Things in Atlanta have cooled after a red-hot start but the club is still leading the National League East and in a strong position to add ahead of the deadline.
Record: 50-34 (94.3% playoff probability, per FanGraphs)
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Potential needs: Infield, outfield, starting pitching, relief pitching
For a club with a strong record, they have a surprising number of holes. Shortstop is a big one. Collectively, the club’s shortstops have hit .220/.278/.347 on the year. A lot of that is due to the struggles of Ha-Seong Kim, who injured his hand in the offseason when he slipped on ice. He was on the injured list into the middle of May and has since put up a dismal .068/.171/.068 line. He won’t be able to maintain a .098 batting average on balls in play forever but his Statcast numbers are all down, so that low BABIP is not entirely bad luck.
It’s theoretically possible they could find a solution internally. Mauricio Dubón is having a decent season at the plate and he can cover shortstop. He’s currently playing a lot of left field while Ronald Acuña Jr. is on the IL with a hamstring strain. When Acuña returns, he should retake his right field spot. That would move Mike Yastrzemski to left, likely in a platoon with Eli White. In that scenario, Dubón could spent more time at shortstop, thus reducing Kim’s playing time.
It’s unclear how much patience the club plans to have with Kim. They clearly like the player. They claimed him off waivers in September last year even though they were out of contention. At the time, Kim had a $16MM player option for 2026. He turned that down and elected free agency but Atlanta re-signed him via a one-year, $20MM deal. After signing that deal, Kim suffered his aforementioned hand injury and hasn’t yet got into a groove. Given the big investment and his poor BABIP, Atlanta has some motivation to letting him play while they hope for better results going forward.
At some point, they may have to cut their losses and move on, whether that’s releasing Kim or just keeping him in a bench role. If they go down that route, would they be content with Dubón? He is a solid utility player but has never really been an everyday shortstop. His 264 2/3 innings at the position this season are already a career high.
Jorge Mateo is also in the mix but he’s mostly a bench/depth guy. He has speed and can play solid defense but isn’t a good hitter. His season got out to a great start as he hit .316/.357/.519 through May, but that was mostly due to a .404 BABIP. He has a .121/.171/.152 line since the start of June. There may not be a better alternative to Dubón or Mateo on the trade block.
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