Braves in the Futures Game
by jeg on Jul 12, 2009 8:57 PM EDT
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PrintJason Heyward and Barbaro Canizares represented the Braves in the Futures Game today. Canizares started at first base and went 1-2 with an RBI single. Heyward started in RF and went 1-2 with a single. Heyward hit the ball hard in both AB's, singling to center in his first AB and grounding out sharply in his second. World team 2B Starlin Castro made a nice play to retire Heyward in his second AB, snagging a line drive on the short hop and throwing Jason out at first. Heyward was impressive all around.
Former Braves, Tyler Flowers and Neftali Feliz also competed and played well. Feliz threw a scoreless inning, striking out 2. The stadium guns were showing Feliz's velocity in the mid 90's while pitch f/x had him up to 100. Flowers started at catcher for the US team and went 1-2 with a single.
The game was nearly rained out but after a 4 hour rain delay, play began. The game was shortened to 7 innings because of the delay. The World Team won the game 7-5.
This FanPost does not express the views or opinions of Talking Chop.
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Yea, I watched the top of the first and then it went into delay and I missed the restart.
I really need to drive up to Jackson to see Heyward play a full game though.
The base paths belonged to me, the runner. The rules gave me the right. I always went into a bag full speed, feet first. I had sharp spikes on my shoes. If the baseman stood where he had no business to be and got hurt, that was his fault. -Ty Cobb
maybe mid-season?
I can’t imagine him even moving up to Gwinett this season so I’d think the schedule would be mississippi for the rest of this season and then get some AAA at-bats to start next year.
I don’t think that’s safe to say at all.
"At least he didn’t nail the bitchy fat girl from Hell's Kitchen."
www.dropoutproductions.com
Shit so much for wishful thinking, but the Braves should take their time developing heyward. Can’t mess this one up at all.
Baseball is my life
IMO
I dont think you can mess Heyward up, get him up to Gwinnett before the end of the year and then if were in it or not bring him up like we did with AJ.
The base paths belonged to me, the runner. The rules gave me the right. I always went into a bag full speed, feet first. I had sharp spikes on my shoes. If the baseman stood where he had no business to be and got hurt, that was his fault. -Ty Cobb
Andruw fell so far short of his offensive potential… this is a guy who was considered to be the best prospect ever. He was expected to hit for average but poor pitch recognition prevented Andruw from consistently doing this. His approach was raw even in his banner years in 05 and 06. Pull, pull, pull. Never struck out less than 100 times in a full season. He was never a good base runner despite having good speed. Sure he ate his way to slower foot speed but even before that.
This guy got by on raw talent and outstanding bat speed. That was good enough for Andruw to be a good player but he had the talent to be a centerpiece, best of a generation player.
I’m not saying that Heyward will go the way of Andruw but I’m just concerned about pushing a guy his age so fast.
"Four of us wolves, running around the desert together in Las Vegas, looking for strippers and cocaine..."
Andruw was on pace at the age of 28 to reach 400 and 500 HR faster than anyone.
Then he just completely collapsed fundamentally.
If Heyward’s as good fundamentally as I read, we should have no issues with him on that end.
The base paths belonged to me, the runner. The rules gave me the right. I always went into a bag full speed, feet first. I had sharp spikes on my shoes. If the baseman stood where he had no business to be and got hurt, that was his fault. -Ty Cobb
Yeah that does absolutely nothing to disprove my point… hitting for power was the ONLY thing Andruw did well offensively despite the fact that he had the skills to hit .300 plus. Do you think he got anywhere close to his ceiling? Even in his best years, he was an underachiever.
"Four of us wolves, running around the desert together in Las Vegas, looking for strippers and cocaine..."
The guy had 10 gold glove seasons, he did everything we wanted for him to do.
The base paths belonged to me, the runner. The rules gave me the right. I always went into a bag full speed, feet first. I had sharp spikes on my shoes. If the baseman stood where he had no business to be and got hurt, that was his fault. -Ty Cobb
Yeah, I believe every member of the organization wanted him to hit .259 for his career and strike out 1500+ times by the age of 33. Your still in the dark here, I said he fell well short of his OFFENSIVE potential and according to what was projected for him back in 95’ and 96’, he has done just that. If you want to argue that coming up at 19 had nothing to do with his failure, then fine but don’t sit here and tell me that he was projected to steal less than 150 bases in his career, strike out a ton, and hit under .260 for his career. This is a guy scouts and talent evaluators said had more talent than anyone they’d ever seen. He got the least out of the most talent, the anti-Pedroia.
"Four of us wolves, running around the desert together in Las Vegas, looking for strippers and cocaine..."
His last 3 years have dented his BA so i dont even look at that.
As far as his steals are concerned, you have to be given the right to steal bases to do it. Cox isnt aggressive on the basepaths, hasnt been for the past 10 years.
The base paths belonged to me, the runner. The rules gave me the right. I always went into a bag full speed, feet first. I had sharp spikes on my shoes. If the baseman stood where he had no business to be and got hurt, that was his fault. -Ty Cobb
except for that time when he was…you know, when we had speed (Furcal).
Look over the past month – we are stealing a lot more frequently, now that we have some speed on the team again.
"Actually, Justin was right."
by bigjoe on May 15, 2009 9:04 AM PDT
by justincredubil02 on Jul 13, 2009 5:49 PM EDT up reply actions
His last 3 years have dented his BA so i dont even look at that.
Andruw had ONE season of .300 BA and no other seasons over .277. Excluding the last three years because you said so, Jones has more seasons below .270 than above it.
The league batting average throughout Andruw’s tenure in Atlanta fluctuated around the .265 mark, so even excluding his down years, he was average at best at hitting for average.
"Four of us wolves, running around the desert together in Las Vegas, looking for strippers and cocaine..."
You're still using BA?
Because’ THAT’S the complete picture of a player, let me tell you!
You could argue that his OBP should have been maybe 15-20 points higher for a guy with his speed and power, but the batting average criticism is pretty lame.
He was average at best at hitting for average.
What the hell do you think I’m saying with this? Read what I’ve been posting before you jump in. The problem with Andruw Jones were that the problems with his approach limited his ability to get more hits, hence batting average. By virtue of him getting less hits, he is on base less, is driving in fewer runs, is scoring fewer runs, and is generally less productive. So yeah, I’m using batting average in this case because the affects are going to be felt across the full spectrum of his offensive productivity.
When your talking about ONE player, it is logical to assume that with a higher batting average that individual will be more productive. Andruw Jones’ entire productivity was limited by his approach.
"Four of us wolves, running around the desert together in Las Vegas, looking for strippers and cocaine..."
Because the problems with his approach limited hits, not necessarily walks. Thus OBP would just add another step and increasing his number of hits in the same number of AB’s would imply an increase in OBP and OPS. Plus, hits are somewhat more valuable than walks in the grand scheme of things by virtue of advancing runners and driving in runs. So improving his OBP 30 pts via a 30 pt increase in BA is more valuable than improving his OBP 30 pts via 15 pt increase in BBs and 15 pt increase in BA.
"Four of us wolves, running around the desert together in Las Vegas, looking for strippers and cocaine..."
what are you talking about?
His approach would effect everything, not just hits and runs. Meaning his walks would suffer as well, meaning his OBP would take a hit. It never dropped that much.
He did everything we could ask except hit for average
The base paths belonged to me, the runner. The rules gave me the right. I always went into a bag full speed, feet first. I had sharp spikes on my shoes. If the baseman stood where he had no business to be and got hurt, that was his fault. -Ty Cobb
Why are you assuming that hitting the ball to the opposite field would affect walks? Your just making an assumption there.
I’ve been talking about cutting down on the strike outs and making harder contact by simply hitting the ball where its pitched. If Andruw Jones had been willing to hit the ball to RF more, he would have made fewer outs, thus his BA would increase, and likely his OBP as a function of BA. The fact that your assuming his walks would definitively drop is absurd. Any evidence of any kind to support that theory?
Alright I’ll just stop. Andruw Jones DID EVERYTHING to the best of his abilities and maximized every drop of talent he possessed. He couldn’t have been a better player in any area of his game. Is that what you want? I don’t believe that shit and I can’t understand how you can.
"Four of us wolves, running around the desert together in Las Vegas, looking for strippers and cocaine..."
Maybe the guy didnt have as much talent as we thought??
The dude put up 30 and 40 HR up regularly and even hit 50 too.
He was an amazing fielder as well.
The base paths belonged to me, the runner. The rules gave me the right. I always went into a bag full speed, feet first. I had sharp spikes on my shoes. If the baseman stood where he had no business to be and got hurt, that was his fault. -Ty Cobb
probably true
but really worth the risk? I say the organization should take their time with this one considering that he should be one of the faces of the franchise for quite some time. He’s still not even finished developing physically (I still have no idea how a 6’4" 220 lb guy who is ripped looks lanky) so letting him have a good amount of time at each level seems like a good idea. Have him finish out the year at Mississippi, then start at AAA next year and depending on how well he does and what kind of production we’re getting from the outfield, make a decision then.
Haha...
He only looks lanky if you’re thinking he should be built like an LB. I would be surprised if he ends up carrying much more than 230 or 235. Richie Sexson was not at all scrawny at 6-8, 240.
Remember, kids...don't ever let facts get in the way of your argument.
by MichaelProcton on Jul 13, 2009 9:55 AM EDT up reply actions
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