hit 22 doubles which would come in just three behind the team leader, Acuña, at 25. The next-highest on the team is Sean Murphy with 17.
Hays is in a contract season so much like some of the midseason acquisitions the Braves made the last time they earned a World Series victory, they wouldn't have to commit to the contract for too long. Hays is an emerging candidate that might be worth pursuing in free agency anyway, though, considering he's still just 28 and playing better and better each year.
In addition to his ability to rack up doubles, Hays has an OPS+ of 135. He also has one of the strongest outfield arms in the majors with an overall 90.8 speed and a high of 100 miles per hour. He would be a massive upgrade over Eddie Rosario, who has a relatively weak arm.
Jordan Montgomery would be second-best pitcher in ERA+
Another one mentioned by my colleague Cody Williams, Jordan Montgomery might be my favorite trade target for the Braves. Not only does he fill a position of need for Atlanta, but he's a dang good pitcher who hasn't quite gotten the national notoriety he deserves.
If Monty joined this staff, he would be the second-best pitcher (behind Bryce Elder's 182) in ERA+ with a 133. Spencer Strider would trail as the third at 130.
That's a fancy, league-average-adjusted way of saying Montgomery's 3.23 ERA would be the second-best on the team.
Another key stat: Montgomery would lead the team in walks per nine innings (that is to say he would have the lowest number in that metric) if he were added to the rotation.
Montgomery is not a flashy pitcher. He comes in, pitches well, gets the job done, and often sets his team up to win. He keeps things in the zone and is a rare pitcher to see throw a wild pitch or get himself in trouble with walks. He's struggled to generate much attention the last two years because in New York, his team gave him no run support, and now this year in a contract season he's pitching for a Cardinals team that loves to blow leads and lose games.
He just recently left a game due to a hamstring issue, so there's that possible conundrum the Braves may need to do some due diligence on if they're truly looking to add him. But stacking him on a rotation that already features Elder, Strider, and Charlie Morton would be a really overwhelming predicament for any opposing team in a playoff series.
