Could Nick Allen be Braves long-term answer at shortstop?

The health of the Braves shortstop position has been in question ever since Dansby Swanson signed a seven-year, $177 million contract extension with the Chicago Cubs.

The original hope was that top prospect Vaughn Grissom would win the job in Spring Training, proving to be the long-term answer. However, that dream was quickly dashed due to Grissom’s defensive limitations. He was not a major-league shortstop with the glove, which forced the Braves to turn to Orlando Arcia.

Arcia was acquired for pennies in a trade with the Brewers back in 2021. At the time, never in a million years did the Braves envision him eventually starting at shortstop. But not only was he named the starter in 2023, he went on to make the National League All-Star team.

That one half of baseball bought Orlando Arcia another two years as the starter. Even if the Braves probably should have recognized it as fool’s gold a while ago, they kept rolling him for a couple of reasons. Shortstops aren’t cheap, and Arcia at least provided above average defense.

That changed this year. Arcia is not only one of the worst offensive players in baseball, but he’s also become below average defensively, opening the door for Nick Allen, who has run with the starting job since being given the opportunity.

Allen has been pivotal to the Braves turnaround, coming up with several key knocks. But most importantly, he might just be the best defensive shortstop in baseball, at least he has been so far this year. Allen ranks second in all of baseball in OAA (Outs Above Average) with seven already, behind only Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Amstrong.

To put that into perspective, when it comes to Orlando Arcia, dating back to the start of the 2023 season, Arcia has recorded just seven outs above average. So, Allen isn’t just solid defensively like Arcia was; he could win a Gold Glove if he starts for the Braves the rest of the season.

At a position like shortstop, that kind of defensive ability could buy him a lot of time in Atlanta. The Braves don’t have a shortstop in their farm system on the cusp of contributing. Their only real option for finding a long-term answer is through free agency or trade. Not many shortstops come available via trade, and the Braves haven’t shown the willingness to fork over the money necessary to sign one in free agency.

Perhaps they change their philosophy of penny pinching at arguably the most important position in the sport, but if Nick Allen continues to play Gold Glove defense, they might be comfortable starting him every day much longer than anybody could have anticipated.

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Photo: Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire

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