Catching up on a minor league signing that flew under our radar back in October, the Brewers signed outfielder Abraham Almonte to a minors deal. (Hat tip to Brewerfan.net’s Jim Goulart.) Almonte will receive an invitation to the Brewers’ big league Spring Training camp.
Almonte opted for free agency rather than accept an outright assignment off the Braves’ roster in September. It was the second time Almonte had been outrighted off the Braves’ 40-man roster last season, as he was previously sent to the alternate training site at the end of Spring Training before his contract was selected to the 26-man roster in May.
The 32-year-old Almonte ended up receiving quite a bit of playing time with Atlanta, and likely more than the Braves anticipated, except Marcell Ozuna’s administrative leave and then Ronald Acuna Jr’s season-ending ACL tear created some major vacancies in the team’s outfield. However, the front office responded with a now-legendary flurry of transactions that brought Joc Pederson, Eddie Rosario, Jorge Soler, and Adam Duvall to the club in a series of trades, helping pave the way for Atlanta to eventually win the World Series.
These new faces resulted in fewer at-bats for Almonte, and ultimately turned him back into an expendable piece. Almonte hit a respectable .216/.331/.399 (97 wRC+) over 175 plate appearances, hitting five home runs and mostly playing left field. Much of the offensive damage came from the left side of the plate, as the switch-hitting Almonte batted .237/.359/.449 in 142 PA against right-handed pitching. While Almonte’s performance was unspectacular, he did step up to fill a role during a time of need for the Braves, and he wound up with a World Series ring for his efforts.
Almonte has played for six different teams over parts of the last nine MLB seasons, hitting .234/.302/.374 in 1326 career PA. He’ll now provide the Brewers with a depth option heading into Spring Training, and may likely again only be an option for Milwaukee’s active roster in the event of an injury or two. Almonte joins David Dahl and Jonathan Davis as experienced outfield veterans in the Brewers’ camp on minor league deals.
Almonte has carved out a pretty nice career as that backup outfielder your team has who is OK as long as you don’t have to see him too often.
I think he’s more of a AAAA outfielder.
Same thing.
The hot stove is cold. Not even sure the pilot light is still burning. This lookout kind of blows.
Whyhayzee- it’s only been 2 days and it’s the weekend.
Don’t remind us
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AA didn’t retain AA, even though he put a ring on it.
hahahaha
He is a (retroactive) World Champion.
The Brewers should probably sign another couple former Braves outfielders while they are at it.
Last year it was former blue Jays. I think the year before it was former Mariners. And God forbid Stearns ever acquire any former Astros. It amazes me how fans make such a big deal of team A signing or trading for former team B players.
Since when is a .216 BA respectable? Maybe for a pitcher and (depending on his defense) a catcher, but not an OF unless he’s phenomenal defensively. I’m a CLE fan and saw more than enough of Almonte here. He’s below replacement level no matter how you slice his stats. If a team feels they absolutely must sign him, place him in a glad case marked “Break Only In Case of Emergency”
When compared to JBJ’s stat line from ’21.
.730 OPS. he aint anything special, but he more or less held his own.
It’s Amazing that people are still only picking one stat off a triple slash line to determine worth. Although he was no star he was still about league average offensively even with a BA under .220. I/E respectable
First time I’ve seen .213 and respectable in the same sentence.
.216
AMEN
I still think Albert Almora, Abraham Almonte and Manuel Margot are the same player