{"id":617072,"date":"2026-03-10T16:15:35","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T16:15:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/617072\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T16:15:35","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T16:15:35","slug":"2026-atlanta-braves-positional-preview-infield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/617072\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 Atlanta Braves Positional Preview: Infield"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the Atlanta Braves were at their most dominant a few seasons ago, a lot of that success had to do with the fact that their infield was basically a machine. No matter where you looked in the lineup, it was tough to find an out when all of these guys were in there and clicking at the same time. Fortunately, most of that infield is still here but as time has marched on, questions have emerged.<\/p>\n

Chief among those questions is whether or not we\u2019ll ever see guys like Ozzie Albies, Matt Olson and Austin Riley reach the lofty heights of production that they achieved during the 2022 and 2023 seasons. Will Ha-Seong Kim return to form as well once he returns from injury? Where does Maurico Dub\u00f3n fit in all of this once the Braves have their ideal lineup ready to go? How effective will the depth be and can the depth be trusted if the injury bug rears its ugly head once again? This is a group where success is just as likely as failure, which makes this crew a fascinating unit to talk and think about.<\/p>\n

First Base<\/p>\n

Assuming things stay the same as they were ever since his arrival ahead of the 2022 season, first base for the Atlanta Braves will once again be The Matt Olson Show. He put on a great show in 2025 and if he can deliver a repeat performance then that\u2019ll be a pleasant development. Dating back to 2019, Olson has either had a \u201cgood season\u201d or a \u201cgreat season\u201d without really chaining together two great seasons in a row.<\/p>\n

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For what it\u2019s worth, most of the projection models are suggesting that Olson will in fact follow the pattern and put up simply a \u201cgood season\u201d this time around \u2014 ZiPS is currently projecting that he\u2019ll hit .250\/.342\/.468 with a .348 wOBA and 124 wRC+. Again, that\u2019s a perfectly fine season for Olson to have but it\u2019s also not anything that would have the eyes popping out of your head like a Looney Tunes character or anything like that.<\/p>\n

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There is a question as to whether or not new manager Walt Weiss will choose to follow in his predecessor\u2019s steps and let Olson play all 162 if he fully desires or if he\u2019ll try to encourage Olson to get some rest days in. If that\u2019s the case, then that means that Dominic Smith (assuming he makes the squad) could see some time at first base for the Braves this season. The defense would certainly take a bit of a downturn with Smith at first base but he\u2019s coming off of a season where he produced 111 wRC+ over 63 games while playing for the Giants, so hopefully he\u2019d be able to produce a bit whenever called upon. If all goes well, he won\u2019t be called upon that often since Olson is still likely to play the vast majority of games with a rest only coming on occasion instead of being a regular thing.<\/p>\n

Second Base<\/p>\n

Similarly to Matt Olson, if Ozzie Albies has his way then he\u2019ll be playing every day. If he remains healthy then the main question will then become if the version of Ozzie that we\u2019re going to see is closer to the one who was performing like a star in 2023 and 2021 or if we\u2019re going to see the version that\u2019s been scuffling about for the past couple of seasons.<\/p>\n

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While it\u2019s tough to extrapolate World Baseball Classic performances to the Major League Baseball regular season, one thing that was very encouraging about Ozzie\u2019s historic walk-off blast was the fact that he hit it from the left-hand side. If that\u2019s going on then hopefully the wrist issues that played a role in his struggles last season are now long behind him and we\u2019ll be back to seeing Ozzie playing at a pretty high level. That would require some over-performance according to the projections but at the same time, if Ozzie starts doing some real damage from the left side of the plate then that\u2019ll answer a lot of questions when it comes to his immediate future during this upcoming season.<\/p>\n

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When it comes to the leather, Ozzie Albies hasn\u2019t been known for his defense for a few seasons now. If he\u2019s also in the lineup every day like he and Olson want to be, then that\u2019ll just be something the Braves have to live with. If he\u2019s taking some games off then one thing that could provide some solace is that the defense that\u2019ll be provided by any of the players behind him on the depth chart should be better.<\/p>\n

Brett Wisely is certainly not here for his bat so if he can serve as a reliable stand-in with solid defense then the Braves should be happy with what he can provide. Maurico Dub\u00f3n can also play a very capable second base as well so I\u2019d imagine that he\u2019ll be a perfect candidate to give Ozzie a day of rest once Ha-Seong Kim comes back and gets settled at shortstop. Once again, if Ozzie stays healthy then the Braves are going to just roll with whatever he gives them unless it\u2019s a complete disaster.<\/p>\n

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Shortstop<\/p>\n

Speaking of Dub\u00f3n and Kim, This is one spot where Atlanta\u2019s depth will already be put to the test. Due to Ha-Seong Kim\u2019s icy mishap during the winter, Dub\u00f3n is now set to be the starting shortstop until Kim is healthy again. While Dub\u00f3n should be decent for the Braves at SS, this also isn\u2019t exactly ideal since Dub\u00f3n would be much better utilized as a utility guy who can fill in at any spot on the diamond whenever needed instead of being an everyday player. Dub\u00f3n will have to continue playing some good-to-great defense (he\u2019s coming off of an absolute banger of a 20 OAA season in 2025) while he serves as the starting shortstop for Atlanta because it\u2019s highly unlikely that he\u2019s going to be doing any type of big bopping with the bat and seems like a shoo-in for the ninth spot in the order.<\/p>\n

Once Kim does eventually return to the lineup, it is very clear that the Braves are banking on Kim returning to the form that he showed in his last fully healthy season in 2023. That was when he produced a wRC+ of 110 for the Padres alongside a .330 wOBA. Atlanta will be happy if he can get that wOBA back into the .300s in 2026 and they\u2019ll be over the moon if it\u2019s anywhere near .330 again. Kim when healthy is also a very solid defender as well \u2014 again, his 2023 season saw him put up 9 OAA and if he can return to anything even approaching that then things will be going well for Kim in Atlanta.<\/p>\n

While Kim is gone, we should be seeing a fair amount of Jorge Mateo at shortstop as well. Mateo is a burner on the basepaths and that should make this coaching staff pretty happy to have him around since it\u2019s been public knowledge that the Braves are certainly looking to get better as a baserunning team going forward. With that being said, his defense hasn\u2019t really been something to get excited about since 2023 and you aren\u2019t going to get a lot of pop out of his bat, either. If Dub\u00f3n can stay healthy then Mateo will likely be utilized as a pinch-runner but if the injury bug strikes Dub\u00f3n then Mateo will be pressed into action and we\u2019ll just have to hope for the best from the former Orioles utilityman.<\/p>\n

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Third Base<\/p>\n

I wrote about it earlier during spring training and it bears repeating: The Braves need Austin Riley to return to star status if they\u2019re going to have any real aspirations of being serious contenders in 2026. When the Braves were at their best during this current era, Austin Riley was playing a major part in that success. Injuries derailed a lot of Atlanta\u2019s dreams of success for the past couple of seasons and Riley got swept up in that mess as well.<\/p>\n

So it\u2019s definitely lovely to hear that Riley is reportedly feeling good and ready to contribute for the upcoming season. As of right now, ZiPS is currently projecting for Riley to be a 120 wRC+ hitter alongside .344 wOBA and a .262\/.325\/.477 slash line. If he can combine that with some good defense then his production should be something that is approaching the Halcyon days of when Riley was performing like an elite third baseman. If the defense is not there then he\u2019s still got a long way to go since he finished with a wRC+ as high as 144 during that particular run.<\/p>\n

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No matter what, Riley will have to be healthy (and produce) if the Braves are going to get it done this season since there isn\u2019t a lot behind Riley in case things go sideways again. Nacho Alvarez Jr. is still just 22 but it\u2019s tough to foresee him suddenly turning into a dangerous hitter going forward. His dinger during the WBC was encouraging enough but it is still one of those things where you\u2019d have to squint to believe any scenario that results in Nacho being a feared hitter. Dub\u00f3n and Mateo may also receive some time here if Riley\u2019s not in there every day and this could also be where we see a Kyle Farmer sighting as well. Both corners of Atlanta\u2019s infield are going to heavily depend on their current starters to stay healthy and produce if the Braves are going to return to where they want to be this season.<\/p>\n

Again, I really hate to harp on the whole \u201chealth\u201d thing but with a group of guys who are used to playing every day, that is absolutely the key here. I\u2019m not going to go as far as to say that this group of players staying healthy will result in another 100-win season but I will say that the Braves will need this starting core to stay on the field if they\u2019re going to be in the Postseason conversation again.<\/p>\n

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The depth is better than it was last season and it\u2019ll already be put to the test since Ha-Seong Kim may not be around until May at the earliest. Mauricio Dub\u00f3n is a good addition to the squad but we likely won\u2019t see him reach his full potential until he\u2019s back to being utilized as a utilityman instead of an everyday player. As long as Dub\u00f3n can keep the boat afloat at shortstop and the other three starting infielders can get clicking then this particular part of the team should be fine. That\u2019s a big ol\u2019 \u201cshould,\u201d though.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the Atlanta Braves were at their most dominant a few seasons ago, a lot of that success…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":617073,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2394],"tags":[191,46,4166,662,47,5,192,18701,633,915,9978,541,3617,4,588,1132],"class_list":["post-617072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-atlanta-braves","tag-atlanta","tag-atlanta-braves","tag-atlantabraves","tag-austin-riley","tag-baltimore-orioles","tag-baseball","tag-braves","tag-dominic-smith","tag-ha-seong-kim","tag-jorge-mateo","tag-kyle-farmer","tag-matt-olson","tag-mauricio-dubon","tag-mlb","tag-nacho-alvarez-jr","tag-ozzie-albies"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116205777256513796","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=617072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/617073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}