It's Time To Give Mauricio Dubón His Flowers

It's early, but what Mauricio Dubón has done through 13 games has been vital to the team's 8-5 record.

Barely two weeks after the Los Angeles Dodgers claimed their second World Series title in a row, Alex Anthopoulos made a very subtle and straightforward deal: Starting shortstop Nick Allen was traded to the Houston Astros in exchange for Mauricio Dubón, a rare one-for-one trade deal.

Defensively, this made some sense. Dubón just came off a Gold Glove-winning season as a utility man, spending time at nearly every position on the diamond throughout his career. Anthopoulos said after the trade that their internal metrics determined that Dubón could handle playing shortstop all year long, if that was needed. Despite this, the Braves still sought out a permanent upgrade at shortstop and ended up bringing back Ha-Seong Kim on a one-year, $20 million deal.

But then Murphy’s Law went into effect. While back home in Korea, news that Kim had injured his hand and required surgery started to make its rounds. At first, it felt like noise on X more than anything real. But when the official news came that he had, in fact, slipped on the ice and was headed to the IL, all I could do was laugh. Of course, something like that happens to the Braves. With no immediate upgrades available, it was worrisome entering the season with Dubón as our starting shortstop.

Now, 13 games into the season, the move is already looking like a win for the Braves.

In the field, Dubón has given the Braves yet another dependable glove. He has already accumulated 2 Outs Above Average, tied for the second most among shortstops and near the top of the league overall. It is a very limited sample size at the moment, but still a great sign for the Braves.

And it’s not just the raw total that stands out, it’s how quickly that value has shown up. Defensive metrics take time to stabilize, so flashing that kind of impact this early reinforces what the Braves were betting on: Dubón’s glove travels.

At the plate is really where Mauricio Dubón needs more attention. Through these first 13 games, he is slashing .333/.362/.556 with a .917 OPS, .407 wOBA, and 157 wRC+. To put his production into perspective, out of all shortstops with at least 30 plate appearances, he ranks first in AVG, second in SLG, OPS, wOBA, fWAR, and third in wRC+. While he doesn’t walk much, Dubón has the 11th-best strikeout percentage as well.

And while it’s a small sample, the underlying profile isn’t completely out of nowhere. Dubón has always been a high-contact hitter, but what’s different so far is the quality of that contact.

Last year, with all due respect to Nick Allen, the offense this lineup received from its starting shortstop was little to none. In his one-month stint, Kim just playing at an average level seemed like he was a superstar. Dubón, so far, has played better than both. Allen failed to record a single barrel all of last season. Mauricio Dubón already has four this year.

That may be the most important development here. Dubón doesn’t need to be a middle-of-the-order bat, but if he’s consistently squaring balls up instead of just putting them in play, it raises his offensive floor significantly.

With Ronald Acuña Jr. and Austin Riley struggling to start the year, Dubón’s offense has helped lengthen the lineup and cover up for their early deficiencies. He ranks first on the team in average, second in fWAR, hits (15), and RBIs (9), and third in OBP, SLG, OPS, wOBA, and wRC+.

More importantly, it’s changed the shape of the lineup. Instead of carrying a near-zero at shortstop, the Braves are getting real production from a spot that typically functions as a defensive tradeoff.

If I were to tell you that Drake Baldwin and Mauricio Dubón would be atop the Braves offense along with Matt Olson through the first stretch of games, you probably wouldn’t have believed it. Not Acuña Jr, not Riley, not Michael Harris II, but it is Dubón who has been helping steady an offense that ranks amongst the top in baseball. That’s not something the Braves planned on, but it does speak to the depth of the roster. When unexpected contributors can carry stretches like this, it buys time for the stars to get going.

To all of our surprise, Dubón has been much more than anyone could have expected. Now, the expectation shouldn’t be that Dubón continues hitting like an All-Star. But if he settles in as even a league-average bat with defensive value, that’s a massive win relative to what this position looked like a year ago.

It also gives the Braves flexibility they didn’t have before. Instead of rushing Kim back or overexposing depth pieces, they can manage workloads and matchups a bit more intentionally. Ha-Seong Kim is expected to return from injury sometime between May and June. Once he does so, we can expect him to take over the starting shortstop role, even if it’s more of a 60/40 split. This will free Dubón to be that super utility player Alex Anthopoulos envisioned when he traded for him. I would expect to still see him in the lineup four to five times per week, but allowing players a day to get off their feet and either rest or DH.

It’s early, but Mauricio Dubón deserves his flowers. The pitching staff has been arguably the biggest surprise thus far, but Dubón’s play both in the field and at the plate have been just amazing to watch.