Braves sign Gavin Floyd 1 yr 4M + incentives

GovClintonTyree said:
Wait a minute. I saw the same numbers nsacpi did. In pitch framing Gattis was first, McCann a close second, Laird a distant third. Everyone who matters complements Gattis' pitch calling and receiving. By August every year Mac was too worn out to block balls in the dirt, instead stabbing them backhand with the glove. And Gattis has a gun, while McCann was an average thrower.

If Gattis relearns to lay off the off speed stuff away and the high cheese, which he did in the minors, we could be better at catcher. He strikes me as smart. I think he understands he needs to have better strike zone judgement, and I think he will.

Edit: it was Baseball Prospectus, and it was a ratio of pitches stolen to pitches lost. Mac was 1.29, Gattis 1.17 (both close to the top) and Laird was way down the list at .48.
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Sample size.

McCann has been doing it for years. But Gattis looks to be really good at it. Seeming like with the similar style to mac, the steady catch. not the jerk frame guys like Ruiz do. I'm not a fan of the latter. Defensively I'm not overly concerned about Gattis except for his ability to call a cgame which the coaches will do for him largely i'm sure. Health and offense aside from power are my concerns with him. I don't see him as a guy who can catch 140 games, I think he'll be the type who spends at least 20 games on the DL every year. Hope I'm wrong, but I have that gut instinct. When we look at Gattis's numbers last year not a lot gets me excited. Except for power his numbers aren't very good. 5.5 BB% 21.2 K%. Those numbers aren't inherently bad on their own, but together not so much. Most low BB guys K at a 2-1 or 3-1 rate. Looking at guys at a near 4-1 or higher you see from last year names like Adam Jones, Torii Hunter, Manny Machado, Zach Cozart, Starlin Castro, Howie Kendrick, Chris Johnson, Marlin Byrd, Will Venable, and Alfonso Soriano. I think none of those guys have the same skillset as Gattis. Those who are good offensively from that group are flukey (Byrd), or very fast and leading to high BABIP. Or you have weird skill set guys like Chris Johnson who rope line drives. Gattis 15% line drive and 40% GB and 45% flyball rate. There were 6 guys at 45% FB or higher, Brandon Moss, Uggla, Chris Carter, Chris Davis, Cepedes, Smoak. of those guys only Davis and Moss were 10 runs over the average major leaguer offensively. I picked the 10 run mark cause that was a spot McCann regularly hit in his peak with us.

I think Gattis should be fine, I'm concerned about health the most but we basically have Uggla with less walks and less Ks behind the plate. I'd use him for 2 years move him when he's arb 1 and bring in Bethancourt or Caratini or whoever.
 
But he does have power. You can't really discard that aspect. I don't like his strike zone management, but his minor league numbers say he wasn't always such a free swinger. That's my only question - can he lay off some pitches? I think he can.
 
I acknowledged his power. Its legit. But he lacks the skills of other guys whore low walk high k and high power. They're typically raw players like Adam Jones. I gave concerns he swung at 45%, of pitches outside of the zone and only 72% in. Both are bad numbers and indicate bad pitch recognition. Luckily gattis plays catcher so he doesn't have to really hit to have great value.
 
If Gattis can accept the fact that he has nothing to prove with the Braves now that McCann is gone and Laird is HIS backup now, he should progress very nicely and build worth.

The thing I like a lot about Gattis is that at his age, he has reached physical maturity without the wear and tear of everyday catching. It should lengthen his career considerably.
 
PawPawMaxwell said:
If Gattis can accept the fact that he has nothing to prove with the Braves now that McCann is gone and Laird is HIS backup now, he should progress very nicely and build worth.

The thing I like a lot about Gattis is that at his age, he has reached physical maturity without the wear and tear of everyday catching. It should lengthen his career considerably.
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I think there's something to this. Pressing. Trying to make something happen.
 
I think Gattis put together some really good ABs in the NLDS against quality pitching. It looked like he really started to adjust to MLB level breaking stuff.

Now, I don't think Gattis will ever be as good offensively as Mac USED to be, but I bet he puts up a .320+ OBP with tons of power. That fits in very well at C for league minimum over the nexct couple years as long as he doesn't have to hit any higher than 5th or 6th in the lineup.

If BJ could find a way to get back to a .350+ OBP he could bat leadoff, push everyone down a spot, and really lengthen this lineup. I would take '08 BJ with his .383 OBP and only 9 HRs in a heartbeat and be elated. A much more valuable player than .300 OBP and 20 HR BJ.
 
BJ should never bat leadoff.

Our lineup should be (if Gattis hits enough)

Heyward
Justin
Freddie
Gattis
Johnson
Upton
Uggla
Simmons

Shuffle the bottom 3 around.
 
zitothebrave said:
BJ should never bat leadoff.

Our lineup should be (if Gattis hits enough)

Heyward
Justin
Freddie
Gattis
Johnson
Upton
Uggla
Simmons

Shuffle the bottom 3 around.
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I'm sorry but in no way should Justin be batting 2nd. He was forced into that spot but he needs to be 4th or 5th. Simmons projects as a great #2 hitter with his high contact and speed.

Heyward
Simmons
Freeman
Justin
Gattis
CJ
BJ
hopefully not Uggla
 
256/336/461/796

243/291/480/771

Not that big of a gap in the numbers other than OBP. Give Gattis a full season and another year of experience I don't see why it's unreasonable to believe he can match McCann's numbers from the last few years.
 
emk418 said:
I'm sorry but in no way should Justin be batting 2nd. He was forced into that spot but he needs to be 4th or 5th. Simmons projects as a great #2 hitter with his high contact and speed.
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Justin hits second for me because he's one of our 3 best hitters. And I want our 3 best hitters hitting 1-3.

Simmons s far has bad batted ball numbers.

His LD% is a solid 18% but his GB% is high meaning big DP potential and he has so far an astronomically high 18% IFFB. That means that of the flyballs simmons hits about 1/5 of them are guaranteed outs.

If he's gonna be a high average guy or a good average guy he has to cut his swing down and be like Chris Johnson and spray the ball everywhere. Otherwise we may have already seen just about the peak of Simmons.
 
Zito if you're going to put my quote in your sig, you should know I feel Maddux is the posterchild for pitching mechanics.

Maddux's wind up, delivery, release, and follow through are the most basic efficient and easiest mechanics I've ever seen.

Nolan has a high leg kick, and a quick hitch before he throws the ball. He is a freak of nature and an exception to the rule. He was blessed to never have had TJ surgery with has hard as he throws. Verlander is also lucky to not have had TJ surgery yet. Verlander has better mechanics than Nolan IMO. Way more relaxed and less work.

You can't tell me when comparing Maddux and Nolan's deliveries, that Nolan has more efficient and fluid mechanics than Maddux. Maddux's entire delivery is synchronized mechanically. Nolan's starts out slow then speeds up.
 
emk418 said:
I'm sorry but in no way should Justin be batting 2nd. He was forced into that spot but he needs to be 4th or 5th. Simmons projects as a great #2 hitter with his high contact and speed.

Heyward

Simmons

Freeman

Justin

Gattis

CJ

BJ

hopefully not Uggla
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If Simmons learns to quit popping the ball up then I agree. But right now he hits way too many infield flies.
 
KeithLockhart said:
Zito if you're going to put my quote in your sig, you should know I feel Maddux is the posterchild for pitching mechanics.

Maddux's wind up, delivery, release, and follow through are the most basic efficient and easiest mechanics I've ever seen.

Nolan has a high leg kick, and a quick hitch before he throws the ball. He is a freak of nature and an exception to the rule. He was blessed to never have had TJ surgery with has hard as he throws. Verlander is also lucky to not have had TJ surgery yet. Verlander has better mechanics than Nolan IMO. Way more relaxed and less work.

You can't tell me when comparing Maddux and Nolan's deliveries, that Nolan has more efficient and fluid mechanics than Maddux. Maddux's entire delivery is synchronized mechanically. Nolan's starts out slow then speeds up.
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I believe there was another thread for this discussion.

But Ryan and Maddux both have great mechanics. They approach it differently but similar to hitters starting with their hands in different places, as long as everything is where it should be when things get rolling it's great.

http://www.chrisoleary.com/projects...graphicAnalyses/PitcherAnalysis_NolanRyan.pdf

Better indepth analysis than I care to post here. Ryan has a few tweaks but that's it very few. The core things he's doing right which are most important. Ryan, Maddux, RJ, and Seaver are all guys you should look at. Adapt based on what's comfortable. Beachy is not a guy you should look like.
 
You have to lead Heyward off IMO. He was so dynamic there that you have to see if that carries over to next season.
 
clvclv said:
Actually, I'd think ideally you'd have...

LaStella

Simmons

Freeman

Justin

Heyward

Gattis

Johnson

B. J.
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I know most want to go l, r, l, r or r, l, r, l but if La Stella is our starting 2B I'd go:

Heyward - RF

La Stella - 2B

J. Upton - LF

Freeman - 1B

Gattis - C

Johnson - 3B

Simmons - SS

B.J. Upton - CF

Yes I'd bat a rookie 2nd that's just how much I believe in his bat! We'd have a ton of 1st and 3rd situations with no outs opportunities imo.
 
clvclv said:
Actually, I'd think ideally you'd have...

LaStella
Simmons
Freeman
Justin
Heyward
Gattis
Johnson
B. J.
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No,..just no

If TLS rakes you can go

TLS
Jason (or flip them)
Justin
Freddie
Gattis
Johnson

But you cannot have what likely are our 4 best hitters and not one of them hitting 1 or 2.
 
clvclv said:
Actually, I'd think ideally you'd have...

LaStella

Simmons

Freeman

Justin

Heyward

Gattis

Johnson

B. J.
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I strongly beg to differ here, unless "ideally" means LaStella comes up hitting like Shin-Soo Choo and Simmons' offense reaches Robinson Cano levels.
 
Jay212033 said:
I know most want to go l, r, l, r or r, l, r, l but if La Stella is our starting 2B I'd go:

Heyward - RF
La Stella - 2B
J. Upton - LF
Freeman - 1B
Gattis - C
Johnson - 3B
Simmons - SS
B.J. Upton - CF

Yes I'd bat a rookie 2nd that's just how much I believe in his bat! We'd have a ton of 1st and 3rd situations with no outs opportunities imo.
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^^^^ This!
 
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