Nick Allen, Alex Verdugo play improbably big roles in Braves’ turnaround

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ATLANTA — Barely a week before Opening Day, veteran outfielder Alex Verdugo was still an unsigned free agent and journeyman Nick Allen was competing for a spot on the Atlanta Braves’ roster as a utility infielder.

Now they’re lineup regulars and big reasons the Braves have recovered from a dreadful start to win 12 of their past 17 games, including a thrilling 2-1, 10-inning win Tuesday against the Cincinnati Reds to give Atlanta a three-game winning streak that began Sunday against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“I feel like we can beat anybody out there, right?” said Verdugo, who joined the Braves on April 18, when they were  5-13, and infused the lineup with quality at-bats from the leadoff spot and a swagger derived both from his personality and from playing eight seasons with the Dodgers, Red Sox and Yankees.

“He’s been through all of it, on the biggest stages,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said of Verdugo, who has hit .297 with seven doubles and a .763 OPS in 15 games for Atlanta. “And I don’t think nothing really is gonna faze him.”

The Braves’ offense remains inconsistent and feeble at times, as it was for most of Tuesday, when it looked like Atlanta might waste 10 strikeouts and 6 2/3 scoreless innings from Chris Sale. The reigning Cy Young Award winner had a 6.63 ERA in his first four starts and has a 1.96 ERA in his past four.

Marcell Ozuna delivered the winning run in the 10th, the Braves’ only hit with a runner in scoring position. (Todd Kirkland / Getty Images)

After the Reds and speedster Elly De La Cruz manufactured a run in the eighth against Daysbel Hernández, Michael Harris II came through with a score-tying double in the ninth. It scored pinch runner Stuart Fairchild from first on an aggressive send by third-base coach Matt Tuiasosopo, coupled with a hesitation on a relay throw.

Marcell Ozuna ended the game with a single in the 10th to score Verdugo from second, after Lyon Richardson intentionally walked Austin Riley to start the inning. It was the Braves’ only hit in nine at-bats with runners in scoring position.

“This was literally kind of a perfect scenario for us,” said Sale, who threw a season-high 112 pitches and had his second straight 10-strikeout start, giving him 32 Ks with seven walks in 23 innings over his past four starts. “Just a grind of a night the whole way. It was just like a screeching train down the tracks for a little bit.

“You know, Daysbel, who’s been probably one of the best relievers in the game, finally gives up a run. And to be able to pick him up and grind through that and get back on top, games like this kind of can pick up some steam for you. You kind of get catapulted in the right direction. It’s a fun clubhouse in there right now.”

Notwithstanding their meager 15 runs and .197 batting average in six games during the past week, the Braves have played much better ball with Allen and Verdugo.

Allen, who outplayed shortstop Orlando Arcia all spring and took his starting job after the first week of the season, has played sensational defense and given the Braves serviceable offense, batting .264 with four doubles, five stolen bases and a .629 OPS, nearly 100 points above his OPS from his first three seasons with Oakland.

The Braves are 16-10 in games Allen started at shortstop and 1-8 in Arcia’s starts, and Allen’s defense has reminded some of other stellar Braves defensive shortstops in the past couple of decades. Players such as Yunel Escobar, Dansby Swanson, Edgar Renteria, Rafael Furcal and even Andrelton Simmons, a four-time Gold Glove winner.

“I don’t know how you can’t (compare Allen to them),”  Snitker said, “metrically and with everything that they judge it all by. I kind of judge defense by my eyes. But he’s as good as all of them that have come through here, I think, with the range, the release, everything. We’ve had some Gold Glovers here, but he’s right there with all of them.”

Allen, 26, was one of only two qualified shortstops in the majors without an error before Tuesday, along with St. Louis’ Masyn Winn. And Allen was the position leader in advanced metrics, including outs above average and range, ranking just ahead of Arizona’s Geraldo Perdomo and Kansas City’s Bobby Witt Jr. in each of those.

Allen trailed only Witt in total defensive value among shortstops, by a 5.5 to 5.3 margin. Not bad for a player who didn’t know if he would be on the Opening Day roster.

“I knew myself and what I could do for this team, and I wasn’t putting any pressure on myself,” said Allen, whose father-in-law is new Texas Rangers hitting coach Bret Boone, a three-time former All-Star second baseman who played one season with Atlanta in 1999.

“Obviously, I had to make the team, but I knew what kind of player I am and how I could help the team in whatever role that would have been. So I knew I brought some value in my game, and I think we’re seeing it. Now I’ve just got to keep doing it every day.”

Allen strengthened his metrics with some terrific plays that helped AJ Smith-Shawver take a no-hitter to the eighth inning in Monday’s 4-0 win against the Reds, including two plays with expected batting averages of .600 and .750.

“It’s been evident since he’s come over here and been playing a lot,” said Braves first baseman Matt Olson, who was traded from Oakland to Atlanta just before Allen’s 2022 rookie season, but knew him from A’s spring trainings together. “From my time at Oakland, when he was coming up and in big-league camp with us early on, (defense) was what he was known for. He’s just really smooth with it, able to throw from different angles, find the right hop, move back, move forward.”

Allen has far exceeded what many expected when the Braves acquired him from the A’s in a November trade for minor-league pitcher Jared Johnson, a move that even the Braves characterized as one made strictly for depth. Allen ascended the depth chart this spring and is now sitting atop it at shortstop, relegating All-Star Arcia to a backup shortstop/utility infielder. He has a role on a team whose infielders play basically every day as long as they’re healthy.

Meanwhile, Verdugo has recaptured the spark that once made him a top prospect with the Dodgers. He hit .294 with an .817 OPS and 113 OPS+ for the Dodgers in 2019, and got MVP votes for Boston in 2020 with career-bests in average (.308) and OPS (.844) in the pandemic-shortened season.

Traded to the Yankees after the 2023 season, Verdugo spent one season in New York and was a lineup regular for the team that lost to the Dodgers in the World Series. But it was one of his worst seasons, and the Yankees didn’t try to re-sign him.

Being discarded by the Yankees and going unsigned until late in spring training added a bit of a chip on Verdugo’s shoulder. He was only 28 — he’ll be 29 this month — and in the prime of his career, but didn’t have a job when most of his peers were in camp getting ready for the season.

Verdugo waited for offers before signing a modest $1.5 million deal with Atlanta on March 20, one week before Opening Day. Verdugo spent a couple of weeks at Triple A working into game condition before the Braves brought him up. He took over in left field and the leadoff spot, duties vacated when Jurickson Profar was slapped with an 80-game PED suspension by Major League Baseball before the second series of the season.

The Braves are 11-4 with Verdugo in the lineup, and teammates have praised his at-bats and the tips and observations he’s shared with others in the lineup, most notably fellow left-handed hitter Harris.

Verdugo has hit from every position in the order during his career, but has exclusively led off with the Braves.

“You get the most at-bats and get to kind of make the adjustments on the fly,” Verdugo said of the role. “You set the tone.”

After Verdugo said he thinks the Braves can beat anyone, he added: “Obviously we’ve got to play good ball, clean ball, and kind of still clean up some at-bats from maybe trying to do too much. But this is a very talented team that is expected to win, and I think everybody in here expects to win as well. So we hold ourselves to a high standard, and we want to keep proving people wrong.”

(Top photo of Alex Verdugo: Todd Kirkland / Getty Images)

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