Don’t look now, but Jorge Mateo is having a career year. He is working on career highs in batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging. And it’s not luck driven, as his xwOBA, xwOBAcon, xBA, and xSLG are at career highs as well.
Jorge is crushing the fastball right now. A .422 xwOBA on four-seamer is pretty good. He’s cut the whiff rate on the fastball in half. He’s pulling the ball now more than ever before and hitting it harder than ever before. To be honest, that’s his main improvement from a hitting standpoint. All his numbers versus the other stuff is right around where it was in years past. But if you can pick a pitch to handle, it’s the fastball. He might see more of the other stuff, but right now he’s cruising.
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It’s quite a surprise from where we started the year. Ha-Seong Kim was the presumed starter, and Jurickson Profar would get most of the starts in left field. But that’s not where we are right now. Mauricio Dubon has been needed to hold down left field with Jurickson Profar on a year-long hiatus. And I’m still not convinced Ha-Seong Kim is fully healthy.
So are the Braves all set with Jorge Mateo at shortstop? Well, unless a mid-season move for a left fielder and Ronald Acuña Jr’s return pushes Dubon out of the outfield, then Mateo is probably their best option. It’s not like Kim will be at shortstop a lot in the near future.
