Atlanta left Dan Uggla off the postseason roster in favor of light-hitting utility man Elliot Johnson and now it sounds like the Braves may be close to benching Uggla again.
He’s hit just .190 with 30 strikeouts in 27 games, ruining any notion that eye surgery could fix his rapid decline, and Mark Bowman of MLB.com speculates that prospect Tommy La Stella “might soon be promoted” from Triple-A to replace Uggla at second base.
Uggla is still owed more than $20 million, but that money is a sunk cost at this point and it doesn’t help the Braves to keep trotting him out there solely to avoid eating the rest of the contract. Bowman notes that Uggla has hit .186 with a .657 OPS in 265 games dating back to mid-2012.
La Stella is hardly considered an elite prospect and he’s got a measly .333 slugging percentage at Triple-A as a 25-year-old, but he also has a .372 on-base percentage with more walks than strikeouts and has gotten on base at a fantastic .408 clip for his career. La Stella and Uggla are about as different as two hitters can be in terms of their approach and skill set, and it’d be tough to blame for Braves for wanting to try the other extreme after watching Uggla flail away for the past few seasons.
