jpx7
Very Flirtatious, but Doubts What Love Is.
Who knew the seamless unity of Shane Reynolds and Buddy Carlyle was so much greater than the sum of his parts.
GDT gnats 4/3/18
- Thread starter nsacpi
- Start date
Who knew the seamless unity of Shane Reynolds and Buddy Carlyle was so much greater than the sum of his parts.
jpx7
Very Flirtatious, but Doubts What Love Is.
Better, but obviously not this good. Not a surprise, though: I thought, assuming health from Freeman, a full season of Albies, likely improvement (even if not massive) from Swanson, and Acuña replacing the LF garbage-bag from last year, that the 2018 Braves would outscore the 2017 squad—even with back-to-earth production from C and another heap of nothing from 3B.
It’s the rotation that was and continues to be the source of concern. Would’ve been awesome to hit on even half the trades for young SP ...
CyYoung31
Shift Leader
5 games is obviously a large enough sample size.
Runnin
Well-known member
My video feed was choppy and a fastball to FF stopped more than 3/4 of the way to the plate. Freddie hadn't moved a muscle yet. When the video kicked back in Freddie was rounding 3rd base. HR to right field.
He's a beast. Please remember that those (very few) who said he was a better hitter than Heyward were ridiculed for even suggesting such a thing.
I truly think the HBP ruined J-Hey. He had a great 2012, and was heating up as our leadoff man in 2013 before the face HBP. His glove in RF was so underrated. It would have been nice to keep both of them healthy and on this team and Simba.
Is Preston Tucker going to force AA to keep Acuna down until the summer? 
jpx7
Very Flirtatious, but Doubts What Love Is.
To be fair, most of those discussions revolved around who’d become the better player (factoring defense and baserunning alongside), and not just who’d become the better hitter; and until 2016, it was unclear if Freeman could reach the power/slugging threshold you want to see for a player of his profile.
Pre-facial injury, it was a very reasonable debate; and even as Heyward’s bat stalled but was still solid (pre-trade), the question of “better overall player” was a valid one. But then Freeman scaled the cliff and Heyward fell off it.
Southcack77
Well-known member
What's the thesis? That he lost vision when he broke his face? That he's too terrified at the plate to display any power now? I don't buy it.
BABIP will guide you to this answer
It's mental. His swing has also changed since getting hit. I mean you don't have to buy it but it's clear as day that his power became non existent since the injury. Could be a coincidence though.
yeah, it's just an excuse for a guy who couldn't continue to make adjustments. his 2012 power was an outlier in his major league career. in reality he just hasn't been able to tap into as much as we all thought he'd be able to.
Southcack77
Well-known member
I think that at least having a thesis for why getting hit in the face would only sap a player's power without really affecting his contact rates and OBP would be nice. And why that's more satisfying than he just had a career year after which he reverted to the type of power he demonstrated before.
I guess I'm being a heel. Some of these players seemed to be heroes like Dale Murphy was to me, so maybe I should just let it go.
msstate7
Well-known member
Look at Stanton dude. He’s now a singles hitter too.
it's a question i've wanted to ask a long time, but it was treated as such an "of course" that yeah, i just didn't touch it.
he's just mentally stronger obviously
I agree. Showing ISO SLG of 179, 162, 210, and 173 prior to getting hit and then 113, 146, 94, and 130 afterwards clearly shows no difference in power level besides the 1 career year.
Jhey was always a steak hitter. So gifted but so inconsistent at times. If he was more consistent in all areas...he would still be here. I hated to see him go, but it was the right decision. Granted, he could have exploded (and still can)...in that case his contract would STILL be a bargain. There was the other side though, and that’s why the Braves couldn’t gamble on that big of a contract. JHey was the biggest decision Coppy got right.
Is Preston Tucker going to force AA to keep Acuna down until the summer?
Perfect storm:
Tucker the real deal and keeps killing it. Kakes keeps up his strong play.
This enables us to move Kakes at some point and keep Acuna down past super 2.
I don’t think they will keep him down that long, but if Tucker and Kakes keep doing this...why rush?
msstate7
Well-known member
If Markakis or tucker can learn to hit RH in 2 weeks, it would really help