3 former Braves who could come back this offseason

1. Former Braves draft pick Brandon Drury could be a huge bat for this lineup

Okay, so let’s get this out of the way. Brandon Drury has never played a single inning for the Atlanta Braves. However, he was a 13th-round pick by the organization in 2010 and spent over two years playing with minor league affiliates for the club before he was traded to Arizona in January of 2013. So this would be bringing back a former prospect for Atlanta.

Drury bounced around for a while after making his major league debut with the Diamondbacks in 2015 but has seemingly come into his own over the past two seasons spent between the Mets, Reds and most recently the Padres as he was part of San Diego’s massive trade deadline haul overshadowed by landing Juan Soto.

In the past two years and 189 games, Drury has slashed .264/.319/.490 with an OPS+ of 121 and 32 home runs and 101 RBI. That’s a 162-game pace of 27 homers and 87 RBI.

While the Braves obviously have third base locked down with Austin Riley, there is a hole in left field that could use an upgrade. Drury does have some experience in the outfield and could potentially be put there. More than that, though, he would offer Brian Snitker a ton of versatility to be moved to third or second base to give Riley or Ozzie Albies days off in the field, put in left field, or even used as a DH.

For a 30-year-old hitter seemingly hitting his prime, Atlanta could get a bargain that would fit beautifully into their lineup by bringing Drury back to the organization.