Hank Aaron is in Atlanta Braves spring training camp today apparently shooting a commercial spot for the team with Jason Heyward. WSB Sports Director, and friend of the blog, Zach Klein snapped this photo of the two on the dugout bench. So far it is the photo of the spring, and it's definitely the photo of the day.
Man! I am so glad Spring Training is finally here. Baseball is my Valentine.
Zach Klein has been doing some great photo work at Spring Training, make sure you follow him on Twitter @ZachKleinWSB for all his updates. Here is another great photo of the Hammer that he took:
It may seem bold to compare Heyward to Hammer, but as SB Nation's Marc Normandin points out, Heywards first three years have been historically great:
Then there's Jason Heyward, who is right around Stanton in terms of improvement, at just 60. This is a little cloudier than the others, as Heyward has missed time with injury and played through pain, and it's adversely affected his performance. He's hit just .261/.352/.447 in his career after his down 2011 campaign, and PECOTA expects more of the same in 2013. Heyward is a player who might improve more than PECOTA gives him credit for, given his past has been a bit more difficult than Stanton's or Trout's. The meteoric rise of those two make it difficult to realize just how impressive Heyward's three-year run has been, but his OPS+ for ages 20 through 22 ranks 26th all-time, minimum 1,500 plate appearances. He's doing all right for himself.
Check out the entire article, in which Heyward is compared to the other great young baseball stars of today.