There might finally be an official changing of the guard at second base in Atlanta, Georgia these days. Last week my 'Mendoza / Ugg-Ton Line' article here on Vavel, addressed the continuous offensive ineptitude at second base and center-field for the Atlanta Braves. Low and behold, somebody was listening! On Wednesday in an inter-league game in versus Boston's Fenway Park, Tommy La Stella was called up from the minor league AAA Gwinnett to start at second base. This may be the beginning of a permanent experiment.
After an injury to shortstop Andrelton Simmons during Tuesday night's game in Atlanta, most fans assumed that it would force Freddie Gonzalez's hand and put Dan Uggla in the line up again. The past couple of games Uggla has been benched in favor of Tyler Pastornicky. And then Pastornicky played about as poorly as Uggla in his chance at the starting job. All in all, the second base play of Dan Uggla, Ramiro Pena and Tyler Pastornicky have totaled a putrid league tying low .165 batting average, .250 slugging percentage and a .253 on base percentage this season. So, with Simmons going down to a day-to-day ankle injury, the reluctant fan figured Pastornicky and Pena will have to spell shortstop for the near future while Uggla comes back to second.
On Wednesday morning, in a shocking move: Uggla stays on the bench, Pena goes to short, Pastornicky goes down to AAA Gwinett and up from AAA comes Tommy La Stella. The 25 year old second basemen has done well down in AAA this year. Actually, comparably, La Stella has been an All Star hitting .293/.384/.359. La Stella has never shown much power, but that's not is what is needed in Atlanta.
This was great news for Atlanta fans who have suffered through watching a below average offensive display for quite some time. The Braves are consistently a top the Majors in home runs, but they also tend to lead in strikeouts. La Stella might only have one round-tripper this year, but it goes along with only 102 strikeouts and 136 base on balls in 1,196 plate appearances in his three plus years in the minors. His ability to just put the ball in play and get on base might just be the spark this Atlanta club needs to go on an offensive tear. Ramiro Pena, when allowed to play regularly, has shown similar skills. Maybe instead of solo shots and 2-1 wins and losses, Atlanta can have ducks on the pond when the ball leaves the yard. That pitching staff is hard to beat if they get four to five runs.
Now the attention will turn to fixing the problem at hand in center-field. BJ Upton has recently complained about batting lower than second in the lineup. Freddie Gonzalez just simply can't continue to put a guy who barely hits over .200 and strikeouts way too much, up that high in the lineup. Of course anybody would love to hit in front of Freddie Freeeman. But, you have to produce up there that high in a contender's lineup. Moving Lastella to the lead-off and Jason Heyward to the two slot might be the answer. An Upton/ Schafer seven or eight spot platoon role may still be the answer to get this offense rolling. If not, there might be another La Stella on his way from Gwinnett. Tommy La Stella went 2 for 4 in his MLB debut on Wednesday. So Mr. Uggla, you might want to keep a seat warm next to you.