Braves limited Heyward's power potential

This just seems silly to me. Outside of the opening AB, lead-off could mean nothing all game. Hitting first means the most ABs on the team. We had no one else to do it. And if he hit to a .393 SLG in the leadoff spot, it was higher than his season mark of .384. No one would have complained if he hit homers in the 1 spot.
 
I'm not a fan of excuses. He chose to let the leadoff spot dictate his approach, Rickey Henderson never let that happen. If he wanted ot hit for more power he should have. And then they would have moved him down if they decided to do that. Personally I don't subscribe to power being wasted in the leadoff spot. Regardless of who's in front of you, you have a better than 50% chance most of your ABs come with empty bases. Take Justin who had Jason and Freddie (and garbage) hitting in front of him most of the season, he was still basically 50/50 on PA with runners on vs empty. And that's with Jason and Freddie hitting in front of him.

Lineup contstruction doesn't matter and hitters and managers need to accept it, bat your best hitters at the top of the lineup and split up lefties and righties as best as you can. Don't let them hold anything back, just hit.
 
Jason limited his own power potential with a horrible swing. When you try and jerk your hands through the zone with mostly your shoulders, you aren't going to hit with a lot of power, because you've already lost some of it with a terrible swing.
 
Yeah, this is a little ridiculous. Maybe he believes that, but his setup and staying inside of the baseball are issues that will need to be addressed for him to ever be a consistent power hitter.
 
weso1 said:
Heyward sure has been critical of the Braves since he left. Seems some on here like to criticize and mock the Braves' front office for something very similar. Will Heyward be criticized for the same thing?
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Yeah, gotta wonder if there might've been some attitude issues, that haven't come out previously.
 
I'm an unapologetic Heywood fanboy, but I can't really get with this. He may have changed his approach when he led off, but I don't think there was necessarily an expectation that he should.
 
Julio3000 said:
I'm an unapologetic Heywood fanboy, but I can't really get with this. He may have changed his approach when he led off, but I don't think there was necessarily an expectation that he should.
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I think a lot of players wrongly change their approach when they bat leadoff and most of the time it's likely because some 65 year old manger has told him to. Not saying its the case here, but the old guard is still stuck in their ways.
 
zitothebrave said:
I'm not a fan of excuses. He chose to let the leadoff spot dictate his approach, Rickey Henderson never let that happen. If he wanted ot hit for more power he should have. And then they would have moved him down if they decided to do that. Personally I don't subscribe to power being wasted in the leadoff spot. Regardless of who's in front of you, you have a better than 50% chance most of your ABs come with empty bases. Take Justin who had Jason and Freddie (and garbage) hitting in front of him most of the season, he was still basically 50/50 on PA with runners on vs empty. And that's with Jason and Freddie hitting in front of him.

Lineup contstruction doesn't matter and hitters and managers need to accept it, bat your best hitters at the top of the lineup and split up lefties and righties as best as you can. Don't let them hold anything back, just hit.
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I guess slightly below average minds think alike zeets. I was going to mention Henderson myself. If Heyward had trouble as a lead-off hitter, I think it was his problem and no one else's. Note Matheny's quote at the end of the article about Heyward needing to develop a consistent approach wherever he hits in the line-up, which probably won't be first in St. Louis.
 
Sizemore and Granderson are also two former leadoff hitters with premiere power. So I don't buy that crap for a second.

At this stage in his career, Heyward should be in charge of his own approach at the plate. And if he changed his approach to be more if a punch and judy hitter and work the count to get on base more, then that's on him and he is dumb for doing so.

Also, his walk rate was the 2nd lowest of his career despite the fact that he was actually trying to focus on working the count. So what excuse does he have for that?
 
Carp said:
Sizemore and Granderson are also two former leadoff hitters with premiere power. So I don't buy that crap for a second.

At this stage in his career, Heyward should be in charge of his own approach at the plate. And if he changed his approach to be more if a punch and judy hitter and work the count to get on base more, then that's on him and he is dumb for doing so.

Also, his walk rate was the 2nd lowest of his career despite the fact that he was actually trying to focus on working the count. So what excuse does he have for that?
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Dare I say he's an idiot. If your an elite player (and Heyward believes that he is) than it should have no impact. Do you think if Ken Griffey Jr in his prime was moved to the leadoff spot would have stopped hitting 50+ homers a year? Absolutely not!
 
Just a question from the cheap seats...

If Jason does somehow get the $175 million plus he's apparently going to be looking for, is the team that signs him going to plunk down an extra $24,999,999.90 to fix his $0.10 head or unfreeze Ted Williams so he can teach him how to hit?!?!?
 
An article like this proves exactly why this thing had to be tore down and rebuilt. The Braves had to be rebuilt from minors up. We wiffed on Frenchy, we wiffed on Heyward. The only place he will ever be the HOF he is supposed to be is MLB 11 The Show.
 
VirginiaBrave said:
An article like this proves exactly why this thing had to be tore down and rebuilt. The Braves had to be rebuilt from minors up. We wiffed on Frenchy, we wiffed on Heyward. The only place he will ever be the HOF he is supposed to be is MLB 11 The Show.
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Nah, but a post like this does make you look stupid.
 
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