Braves Batting Positional Ranks

by gondeee on Aug 26, 2009 1:39 PM EDT Comment 12 comments

More photos » by John Bazemore - AP

Atlanta Braves' Brian McCann leads the best offensive catching unit in the National League.

Here is a look at where the Atlanta Braves rank by position compared to the rest of the National League.

Catcher: The Braves, and Brian McCann, are 1st in OPS by almost 80 points over second place. The Braves hold a dominant offensive edge is the NL at the catching position. This is also helped greatly by a more-than-capable backup in David Ross.

First Base: On the season our first baseman rank 11th in OPS, but that has obviously been greatly improved as of late since Adam LaRoche has posted a 1.186 OPS since joining the Braves. The fact that he has been so good lately, and we're still only 11th, underscores how pitiful Casey Kotchman was when compared against the offense that the rest of the league is getting out of their first basemen.

Second Base: Even with the early season struggles of Kelly Johnson, Atlanta second basemen are 4th in the NL in OPS with a .782. Again, this illustrates how valuable Martin Prado has been, since Kelly has a .683 OPS on the year, and Prado an .815 (see note below). Good work from Omar Infante while playing second and Brooks Conrad also contribute to the good overall number.

Third Base: This is mainly Chipper Jones, but the number is brought down by some bad offense when Prado and Infante play third. Atlanta ranks 6th in the NL, but if it were just Chipper, they would probably rank somewhere around 3rd or 4th.

A Note here about Prado and Infante: As a second baseman, Prado has a .922 OPS, Infante a .926, but as third basemen Prado stinks it up with a .578 OPS and Infante a .511. Both of them have combined for 110 plate appearances at third, so that is no small number or lack of offense. Strange that their fortunes at the plate turn out so different when they man the hot corner.

Shortstop: Atlanta ranks 5th here with a .759 OPS, which is clearly a result of way too much playing time going to Diory Hernandez and his .410 OPS. Yunel Escobar's .816 OPS should be good enough for 3rd in the league.

Left Field: Here comes the pitiful. Atlanta's left fielders lead the Atlanta outfield contingent with a .769 OPS which actually ranks 7th in the league.

Center Field: Jordan Schafer is still pulling down this rank, all the way to 14th in the league with a combined .667 OPS, ahead of only Arizona and Cincinnati.

Right Field: A .717 OPS and 15th in the league (next to last, ahead of only San Diego), and believe me, that has improved lately because Jeff Francoeur had a .634 OPS as a member of the Braves this season.

If you want to look at where the problem is with the Braves offense this season, it's in the traditional power positions of first base and the outfield. We seem to have solved first base, and now McLouth, Church, and Diaz should at least get on base and hit for sub-homerun power in the outfield. The problem is that for far too many games we relied on offense from center field, right field, and first base which never materialized. We may be winning games now, but if we don't make the post season, we can point to the first two-thirds of the season where our inept offense from those positions likely cost us the necessary wins to be in contention.

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Very interesting

It makes me remember some of the forgettable parts of our season (Frenchy, Kotch, and Schafer). Great write up.

SubParr

by nick9314 on Aug 26, 2009 1:48 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Incredible

What we’ve been able to accomplish this year at the catcher position. Almost as incredible is the utter lack of playing time that Ross received after the all-star break. Even though McCann didn’t play much in April / May, playing him everyday basically through the hottest part of the summer has likely tired him out, which has been suggested as a reason for his decreased performance. Ross, who for 100 AB’s or so maintained a cool 900+ OPS, rotted on the bench and lost sharpness. As a result, BOTH catchers became less effective.

The usage (i.e. lack thereof) of Ross in the 2nd half reminds me of when Bobby tries to save the bullpen by leaving a starter in too long. Inevitably, the starter tires, surrenders the lead (if we had it to begin with), thus forcing MORE bullpen usage than if Bobby would just pull him on time. I guess it’s easy to manage from the couch or your computer screen…

I, for one, hope that next year Ross gets a chance to play every 5th day, no matter what. It’s always possible that he is a SSS miracle this year, but I think his bat has always been decent, and his defense is superb. I also wonder if his performance has made him valuable enough to trade for prospects or in a deal for a starter to address the corner OF / 1B spots mentioned above. His salary is almost nothing, however, so I’d prefer to keep him as long as we can.

by fphjr01 on Aug 26, 2009 2:21 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

He should learn Japanese and be KKs personal catcher.

by Bmacbandwagon on Aug 26, 2009 2:46 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Supposedly

Ross already knows the basic phrases and words to use to a Japanese pitcher, back from his brief stint in Boston, when he had to occasionally catch Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima. He mentioned this some time earlier this season, when McCann was hurt, and Ross was raking.

If this is the case, it wouldn’t be such a bad thing to assign Ross to a pitcher, to schedule some rest in there, but knowing Bobby, he’d put Ross in only against a lefty starter.

No wonder nobody likes you, Tuttle... everything's a (Pujols) damn debate.

by royhobbs on Aug 26, 2009 4:11 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

That’s interesting I didn’t know that. And you’re probably right about him only starting vs. leftys.

by Bmacbandwagon on Aug 26, 2009 6:14 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

The Braves are a winning team right now, which is pretty incredible considering how many question marks there were during the off season: could the rotation be rebuilt? Would guys like Francoeur and Kotchman rebound? Was Shafer ready? Was Anderson capable of playing at a high level?

This offseason much less seems in doubt. Go out and get a power corner outfielder and keep Laroche and you just about have most of our offensive question marks solved.

by kalesi on Aug 26, 2009 2:42 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I am much more optimistic about heading into next season, head and shoulders more than I was going into this season. But what do I know?

If we can stay relatively healthy next year and pick up a key bat, along with the potential of our youngsters blossoming, makes me very excited to see the 2010 Braves. Not that I’m writing off this year at all, just looking forward.

by Cracker! on Aug 26, 2009 3:40 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

FA OFs and 1Bs next year

linky

It ain’t pretty.

If Dunn walks 30 fewer times, he'll drive in 15 more runs. This is thanks to the scientifically proven formula: RBI = (this is nonsense) (I made it all up).

Here's a stat: Wins as manager: Dusty Baker, 1,162; Bill James, 0.

by TradeAndruw on Aug 26, 2009 4:32 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs