CHICAGO — To most, Mauricio Dubón was a long shot.He was a 26th-round pick of the Boston Red Sox and was traded multiple times. He became a platoon player and a defensive replacement during the first seven years of his major league career. He had few opportunities to show how productive he could be.Now he’s a key member of the Atlanta Braves’ prolific offense, led by a coach who once saw beyond Dubón’s draft status.“He had that it factor,” said Braves hitting coach Tim Hyers, who was the Red Sox minor league hitting coordinator when Dubón was drafted in 2013. “He had the instincts, he had hand-eye coordination, he had all those intangibles to be a really good player and hitter.”Dubón has played frequently in his eight years in the major leagues, but he hasn’t always gotten to flash the abilities Hyers saw. He was usually lifted for a pinch hitter in high-leverage situations while with the San Francisco Giants and Houston Astros.The Braves have used him differently. He has 31 plate appearances with runners in scoring position and two outs, compared to 62 in all of last year. He’s earned the Braves’ trust with a .393 batting average, two homers and 20 RBIs in those clutch moments.
“It’s funny because sometimes ‘Oh lefty-righty matchup,’ I think that’s a bunch of bulls—,” Dubón said. “I hit everybody, and (Braves manager Walt Weiss) knows that. For him to give me the trust and go out there and perform, it’s good when the manager has your back.”Weiss’ approach is paying off. With the possibility of free agency looming at the end of the season, Dubón is producing at the best level of his career. He is hitting .261 with six home runs and 37 RBIs. At his current pace, he’s expected to total career-highs in RBIs (88) and runs scored (67). FanGraphs projects he’ll finish with 607 plate appearances and be worth 3.6 WAR, more than one win better than his total when he accumulated 398 PAs last year.Although he is producing higher exit velocities and launch angles than ever, Dubón doesn’t credit his improvement to swinging harder.“People always told me back in the day, ‘Oh, you make a lot of contact, swing hard,’” Dubón said. “Which I think it hurt me before, just because I swung out of my ass, and then just no barrel drop, and everything, and then just missing balls. I actually was not hitting the ball hard. I actually tried to swing slow and not smooth, and I think that’s what’s been the biggest difference.”
