Major League Baseball

Short Hops: Braves second base 2014 review, 2015 preview

Published Nov. 15, 2014 8:14 a.m. ET

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FOXSportsSouth.com's team of Braves writers are taking a look back at 2014, position by position, and breaking down what we know heading into the Winter Meetings Dec. 7-11 in San Diego. Here's a look at the first base position:

$13.2 million: When Atlanta takes the field in 2015, what will likely be the highest paid second baseman won't even be on the roster. That's a huge problem. The Braves cut bait on the Dan Uggla project in 2014, but they are still on the hook for his contract. Whether it's Phil Gosselin or Tommy La Stella, or someone new the Braves acquire in the offseason or bring up from the farm system, there's not much chance they'll pay him more than Uggla's $13.2 million.

6: No team in Major League Baseball had more players start at the second base position than the six that were used in the starting lineup for the Braves over the course of the 2014 season. Uggla, Tyler Pastornicky, Ramiro Pena, Tommy La Stella, Phil Gosselin and Emilio Bonifacio all made starts last season, and collectively scored the fewest runs as a position (49) in baseball.

.294 / .156: No, those aren't some weird slash stats. This is a look at how La Stella's first year degraded at the plate as the season waned. La Stella was called up on May 28, and got a base hit in 16 of his first 21 big-league games. In the months of May through July he hit .294 in 232 plate appearances. But in the final two months of the season he only hit .156 in 128 plate appearances. Pitchers seemed to figure the 25-year-old second baseman out as they saw more at-bats. As a result, La Stella saw fewer and fewer at-bats.

Uggla is gone, Bonifacio is about to test the free-agent market and Pastornicky was optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett in July. That leaves three real options at second base in 2015.

But should you get excited about the prospect of Gosselin, La Stella or Pena manning the position moving forward?

Pena came to the plate 64 times while playing second base and hit .188. His .313 slugging percentage was lower than the nine best batting averages in baseball last season. Pena isn't a real option to win the job at second base. He's a light every-day hitter, and his versatility is too valuable as a fill-in (Pena played every non-pitching position on the infield except first base and catcher in 2014).

If the Braves' second baseman for 2015 is already on the roster, it'll be either La Stella or Gosselin.

La Stella started strong in 2014, but his decline over the final two months was disturbing. But, he does have more time in the majors, and he was definitely clutch. No second baseman in baseball had more than La Stella's six base hits with bases loaded (Omar Infante and Ian Kinsler shared the MLB lead among second basemen with La Stella), and his 15 RBI were second to Kinsler's 16.

When the bases were full, La Stella had a knack for coming through.

Gosselin only faced a bases-loaded situation twice last season and struck out both times. While he didn't share La Stella's success in pressure situations, he did finish the season with a better batting average (.266 vs. La Stella's .251). In a Braves lineup that didn't hit well last season, proficiency at the plate will be important in decision making for 2015.

But Gosselin saw some decline over the final month of the season, just like La Stella. While Gosselin hit .364 in August, he only posted a .216 average in September.

The sample size is just too small right now to know if either La Stella or Gosselin can provide the Braves with enough at the plate in a full season's worth of at-bats.

That leaves Atlanta to look around the league for a trade partner, scour the free-agent pool or look at its own farm system for help. With the current financial predicament the Braves are in, combined with the imminent arrival of a prized prospect (more on that later), Atlanta may run with a combination of Gosselin and La Stella in 2015, and put off a major move until 2016.

There is a 20-year-old Venezuelan in the Braves' farm system. He looks to be the second baseman of the future for Atlanta.

Braves fans should get to know the name Jose Peraza if they don't already. There's a great chance they'll like the kid.

When it became apparent that Peraza could sniff the big leagues, the natural shortstop switched positions to work at second base. Andrelton Simmons' blocked his path to Atlanta, but Peraza should find no such obstacle at second. Peraza played just seven games at shortstop last season at Single-A Lynchburg, before making the move. He was later promoted to Double-A Mississippi to play second base.

While management had to worry about where Peraza would play, no one should be concerned about the way he does play.

In his combined service in the minors last season, Peraza hit .339 and swiped a whopping 60 bases. The entire big-league club only stole 95 bases last season, with Jason Heyward and B.J. Upton leading the way with 20 each.

Peraza can hit and run, and the fact that he could be the answer at the leadoff spot should make waiting for his arrival even tougher. But it still may be 2016 before he makes it to Turner Field.

Remember that Peraza is just 20, and he's only played 20 games (195 plate appearances) above the Single-A level. If the Braves can figure out a way for development to outweigh need, Peraza should get another season in the minors. But just one more.

Atlanta didn't get a lot out of its second base position in 2014.

Second sackers only swiped three bases last season, and as a unit they hit .224 (only two teams -- the Orioles and Padres -- were worse at second base). Atlanta also had the second-worst on-base percentage (.296) in the majors and only knocked 31 extra-base hits (only Oakland had fewer with 24).

The six guys that played second base were also suspect with the glove.

As a unit, the Braves made 20 errors while at second base and combined for a minus-12 Defensive Runs Saved. Gosselin led the way with a plus-3, but the other five all had a negative number with La Stella logging the worst Defensive Runs Saved figure at minus-4.

To put the advanced metric Defensive Runs Saved into perspective, Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia ended the 2014 season with a plus-20.

There's a lot of room for improvement.

If the Braves choose to go outside the organization to find a second baseman for 2015 (which isn't guaranteed), don't be surprised if it chooses a guy (or trades for him) that swings the bat better than any option currently in Atlanta. With only 573 runs scored as a club, the Braves had a miserable time scoring runs last season. They may be willing to give up some defensive prowess for pop at the plate.

And that tells you just how bad it was offensively in Atlanta; because the Braves don't have a lot of defensive acumen to spare at second base.

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