The Braves announced on Monday that they’ve acquired infielder Ryan Schimpf from the Rays in exchange for a player to be named later or cash. To clear a spot on the 40-man roster, Atlanta placed right-hander Josh Ravin on outright waivers. He’s already cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Gwinnett, per the team.
Schimpf, 29, is perhaps the current poster boy for three-true-outcomes hitters, as 52.7 percent of his 527 career plate appearances have ended in either a home run (34), walk (69) or strikeout (175). Remarkably, his 34 career home runs are more than the 28 singles he’s amassed in the Majors. In all, he’s walked at a 13.1 percent clip in the big leagues and struck out in 33.2 percent of his trips to the plate. He’s a .195/.317/.492 hitter in those 527 PAs.
Setting aside Schimpf’s extraordinarily unique offensive stat line, he’ll bring to the Braves another option to slot in at the hot corner early in the year as Atlanta awaits the emergence of prospect Austin Riley. Schimpf has a couple of minor league options remaining, so he needn’t be exposed to waivers at the end of camp if the Braves don’t want to bring him north to open the season.
Presently, Johan Camargo figures to be the primary third baseman for manager Brian Snitker, though Camargo’s ultimate role seems likely to be one of a utility infielder. While the 24-year-old Camargo hit .299/.331/.452 last season, he did so with the aid of a gaudy .364 average on balls in play and just a 4.7 percent walk rate. Given his below-average hard-contact rate and above-average infield fly rate, Camargo looks exceedingly unlikely to support a BABIP near that level and, barring a significant improvement in his walk rate, will likely see his average and OBP come down by a fair margin in 2018.
In theory, Schimpf and Camargo could actually make an interesting platoon. While Camargo is a switch-hitter, he posted a putrid .254/.287/.349 slash against right-handed pitching last year but a terrific .403/.434/.694 slash against lefties. The same BABIP caveats that apply to Camargo’s overall season are even more true of his work against southpaws (.481 BABIP in 76 PAs), but he’s generally been a better hitter against lefties than righties throughout his minor league career.
Schimpf, meanwhile, has hit just .205 against righties but paired that with a .329 OBP and a .537 slugging percentage, giving him a stunning .303 isolated power mark against righties in his brief big league career. He’s also capable of playing second base, so he could hold down a bench spot and serve as a late-inning power option in addition to his work as a potential platoon partner for Camargo, if the Braves are so inclined.
As for the 30-year-old Ravin, he totaled just 16 2/3 innings out of the Dodgers’ bullpen in 2017 before being acquired by the Braves (whose new GM, Alex Anthopoulos, had previously been in the L.A. front office) in a minor offseason swap. Ravin struggled to a 6.48 ERA in that small sample, though he did punch out 19 hitters and average better than 96 mph on his heater in that time. His Triple-A work in 2017 was much better, as he logged a 4.33 ERA and averaged a hefty 14 strikeouts per nine innings, albeit against 4.8 walks per nine. Ravin’s career has been slowed in recent years by a 2016 car accident as well as an 80-game PED suspension that same year.
Ok…
NOOOOOO GOD NOOOOO! Garbage
How is depth bad?
It’s amazing how people don’t understand these moves. They expect every pickup to be a super star.
Most people = dumb
Well when you only have two ways in describing players the two being, the player is either good or he sucks. You get a lot of takes like this in spring.
See these people play mlb the show and makes trades every day and the AI accepts their trades so they think trading players every day is common.
Y’all can shut it. This is a Dan Uggla 2.0 deal without the crazy cash. The guy sucks, and really adds little to no value to the team. I guess I’m ok with him coming in to PH in the 9th swinging for the fences. But that’s about it. We have been players in rookie ball than him.
Then you really shouldn’t complain as much as you are considering that we got him for essentially nothing, and because he has options remaining we can just put him in the minors. Yeah, it’s likely he won’t contribute much if anything, but no need for all your moaning and groaning, dude.
I’m complaining cause the braves made a huge push to remove this type of toxic hitting style out of our system, then we do something like this. He’s gonna be fighting for a starting job at 3B… so I definitely have room to complain. He shouldn’t even be in consideration to a starting role
It’ll be for a platoon role at absolute most, and likely less than that. The trade basically boils down to a depth move with some upside due to his power and defensive versatility, and the only reason why he’s even mentioned as a possibility in the first place is because we don’t exactly have great options at 3B, considering Riley is still a bit off, Ruiz has been unimpressive at best, and our best option to start there is Camargo, who many have seen as a utility player at best (although it is worth noting he has done fairly well so fair in Spring Training).
And none of that changes the fact that you’re going off the rails because the Braves are taking a chance at someone with potential upside for a position that’s easily one of their weakest links right now.
You’re an idiot
Maybe if figured it out or the Braves they they can help him figure it out. It is a cheap get and if he doesn’t figure it out, not much lost. Worth a shot to fix the swing in the minors and get a possible diamond in the rough.
You understand the part of the Uggla deal that made it so unbearable was the cash, right? We aren’t asking him to start, we just ask him to demolish RH pitching and Camargo handle the lefties. We only need it to hold over for a year.
Grow up. This guy is brutal. I don’t care that you hit a homeruns every 12 at bats. That won’t ever happen when it matters. This guy hit homeruns because the padres were constantly getting blown out and when you’re up 8 runs in the late innings you groove fastballs to scrub hitters like Ryan Schimpf. Go back and look at which one of his homeruns actually mattered in a game.
That’s exactly right butlers. This is a waste all the way around. His hitting style, his experience can only bring negative results to the braves. Hope these prospects have their heads on right and don’t fall in love with his approach to hitting the long ball.
This is good acquisition for Braves…
Stop. No
You should. It’s annoying.
So know that they got Schimp, matter of time before Moe and Curly are on board!!!Yessssss
Lol…that’s good
The Braves just need to sign Josè Tábata now. Imagine the promo when Acuña gets called up. Acuña Tábata ( hakuna mata ) night.
Has to be AAA fodder.
Que the Braves beat writers trying to sell this as a great move
How is it not? Depth for PTBNL/cash can’t hurt
It’s not really quality depth sir
Do you understand how baseball works? This guy will fight for a bench spot (He has until April 11 to win it), if not he will be down in AAA having literally no impact on the roster.
Do u know how baseball works? Why sign a guy that doesn’t fit the philosophy of your organization and it’s appropriate to baseball unless u plan on doing a complete overhaul, which is kinda late to do consider we r at the late half of a completely rebuild to get away from players like him. Don’t sit here and ask if I know how baseball works. Lol I know full well enough, and it takes one wrong guy to impact a lot of young guys and his approach to baseball is flat awful. Sure, money wise, this on paper isn’t a bad deal. But in every other way, it’s 100% a god awful bad deal
What is the philosophy of this organization? Last I checked there is a new gm, and the braves need power. Nothing wrong with having a bench bat who can come up to the plate down by 3 runs in the 9th and 2 guys on base.
The Twenty-Five Stooges play in Wrigley.
Salty
Yea, I’m not exactly sure why the NL Central is brought into this. The player is coming from the AL East to the NL East. Pardon the pun, but that division isn’t CENTRAL to this conversation.
Pardon him he’s a brewer fan, he’s new to being a fan of a relevant team
In his defense, he did make a nice reference and my team has been relevant recently for uninspiring reasons. So yes, Schimpf is looking to join our twenty-five stooges in Sun Trust.
I think he was referencing cubbybluthruandthrus comment. So it wasn’t very original.
if I remember right, he’s a poor man’s version of Uggla. Or am I thinking of someone else?
Yes, he is uggla 2.0, and the braves did everything in their power to get away from these types of hitters and should remain doing so. Don’t even need that toxic batting approach in our lineup. .150 swinging for the fences every time is not good. No adjustment, just terrible
Why not? He hit a homer every 11.8 ABs last season, all the while striking out at a horrendous rate and hitting .158. Looks like an average defender at third. If he could hit .200 he could be a solid regular someday, if not he should still be an interesting pinch hitter and part-time player.
This is the kind of player the Braves should have taken a chance on years ago, instead we had Adonis Garcia.
Eh, I’m fine with it, since there’s still questions at 3B, our system could use some more power, and he has two options remaining. If he can improve his swing, that’ll be good. If he can’t, we gave up basically nothing to get him. Low risk move with the potential for good reward. Personally not getting too hyped up, though, and trying to keep expectations realistic.
Can he buy a vowel to go with all those consonants?
So they gain an additional $124 million from the new stadium from 2016 to 2017 and this is what they spend their money on? Sure it’s a decent pick up as a bench player but there’s no way they could have gotten a better player for 1-2 years as a full time third baseman to bat behind Freddie? They still haven’t solved this problem. I’m still stuck on that incredible amount of money that they refuse to spend and their budget is SMALLER for 2018. Why is that?
You may want to read the article again that discussed the additional revenue, because it also discussed a number of cost increases from last year as well, many of them one-time costs for the stadium.
Reason: As a condition of buying the Braves, it was required for Liberty to not be financially involved (aside from basically owning the Braves as a “stock”). Profits do not go to Liberty, and the team is run completely as a separate, enclosed organization.
Therefore, you can assume that any excess profits from year A will be saved and utilized in year B. It makes little sense for them to burn money this year on players that might help buy them a few extra wins. Barring a true miracle, they aren’t “just a few wins away” from contending in 2017.
Save the money for this offseason and try to land a star or two. They will have that ability given their smart handling of finances. Remember the point above… Liberty can’t just step in and cover a huge contract/loss, those finances have to come from the Braves organization.
Schimpf is going to the minors, not the Major league team. At least a lot would have to go wrong with the Braves or a lot would have to go right with Schimpf for him to make it to the majors. Also, just because they have more money, does not mean they have to spend it. This year’s free agent crops were bad, and I don’t falter the Braves for not spending this year. But next year, I expect them to be aggressive in the free agent market and get a top of the rotation pitcher and Machado, specially if Swanson does not work out.
Thats very not true. The braves weakest area right now is the bench, and by a wide margin. Zook, Adams/Tucker, Santana, Culberson, and Colon do not strike fear in teams. Zook and Adams are the only ones i expect any contribution from offensively.
If schimpf contributes like his 2016 self, and excells as a pinch hitter, this could be a steal.
The better question is, how many more years before this team can realistically be a championship caliber team? 2 or 3 or 4? They need to start making some BIG moves after this season.
The plan was always for them to make some moves in 2019, not 2018. IMO, they’re a playoff team next year, w/ a challenge for the division.
They don’t really need “BIG” moves per se. They need smart moves for the right player.
CF – Ender locked down.
LF – Acuna locked down.
RF – Room for a FA move here.
3B – potential to be locked down w/ Riley. He flames out, FA move could happen.
SS – Locked down.
2b – Locked down.
1b – Locked down.
C – set. A nice duo IMO in 2017 will work again in 2018. Future FA possible.
The money will be spent on the rotation and bull pen I’d venture to guess. Another year will tell the Braves where the talent in the prospects are. They’ll have a better idea of keep/sell after 2018.
I think you’ll see 2 FA deals for SP.
He’s a year removed from having 132 OPS+ and 2.0 WAR in 89 games. Getting him for nothing was fantastic
Shoulda just let Demeritte get a shot numbers seem the same and at least he plays defense
Schimpf put up those numbers in the majors, Demeritte put those numbers up in AA.
Extraordinarily unique… is that, like, an actual thing?
Sex style
His girlfriend’s name is Zelda. Together they are known as “Schimpf and Z”.
I like this kind of player in the NL. Late innings, bases empty, 2 outs, pitcher’s spot up, down by 1 run: that’s a Schimpf situation
Horrible sign. This tells you’re entire minor league system it’s ok to hit .190 if you hit 20 homeruns. Not very impressive in an era where the balls are juiced and balls fly more than ever. This guy stinks.
Mbutler is absolutely correct. Bad pick up all around. Should have stayed far away
Don’t think Schimpf is good? Look at his minor league stats. The guy has had some ups and downs. I think a change of scenery and surrounding him with different people would do him some good, he’s been stuck in the horrendous Padres system for quite some time. Look for a break out year for Schimpf! Nice pickup for the Braves.
“Stuck in the horrendous padres system” wait what…? It’s the PADRES. IF THERES ONE ORG YOU WANT TO BE IN TO MAKE IT TO THE SHOW ITS THE SAN DIEGO PADRES. YOU THINK SCHIMPF SNIFFS THE SHOW IF HES WITH THE CUBS CARDS YANKS INDIANS OR 20 OTHER TEAMS ?!?!?!
Braves should claim or trade for Brett Nicholas, DFA’d from the Rangers. Probably a non-roster catcher would do the trick. Rob Brantley would be a good offer.