Sneaky Braves move will help fill holes created by Marcell Ozuna in outfield

The Atlanta Braves acquired a former trade target on Monday night in outfielder Jordan Luplow, who will have a chance to battle for the starting left field spot.

As Marcell Ozuna continues to prove he doesn’t deserve a spot on the Braves major-league roster, Alex Anthopoulos must seek out other options. One of those options was signed on Monday in Jordan Luplow.

While the former Diamondbacks outfielder isn’t necessarily All-Star caliber, he’s the type of low-profile move that could play a depth role on a contender, or perhaps push the likes of Eddie Rosario to make necessary improvements this offseason.

Atlanta fans, surely, were hoping for a bigger name here. Adam Duvall’s return was floated as a possibility, though the signing of Luplow takes away that possibility for now.

What Jordan Luplow brings to the Braves

Offensively, Jordan Luplow has a lot to improve upon. His best offensive season came with the Cleveland Guardians in 2019, when he slashed .276/.372/.551, but has since hovered around the Mendoza line. Defensively, his arm strength in the outfield ranks in the 96th percentile. Luplow is a reliable defender, which is most likely why the Braves signed him, considering they’ve dealt with the likes of Ozuna and Rosario in the corner outfield spots for quite some time.

While Luplow will have the opportunity to compete for a MLB spot in spring training, he more importantly provides depth for an outfield that was lacking.

A platoon of some sort, with the right-handed Luplow perhaps taking at-bats from RHP or LHP, depending on his splits and how he looks come spring training, could be a winning formula for an Atlanta team that received just a .238/.285/.431 combined slash line from its left fielders last season.

While Luplow isn’t Michael Conforto, he can’t be much worse than what the Braves have in stock.