Brian McCann, Jair Jurrjens And Jonny Venters Lead The Way: Atlanta Braves May MVPs And LVPs
by royhobbs on Jun 2, 2011 9:30 AM EDT
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With a 17-11 May now in the books, it's once again time to hand out the awards for the Atlanta Braves best and worst performers of the month. Some new faces adorn the awards this month, and two names make an encore appearance. Regardless, it's the key performances from all names mentioned that led to the outcome of the month, which I am personally pleased to see above .500, as opposed to Mar-April.
Selections are voted on by Talking Chop authors, and we look at a variety of numbers when making our choices, from games played, batting averages, to win-percentages added/subtracted. This month was pretty clear cut whom our winners (and losers) were, and at the time of me writing this, I didn't even have to wait for the last two ballots to come in before the first seven were all concurrent with the same six names, easily winning majority landslides.
Most Valuable Player
Credentials: Appeared in 24 out of 28 games, starting in 23 of them. Collected 28 hits in 92 at-bats, with 11 doubles, 4 home runs, 15 runs batted in, and hitting a keen line of .304/.371/.554, with a BABIP of .312, .250 ISO, and .386 wOBA. He accumulated +0.536 WPA to lead all starters, and contributed positive WPA scores in 11 of the 24 games he appeared in, including a monstrous +0.862 WPA accrued in the game against the Houston Astros, where he came off the bench to deliver a game-tying home run in the bottom of the ninth, before delivering the walk-off home run in the bottom of the eleventh.
Good ol' Heap runs away with the award, but it shouldn't go without mention, the outstanding play of Martin Prado as well, who hit a shade under .300 for the month, but also delivering five homers and driving in 20 runs. His cumulative +0.455 WPA score was second on the team, but McCann's consistency and power throughout the month were just a little bit better.
Most Valuable Pitcher
Credentials: In six starts, Jurrjens, and the Braves went 5-1. Jair pitched 43.2 innings, with an ERA of 1.65, struck out 24 batters while only walking eight, and allowed just two home runs and eight earned runs. 170 batters hit just .238/.269/.325 off of Jurrjens on the month, with a .269 BABIP, 3.47 xFIP, and an outstanding 1.01 WHIP. Jurrjens accumulated a bloated +1.463 WPA on the month, and shut down the vaunted Phillies in consecutive starts.
Jurrjens' impressive month, and the simple fact that the Braves were so successful in his starts was probably the only reason why Tommy Hanson didn't repeat as pitcher of the month. But he gets an honorable mention for leading the team in strikeouts (31), holding 121 batters faced to a paltry .189 batting average, and putting up solid 3.28 xFIP and 1.09 WHIP numbers.
The Jonny Venters Award
Credentials: Appeared 16 times, chewing up 19.0 total innings, and pitched 2.0IP four times. Held 73 batters to a pathetic .164/.271/.197 slash, with a ridiculous 0.89 WHIP and 2.98 xFIP. Jonny yielded just one earned run on the month. Struck out 16, versus seven walks, induced four GIDPs, and stranded 94.7% of base-runners. Just for giggles, he also garnered three vulture wins and four holds. And as for his WPA, it was an astronomical +1.897 on the month, to give you a glimpse at just how often, and how successful Jonny had been with high-leverage situations.
Although Jonny Venters is clearly from another planet, an honorable mention should go out to the Braves bullpen in its entirety (yes, even Scott Linebrink). Almost every single member of the Braves bullpen turned in a positive cumulative WPA score for the month, and such a feat deserves some recognition, because WPA is extremely easy to fluctuate for relievers. Eric O'Flaherty accumulated an excellent +0.698 WPA, Craig Kimbrel with +0.288 WPA with nine saves, and Cristian Martinez should not go ignored for turning in 13.0IP of long relief, accumulating +0.246 WPA while holding batters to an inept .114/.152/.136. If not for two recent losses of George Sherrill and rookie Cory Gearrin, they too would have ended the month as part of the positive WPA club as well, but that's the thankless life of relief pitching.
The David Ross Award
Credentials: Appeared in 26 out of 28 games, made 18 starts, and played in left field, right field, and first base. The Braves went 16-10 in these games. Hinske hit .308/.329/.500 in 78 at-bats, delivering three doubles, four home runs, and 10 runs batted in, with a .192 ISO and .361 wOBA. As a pinch-hitter, Hinske delivered 3-for-6 batting, with a home run. WPA was not kind to Hinske on the month, as he turned in a -0.483 score, but this is one of those instances where you can kind of throw it out the window based on the simple fact that the Braves were winning with him playing regularly.
Honorable mention goes to none other than Brooks Conrad. He didn't have a particularly good April, but made up for some of the lost time in May. In 19 appearances, Conrad started four games, and played mostly second or third base, and the Braves went 10-9 in games in which Brooks appeared. In 13 pinch-hit opportunities, Brooks did not make an out six times, walking three, and hitting one key game-winning home run in Pittsburgh. WPA liked Brooks Conrad overall, as he accumulated a +0.637 WPA in May; +0.421 was on the home run alone, but overall, he still contributed positively 10 times out of 19.
Least Valuable Player
To those whom thought that after April, things for Dan Uggla couldn't possible have gotten worse, well... they did. His line of .194/.250/.380 from April fell to .160/.241/.260 in May, 5 HR / 9 RBI / 21 K in April dropped to 2 HR / 7 RBI / 24 K in May, and he got even unluckier going from a .195 BABIP down to .187. To put is simply, something just isn't working, and Dan Uggla is severely hurting the team. And if you need a number to make tangible that notion, his -1.088 WPA in the month of May says that the accumulated result of all his actions have literally cost the Braves over one loss.
I'd say I hope we don't have to go for the trifecta next month, but I honestly didn't think he'd actually be worse than he was back in April this past month.
Least Valuable Pitcher
The irony of this is that it's not that Derek Lowe was Mark Redman-bad in May, because he really wasn't. But a combination of a solid bullpen all month, with the fact that the Braves are genuinely rich with pitching, kind of leaves Derek Lowe as the odd-man out with his mediocre numbers and the oft-brought up salary he's not coming close to producing up to, and the fact that someone has to be given this distinction.
In his six starts, the Braves did go 5-1, while Lowe himself went just 1-1. In 33.1 innings, Derek Lowe handled 144 batters to a .238/.329/.413 line, with a BABIP of .271, xFIP of 3.72, and 1.383 WHIP. He had an unsightly 4.86 ERA, and walked 18 guys to his 26 strikeouts, and 18 earned runs with four homers allowed. As I said, he wasn't terrible, but he wasn't great either. Go get ‘em in June, Derek. Or save it for another September run.
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My guess is...
It’s bc he started slow in the first half of May but started raking sometime around the middle of the month. I’m at work and can’t look up the numbers but thats just what I remember. He is definitely tearing it up now though, and I’d expect to hear something about him if he keeps this up in June.
His numbers on the month were solid
But not really in the neighborhood for consideration. Most of his production came in lower leverage situations than Heap and Prado, and when put in such situations himself, he didn’t come through to the clip that they did. This is kind of where the WPA comes into play, because on the month, Freeman garnered a -0.158, where he’d mostly have a whole lot of tiny minuses, buoyed by some multi-hit games in losing efforts, and some big let downs in high-leverage situations.
Putting up solid numbers is one thing, but delivering when it matters the most is what MVPs do, and Freeman simply didn’t.
No wonder nobody likes you, Tuttle... everything's a (Pujols) damn debate.
Jonny Venters needs to be in the All Star Game
Along with the starting battery of Jair Jurrjens and Brian McCann. Prado is not hitting his usuall career .300+ BA, but he’s an All Star as well.
This may be one of your greatest posts.
Points of order:
- I love Brian McCann. He is made of wonderful.
- The only thing I like more than the idea of the Jonny Venters Award is that Venters wins it. Well played.
- On the other hand, David Ross loses out on his namesake award. Poetic.
- I still like Danny, but it’s clearly not for his offensive power.
- Derek Lowe sweats a lot.
LIVE EDT
Tape-delayed for the West Coast
I’m glad I’m not the only one who noticed how much Lowe sweats.
Chicks dig the long ball.
DOB: Did you ever hit balls as hard as Jason Heyward does?
Chipper: Is that possible?
Nothing wrong with an athlete sweating doing his job
It’s when a doctor/lawyer/waiter/etc. sweats a lot doing his job that it should be noted.
"Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results."
— Albert Einstein
Twitter: @biggentleben
by biggentleben on Jun 2, 2011 12:11 PM EDT up reply actions
Oh, believe me. There are some guys who wear sweat very well. Poor Derek just looks like he’s drowning out there.
LIVE EDT
Tape-delayed for the West Coast
Greatest sweater of all time? Patrick Ewing
by freekhalidelamin on Jun 3, 2011 12:07 AM EDT up reply actions
David Ross is certainly really, really good, but the simple problem is that he’s just not in enough. He was stupid good in April, but at the same time, Hinske and Brooks were also really, really bad. The fact that both of them had good months, and Hinske playing regularly kind of removes Ross from the picture. Aside from the player, he’s also symbolic of what a really good backup is, even if he doesn’t win his own award.
I actually think Tommy Hanson sweats more. Not sure if anyone noticed, but in game 2, there was a dugout shot of Hanson in the dugout, with his mullet all dry and fluttering in the summer breeze, but yesterday, when he was pitching he was a walking monsoon, and at the end of the 6th, his jersey was practically translucent. I haven’t seen Lowe sweat that hard before.
No wonder nobody likes you, Tuttle... everything's a (Pujols) damn debate.
Yesterday's game
….would have caused ANYONE to be drenched out there in the center of the field.
"Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results."
— Albert Einstein
Twitter: @biggentleben
by biggentleben on Jun 2, 2011 12:42 PM EDT up reply actions
And hats 3 times as well
"Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results."
— Albert Einstein
Twitter: @biggentleben
What to do about Uggla?
Let him relax for a week and work on his batting during BP?
Let him play most days and work his way out of the slump?
I can see letting Diory Hernandez play second more to see his fielding and hitting for an extended period of time.
Even if Uggla has cost us one win so far (per the article), worse could be said of Kimbrel.
My opinion is that Uggla should sit for at least a week , work on his batting, and maybe see a sports psychologist a couple of times to learn to relax.
Uggla must start swinging for the Braves to make a run
That simple, he hits we score runs and win, he continues to to slump we dont make the postseason
We Gone Get it Up!!!
He's swinging plenty...
He’s simply missing.
"Insert witty and/or funny quote here" ~ The Person Who Spoketh Said Quote.
I almost feel bad for Uggla.
While he is clearly under-performing, he isn’t the sole reason the Braves aren’t doing better. As a team there have been on many occasions a lack of hitting with RISP, but the focus has been mainly on Uggla, and in some cases rightly so. Too many times they have had runners on 1st and 2nd, and even a couple times the bases have been loaded with no or only one out, and they dont score. Yes, we paid for Uggla’s bat, apparently Delta lost it when he flew up here. I hope he put in a claim on it, we desperately need it. Thats why you dont check bags if you can help it! It appears the hitting is starting to turn around for a few guys, but as someone else said, timely hitting is more important than just hitting.
If Venters doesn't make the ASG, it will be a travesty.
"In the happy moments, praise God. In the difficult moments, seek God. In the quiet moments, trust God. In every moment, thank God." - Robert A. Wood
No kidding.
Venters has to be the best reliever in the game now. Who’s better?
"Insert witty and/or funny quote here" ~ The Person Who Spoketh Said Quote.
Right now?
I’d probably take Venters over Rivera.
Our crappy lucky team *WAS* better than your good unlucky team.
There's no way Venters is worse than Arthur Rhodes
Who made the ASG last year as a lefty middle reliever. If Bochy doesn’t pick Jonny Venters given his current pace and production, there is clearly a bias, and/or agenda.
No wonder nobody likes you, Tuttle... everything's a (Pujols) damn debate.
Derek Lowe seems to struggle once the weather warms up
I don’t know if anyone knows the actual reason for this, but it would be nice if he could be better than his past 2 summers for the next few months, especially considering how bad our offense has been up to this point. I look for a good start against the Mets though, as they pretty much have a AAA lineup right now.
I've noticed this as well.
It seems that the hotter the weather, the worse he does. Getting old; I know the feeling.
"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." A. Bartlett Giamatti
he's already said how the Georgia heat/humidity gives him problems
http://sportsandgrits.blogspot.com/
MVP....the entire pitching staff
ERA .301 / MLB rank = T1
WHIP 1.15 / MLB rank = 1
BAA .227 / MLB rank = 1
BB 168 / MLB rank = 5
K 448 / MLB rank = 2
"Bunting's my favorite." Fredi G
/I think a .301 ERA might be best EVAR!!
by TBuzz on Jun 2, 2011 12:25 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Sorry about that
I actually had made a list of the Braves, Phillies, A’s, Giants and Rays, trying to see if anybody was even close to matching the Braves. The BAA decimal placement must have tricked me.
"Bunting's my favorite." Fredi G
That's pretty impressive.
"Insert witty and/or funny quote here" ~ The Person Who Spoketh Said Quote.
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