For Real?!

Are these Atlanta Braves for real? That’s the question that this eleven game road trip will prove. So far everything is starting to fall into place for the now first place Braves with every facet of the team delivering apart from, ironically, the All-Stars. It has all started at the top of the line up when Bobby Cox chose to place the white hot Martin Prado in the lead off in place of the anonymous figures of Nate McLouth and Melky Cabrera. While it was only one position that Martin moved up its importance was never clearer than in the Phillies series when the Braves scored a run in the bottom of the first inning in each of the three games. Prado went 3-for-3. After replacing Kelly Johnson at second last year Prado has come from reliable to brilliant to the team’s best player, and that isn’t some overly optimistic judgement he is proving day-in-day-out how important he is to the success of the team. It seals the deal when his teammates recognise him as their All-Star as happened this week when Peter Moylan took a break from giving us all heart attacks in relief to launch the “Vote for Prado” All-Star game campaign. In one of the best spontaneous demonstrations of togetherness Moylan twisted the “Vote for Pedro” shirt from the movie Napoleon Dynamite that has become such a cultural symbol after the films cult success. Had this been Nick Swisher launching a campaign for Yankee team mate Robinson Cano we would have seen it all over sportscenter and various panel shows across sports, but this is the age of great Southern obscurity and it took Atlanta area blogger to even put it in the news. But Prado deserves every little bit of praise from bloggers, reporters and teammates alike not just because of his incredible hitting but also the spark he brings to the clubhouse, he is clearly one of the most liked members of the roster and should be lauded at every turn for his effect on everyone involved in the Atlanta Braves organisation.
While Prado has been hitting all year one member of the Braves team who’s sudden change of fortune has been almost single handedly responsible for the Braves winning the tight games they lost in April. After being as dormant as the pencil Bobby Cox used to change his line-up card in April the slugging first baseman Frank Wren signed in the offseason appeared in the form of Troy Glaus. While Glaus, Brian McCann and Chipper Jones wasted almost every RBI opportunity they were afforded threw the season’s first three weeks the former Cardinal racked up nearly 30 RBI’s in the space of 31 days. He also managed to hit more home runs than Mac and Chipper combined which makes the often maligned Frank Wren look like a recruiting genius. Glaus has made the middle of the Braves, which has been pretty limited in its production, look a lot more dangerous because, even though neither McCann nor Jones have hit very well they have both worked a tonne of walks. The improvement in Glaus as an RBI guy has made these works important, even crucial. His three-run home runs on consecutive days are the perfect example of Glaus’ importance to the line-up.
Pitching was always the basis of the 2010 Braves team and it looks like this prophecy has come to fruition, with the resurgent Tim Hudson leading the way with his outstanding 2.30 ERA. It has not just been their performances on the mound that makes this pitching staff so impressive but their performance off it. Every night the biggest cheer leaders in the dugout are those pitchers on their day off. There appears to be a closeness with these guys like we haven’t seen in a long time, even Derek Lowe has shown a willingness to join in the fun which has been reflected by his dramatically increased pitching performance. With Hudson, Wagner and Moylan assuming positions of leadership it has allowed the young Braves pitchers to grow, especially someone like Johnny Venters who is quickly establishing himself as a potential cloer-in-waiting even with Craig Kimbrel in the minors. The most impressive young pitcher on the Braves staff has not been the super-hyped and super-impressive Tommy Hanson but his less recognised room-mate Kris Medlen. The youngster who came up last year to bridge the gap to Hanson’s inevitable arrival at the Major League level was unimpressive in several spot starts in 2009, in the bullpen however he was dominant. After Jair Jurrjens went on the DL with an injured hamstring Medlen stepped in and has been the Braves second best pitcher in the 5 starts he has made and should not be the one to lose his place when Jurrjens gets healthy.
While I am certainly not saying the Braves are suddenly in pole position to win the NL East after May they look a lot more competitive than at the conclusion of April and I can’t quite figure out the difference in the team that happened between April 30th and May 1st but whatever happened this is all of a sudden looking like the team every single Braves fan hoped we were on Opening Day. We may know more about this team in just a few days when they get back to Atlanta in eleven days.

Big Braves Blog 3

With three out of the Braves four infielders returning from last year this seems to be where the team is most settled. However when Frank Wren entered the off season he hoped to produce something rather more spectacular than a settled infield. Let’s start with something near certainties; Martin Prado and Yunel Escobar. The middle infield is quite possibly the most impressive part of this Braves organisation, almost as impressive as the 1-2 punch of Tommy Hanson and Jair Jurrjens. 2009 proved to be Martin Prado’s breakout party, blowing away any of his previous three years in the majors. He gradually increased both his appearances and statistics whilst always playing second fiddle to Kelly Johnson, the Baby Brave who never really grew up. When he finally got his chance to be the everyday second baseman early last year Martin did not disappoint. Whilst playing in twice as many games as he ever had done before Prado hit .307 with 11 homers and 49 RBI’s. Prado gave the Braves team so much more than just impressive numbers, he gave them an almost perfect number two hitter, with a .358 on base percentage and scored 64 runs, playing a role that proved so invaluable during Nate McLouths lead off struggles. Defensively he proved just as important as with the bat, in 2009 he played first, second and third base with his lowest fielding percentage being .975 in 266 innings at third and highest in his 182.2 innings at first with a .994 percentage. He played 513.1 innings at his everyday position with an eye opening .986 fielding percentage, turning 37 double plays, that’s 74 outs. The guy helping Prado turn a lot of those double plays is Cuban defector and ever improving shortstop Yunel Escobar. In my opinion, one that matters very little in the universe of Major League Baseball, Escobar should be ranked as one of the three or four premier shortstops in the National League. Last year Escobar began producing the numbers that can elevate an individual to that position, like Prado it was really Escobar’s coming out party as Bobby Cox and everyone realised his importance to the team. In 2009 Escobar had career highs in games, at-bats, runs, hits, doubles, RBI’s and homers. While falling short of his 2007 average of .326 he still hit a very respectable .299, one of those annoying averages that even a bloop single could have made .300. Perhaps just as impressive Yunel had a career high in fielding percentage, as crucial a stat for a short stop as any other. His percentage was slightly less impressive than Prado but impressive enough for a short stop with .979 in 1208.2 innings, more impressive is the fact he turned 83 double plays (that’s 166 outs for those keeping count).
There is very little point doubting the excellence of the middle infield, the questions regarding first and third base are unavoidable. Chipper Jones represents everything good about the Braves; he is a Braves lifer who has produced excellence both on and off the field for all that life. This time last year the only question about Chipper was over how many games he would be able to play, well that was answered emphatically; playing his most games since 2003. This offseason Chipper’s health is just about the only certainty the Braves have regarding the third baseman. Having been crowned the National League batting champion in 2008 a drop off was expected, nobody saw the 100 point drop off coming. Having hit .364 in the 2008 season his disastrous .264 average in 2009 sparked discussions from Chipper himself about walking away this year if he showed no improvement. The idea that Chipper could just walk away at the end of this year is almost unthinkable but 2009 was his worst year for a long time, one in which he showed his age for the first time. He also posted his lowest fielding percentage of his career at .930, for a third baseman that is bad, it is twenty points below David Wright who is widely regarded as the NL’s best at the position. When even the player can’t explain the problem it is almost impossible to know what went wrong, the only way we will know if it was just a three month blip or if the drop off is something more long term. Having Brian McCann injured for large chunks of last year Chipper had no protection allowing opposing pitchers to go after him, this year the Braves shouldn’t have the same problem. Chippers protection this year will be provided the biggest gamble of the Braves offseason, Troy Glaus. The new first baseman is a gamble on both offense and defence. 2010 will be the first time in his career that Glaus has served as an everyday first baseman having spent all his nearly all his time in the majors at third. In the 38.2 innings Glaus has played first he has the impressive fielding percentage of 1.000 which makes the defensive gamble look a lot more calculated, it will have to be for Braves fans to forget the glove of Casey Kotchman. Offensively Glaus will have to rebound in exactly the same way as Jones. Unlike Chipper, Troy knows injuries are to blame for his struggles of the last two years. So much of the teams offense depends on Glaus rediscovering his health and home run swing. With Chipper unlikely to hit more than 25 homers it’s important that Troy goes over 30 from the clean-up spot, something Braves players don’t tend to do that often anymore.
So that’s how the Braves infield will line up against the Cubs on Opening Day. Escobar and Prado could be there for the next 5-10 years depending on injuries, Glaus and Jones may not be there next year. If the gambles pay off this quartet could take Bobby Cox’s team to the promised land, if they back fire there will be no coming back from them.