Former Atlanta Braves catcher Javy Lopez will release his autobiography, Behind the Plate: A Catcher's View of the Braves Dynasty, in April. I believe this will be the first Atlanta Braves player from the 14-year run to release a book, so I for one am pretty excited to see what it will hold.

I'm hoping to get a copy to review on the site, and if that happens, I will have my Lord or Reading (and baseball cards), Chris Mays, hammer out a review of the book.

So the first Off Season Off Topic thread that the fantastic NCChopper made has for some reason been closed for comments, thank you SBN! I know this is not as fancy as one of the ones she makes, but hey there just needs to be 75 words up here. Actually, I will try a poll... Why not?

Which of the Non Roster Invitees do you think has the best chance of making the team out of Spring Training?

This post is the second in my series on the best player names in the Braves franchise's long history. Part 1 covered the years 1876 to 1906. This post deals with the years 1907 to 1935, when the franchise was known as the Doves (1907 to '11), the Rustlers ('12), and for the first time, the Braves ('13 to '35).

Jiggs Parson, 1910-11: Parson had a 4.89 ERA over 60 innings for the Doves & Rustlers in 1910 and 1911. After that, the Jiggs was up; he never played in MLB again.

Les Mann, 1913-14, 1919-20, 1924-27: While his given name was rather emasculating, Mann compensated with the nickname "Major." Regardless, Mann had a long career that included 3 stints with the Braves franchise. A speedy outfielder, he didn't hit for much power. That doesn't make him any less of a man (sorry), though... he started his career in the Dead Ball Era, when almost no one hit for much power.

Bris Lord, 1913: Lord is one of my favorite players of all time, and not just because his name implies that he's the King of the Mohels. In addition, his middle name is "Robotham," which includes two of my favorite things: robot and ham. And best of all, Lord's nickname is "The Human Eyeball." How great a nickname is that? Lord hit .251 / .276 / .387 in his time with the Braves, his last year in MLB.

Dick Crutcher, 1914-15: Uh, yeah... I'm not going to make any further comments about this name. TC is a family blog. Crutcher had a 3.65 career ERA in 202 innings, all for the Braves.

Dizzy Nutter, 1919: Nutter had no extra-base hits in his 56 career plate appearances, all of them for the Braves in 1919. At least he had a spectacular name.

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Despite being drafted by the Braves in the second round of the 2010 draft as a pitcher, Andrelton Simmons had a nice debut season with Rookie level Danville as a shortstop, hitting .276 with a .695 OPS, 11 doubles, 26 RBI, and 18 stolen bases. He followed that up with an excellent 2011 with High A Lynchburg,, winning the Carolina League batting title by hitting .311, and adding a .759 OPS, 35 doubles, 52 RBI, and 26 stolen bases. That season opened some eyes around baseball, as he was named the 65th best prospect in the game by MLB.com.

Simmons' calling card is his phenomenal defense. Wiry and quick, makes good reads and is athletic enough to make plays most other shortstops couldn't dream of attempting. His arm is capable of producing 95mph fastballs off the mound, and he uses it to make lightning fast, accurate throws over to first. He could play defense in the Major Leagues right now and already be one of the best defenders in the game.

He showed himself more than capable with the bat with Lynchburg, though there are concerns for him offensively. He's a pure contact hitter, and while that leads to a low strikeout rate, fanning in 7.5% of his plate appearances, it also leads to a poor walk rate, as he earned a free pass in just 5% of his trips to the plate. He also doesn't offer much in the way of slugging, with just 26% of his hits going for extra bases. Jack Wilson, similar glove-first player, has hit 26% of his career at bats for extra bases, and the epitome of glove first players, Omar Vizquel, has only seen 21% of his hits go for extra bases, while striking out in 9% of his plate appearances and walking in 8.6%. It's easy to envision Simmons being the kind of player Vizquel has been over his career, and if he could come close to providing the .272/.337/.353/.690 slash line the 11 time Gold Glove winner has in his career, Simmons would be an excellent Major Leaguer.

Still relatively new to the game at 22 years old, Simmons' big goal in Spring Training is just to gain experience by spending time with veterans such as Wilson, absorbing all the information and knowledge he possibly can. He'll go to Mississippi to start 2012, looking to refine his game and prove he deserves a shot at the Majors in 2013.