FanPost

Play Heyward in CF?

As I, like many of you, think about what kind of players the Braves could acquire to improve our offense I have made a fairly obvious observation that I'm sure many are aware of.  One of the points most often brought up is how CF is the position we could improve the most offensively but looking over the available impact outfield bats (you know who they are - Bautista, Hart, Willingham etc - so we don't need to rosterbate here) you see that they play the corner spots which in my opinion do not need upgrades.  Diaz and Hinske will do a solid job in  LF while providing a fresh and well tuned bench bat from whoever doesn't get the start that day and Heyward is obviously not going to lose playing time if he is healthy.  Perhaps playing Heyward in center would solve his mismatch of need for a centerfielder and only corner outfielders being available.  I'm not sure it is a very good idea so I wanted to throw out my thoughts on the subject:

- Can Heyward play center?  I think the answer for this year and maybe next is yes he can play center.  Most of the scouting reports I have read have said nearly the same thing - he has an excellent arm and gets excellent breaks off of balls but his speed/range makes him a fantastic right fielder but a marginal centerfielder you don't likely want there long term.  For this year while he is still not all the way filled out and still quite fast I think he could play center at at least an average/slightly below average level.

- Should Heyward play center?  I have a couple concerns about moving Heyward to center.  Would it hurt his development as a right fielder where his long term home is?  Would he be more vulnerable to injury as a centerfielder?

- Would it be worth it?  I'm also not sure if it would be worth such a drastic change to our prized young star to replace a guy that maybe shouldn't be giving up on so early in McLouth and expend valuable prospects to do so.  Having say the AL walks and home run leader in Bautista in our lineup everyday would be attractive but would it be worth the cost and trouble?

So I humbly ask you TCers, would it be wise to play Heyward in CF for the remainder of this year in order to improve our offense?

This FanPost does not express the views or opinions of Battery Power.