Gammons on Heyward

n June, batting .234, Heyward went on the disabled list to try to rest and rehab his shoulder. At one point, Chipper Jones suggested Heyward might need to learn to play with pain, which was whispered behind the outfielder's back, and in August, Heyward was struggling so badly that he played sparingly.
"I knew how I felt," Heyward says. "I knew what I could and couldn't do. My swing got altered. I changed my hands to make up for the shoulder by changing my base load approach, and that got me more out of line. I tried to slow down and regroup, but it never worked on a consistent basis. When things go the way they were going, it would have done no good to try to answer people, who are going to believe what they're going to believe. It hurt me, because I love to play; I wanted to be in there every day and contributing. It would have accomplished nothing to get into some war of words. I just focused on doing the best I could do each day, and when the season ended get my shoulder healed."

4 months ago Mr. Sanchez 16 comments 1 recs |

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Heyward sounds like he has really worked hard and is ready for a comeback with a vengence season.

by fandave on Jan 29, 2012 12:16 PM EST reply actions

His work ethic

Even throughout high school, scouts praised him for his work ethic. Heyward loves the game; if anyone can rebound from a sophomore slump, Heyward will. He’s worked all off-season getting into a more athletic shape, and I believe he’ll be killing line drives again this year. We don’t need him to develop into a homerun or nothing hitter. If he ever makes the HOF, it’s going to be because of his ability to mash doubles and triples, and punish fans for buying seats right over the outfield wall.

by rxadam on Jan 29, 2012 12:37 PM EST reply actions

I wish hed punish me next time im at a game!

by Dawgs013 on Jan 29, 2012 4:06 PM EST up reply actions

I see what you are saying

But the doubles and triples arent getting him to the HOF (and its a bit early to talk about). But to your point, if he is a consistent line drive hitter, then the home runs will come because of his size and strength. So yes, if he focuses on just making good contact and taking good swings, his strength alone will make him a 25 HR hitter. And it’s not beyond the realm of possibility to see him hit 40 one day.

by Alex H on Jan 29, 2012 5:45 PM EST up reply actions

If he could just

learn to trust his power and just smash the ball where it is pitched , he could become a consistent 40 HR guy taking the ball out of the ballpark to all fields .

by bravesdude on Jan 30, 2012 12:13 AM EST up reply actions

You're right, he's more than a Ryan Howard-type player at his peak

But he definately has major power and if he’s simply driving the ball they way he’s capable of, even without taking many homerun-intentioned cuts, I’d bet my bottom dollar he’d be hitting 25-30+ HR annually with ease, along with a .280+ batting average and piles of doubles.

During the 50 or so games between early 2010 and early 2011 where he played with no injuries and no alterations in his natural swing, Heyward was already a .300/.390/.530/ 35 HR paced hitter with something like a wRC+ of 170; obviously he wasn’t anywhere near that level for much of the rest of his first two seasons and I doubt that level of hitting is sustainable over a full season— even injury-free— for this year, but the fact that he CAN hit that way gives me a lot of hope that he can, in fact, go all super star (or at least .280/.370/.470 ish) in 2012 and beyond. I never believed big in JJ and I’ve got this bad feeling about one of our young pitchers (who shall not be named yet) but I have a good feeling about Heyward in 2012 and beyond.

Maybe my gut is just full of shit though, no pun intended. We shall see.

by crimsonqueen9 on Jan 29, 2012 6:02 PM EST up reply actions

If he hits 20-25HR’s per year while getting an OBP of .350 or higher, he becomes a huge asset.

by Broccoman on Jan 30, 2012 11:40 AM EST up reply actions

Teammates don't need to publicly humiliate each other

Didn’t Chipper learn from his snippy exchanges with Smoltz a few years ago? He didn’t appreciate being called out publicly by Smoltz, why did he do it to Heyward? If I were Wren, I’d have had Chipper in my office for an ass-chewing and told him that he would either issue a very public apology or be released immediately. I love Chipper Jones, but that was the most classless thing he’s done as a baseball player.

Don't kiss an ass if it's in the process of shitting on you.

"…aren’t worthy enough to hold his (Pujols) ass cheeks apart while Playboy models wipe him with thousand dollar bills after he craps out the cure to whatever previously-incurable disease." by royhobbs 1/7/09

by buzzdeadwax on Jan 29, 2012 8:53 PM EST reply actions

The final line of that article is the funniest thing I have ever read.

by swainzy on Jan 29, 2012 9:48 PM EST up reply actions

agreed

I felt that way the moment I heard it. I’m as big of a Chipper fan as anyone on this board, but I was pretty pissed to hear him do that to his young teammate. It was never going to accomplish anything. Hurting his confidence, and making him feel like his team thinks he isn’t giving enough effort…how is that going to help him?

by Alex H on Jan 30, 2012 12:08 AM EST up reply actions

As direct as Chipper tends to be with the media, I’m suprised we’ve gone this long with one or two slight mishaps.

by kalesi on Jan 30, 2012 6:05 AM EST up reply actions

You believe Wren should have threatened Chipper with an immediate release? That would have been like cutting off your nose because of one small stink bomb.

by fandave on Jan 30, 2012 10:13 AM EST up reply actions

Maybe that’s harsh, but it was a really shitty thing to do to his young teammate. Chipper should have had Heyward firmly under his wing, and should have been defending him against these types of attacks. Instead, he chose to be the attacker. That’s just not the type of thing a leader does, especially since he was the focus of the exact same attacks (which were equally ridiculous, and made Smoltz look very bad, IMO) just four years earlier. All emotion aside, Chipper was potentially harming a very valuable long-term asset – wouldn’t that anger you, if you were Wren?

Don't kiss an ass if it's in the process of shitting on you.

by buzzdeadwax on Jan 30, 2012 7:40 PM EST up reply actions

Is that fair to Chipper?

IIRC, wasn’t Chipper merely answering a question about Heyward by saying that an 80% Heyward is still much better than a 100% average RFer?

My dad taught me how to make meat for sloppy joes and my mom let me turn over hot dogs on the grill.

by ChopMaster on Jun 25, 2011 7:25 PM CDT

by justincredubil02 on Jan 30, 2012 10:00 PM EST up reply actions

He did say that, but there were other comments that were inappropriate for someone of his standing to say in the media about such a young guy. Chipper needs to realize that his words, like Heyward’s bat carry a lot of weight – he should have talked to Heyward privately and assessed from that conversation whether Heyward should have been in the line-up.

Don't kiss an ass if it's in the process of shitting on you.

by buzzdeadwax on Jan 30, 2012 11:07 PM EST up reply actions

I think it was the part where he said:

[Jason needs to realize] that there are a bunch of his teammates that are out there playing with discomfort and not healthy, and still going at it.

That implies to me that he felt Jason needed to ‘get over it’ since the rest of teammates may not have been 100% but were battling through it—something he thought Jason wasn’t doing.

by swainzy on Jan 31, 2012 3:27 PM EST up reply actions