Expectations remain high as Braves rookie Olivera breaks into majors
ATLANTA -- Hector Olivera's first steps on the Turner Field grass were shadowed by a crescent moon of reporters and cameramen, tools of the trade documenting his every movement. Hours before his highly anticipated MLB debut on Tuesday night, the Atlanta Braves' third baseman, a 30-year-old Cuban talent the front office took an expensive gamble on at the trade deadline in July, was the expected center of attention.
He's big news for a franchise searching for answers.
Olivera's opening act, though, was quiet -- forgettable even. He failed to reach base in four plate appearances, rarely making solid contact and striking out in the seventh inning of Atlanta's 7-1 loss to Miami. Mix in a hard-hit grounder and some quality defensive plays and thus started a month-long period of scrutiny, a 31-game glimpse into the team's future production at third. He left ample room for improvement.
It's been a whirlwind experience for Olivera in the U.S. and the weight of expectations placed on his shoulders -- the pending middle-of-the-order protection for Freddie Freeman in the lowest-scoring lineup in baseball over the past two seasons -- only adds pressure to the situation. If Atlanta is going to push toward playoff relevancy in 2016, many pieces, including Olivera, need to fall into place.
"You just never knew how it’s going to play out here in the big leagues. Nobody knows that," said manager Fredi Gonzalez, who helped add a dose of drama to Olivera's debut by leaving him off the initial lineup card only to add him minutes later. "You watch him tryout, you watch him in workouts and you see the swing and you say, ‘OK, the swing is going to work in the big leagues. He’s going to hit.’ But you just never know until you run somebody out here and let him play.
"Shoot, hopefully it’s only a couple days and you watch him and you go, ‘Wow, that’s what we signed him for, that’s what we traded for him for.’ But it may take two, three weeks.”
There are many factors that set Olivera apart from the prototypical September call-up, not the least of which is his age. Though he's signed through the 2020 season, at 30 years old, time may not be on his side.
In a general sense, the longtime Cuban National Series standout is already well into a baseball player's average prime, meaning there's some immediacy to what the Braves need to see out of their biggest deadline acquisition, if not this month then certainly starting in 2016. Then there's the money, a six-year, $62.5 million contract. And though the deep-pocketed Los Angeles Dodgers handled the $28 million signing bonus, money isn't the only cost worth considering for Atlanta: By giving up Alex Wood, one of the most productive young left-handers in baseball, and speedy position prospect Jose Peraza, the Braves bet big on Olivera.
The early minor-league returns were not promising.
After torching opposing prospects in the Dodgers' system, Olivera hasn't hit at rookie ball, Single-A or Triple-A over the past few weeks. He finished his stint with Gwinnett hitting .231/.286/.308 in 42 plate appearances; by comparison, light-hitting catcher Christian Bethancourt roughly doubled that production in his time in Triple-A.
Olivera's 0 for 4 debut continued the trend.
"Every day was a process, but the days I spent in Gwinnett I felt like every day was better than the previous," Olivera said through his translator, Alex Cotto. "I started feeling a lot better. I feel like I’m ready to be here and start contributing to the club."
Two weeks ago, Triple-A Gwinnett hitting coach John Moses was quick to point out that it will take time for the third baseman to find a comfort zone. He's dealt with injuries -- he was sidelined with a hamstring problem earlier this season and rumors of the potential need for Tommy John surgery have followed him since before he signed for a major-league club -- and he hasn't stayed in one place for more than 31 games this year.
The question revolving around this entire process: Will one month, especially the first month of a player's MLB career, offer a fair and accurate evaluation?
The Braves are banking on their personnel to help ease the adjustment period.
As Gonzalez stressed, there are five coaches on staff (Gonzalez, bench coach Carlos Tosca, bullpen coach Eddie Perez, assistant hitting coach Jose Castro and assistant Horacio Ramirez) and nine teammates that speak Spanish, including Olivera's former teammate Adonis Garcia -- the two started playing together at 16 years old as a part of Cuba's Pan American national team. Gonzalez visited with Olivera multiple times while he worked out in the Dominican Republic this offseason, and has remained in touch since the trade was completed. It was clear, from the very beginning, that the Braves coveted his bat.
“I think he feels comfortable here. There’s three guys in the dugout that speak Spanish. Right away that has to feel good for him," Gonzalez said. "His interpreter came in (to my office), and I’m going, ‘Interpreter?’ … I told (Cotto) to take two or three hours off during the game and we’ll take care of him.”
One game into his major-league career, longterm evaluations are tricky. Olivera still remains a bit of a mystery.
Expecting him to pick up where fellow Cuban imports like Yoenis Cespedes, Yasiel Puig, Jose Abreu or Jose Fernandez -- instant stars that dominated out of the gate -- left off is farfetched, yet the franchise should want to see results sooner rather than later. The second-guessing will persist regardless of results (the age, the injury history, the cost of acquisition, etc.), but some late-season production from their new third baseman, a position that has witnessed an ongoing carousel of candidates since Chipper Jones' retirement, could give the Braves a better idea of what they have heading into a pivotal offseason.
"I think that we'll see something good," Gonzalez said. "You know what I mean? We'll see something good."
