AcuñaMania

sturg33 said:
To be clear, the Heyward numbers were posted to show that dominant 19 year old minor leaguers do not guarantee dominant major league numbers.
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It wasn't lost on me at all. I was just thinking of his age 20 season and what he did at 22. Then he had the appendectomy and got in the face within a couple months of each other. He was actually posting his best peripherals in 2013 before getting hit in the face.
 
CyYoung31 said:
It wasn't lost on me at all. I was just thinking of his age 20 season and what he did at 22. Then he had the appendectomy and got in the face within a couple months of each other. He was actually posting his best peripherals in 2013 before getting hit in the face.
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He was destroying the league in 2010 til he hurt his thumb... although it could also be the league adjusting to him as well
 
4maddux_cy's said:
I thought Heyward was never quite the same after our MLB staff kept trying to get him to be a pull hitter. I feel like he started rolling over more balls and just wasn't the same hitter after that. I liked that even Chipper called the staff out on that.
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That and getting hit in the face. Of course it's the same group of people that tried to make francouer someone that went the other way when he was a good pull hitter. Doing that sapped his power completely. Sometimes you need to let the kids do what got them that far.
 
thewupk said:
That and getting hit in the face. Of course it's the same group of people that tried to make francouer someone that went the other way when he was a good pull hitter. Doing that sapped his power completely. Sometimes you need to let the kids do what got them that far.
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The organization/FO don't know how to properly evaluate players. They are too old school
 
thewupk said:
That and getting hit in the face. Of course it's the same group of people that tried to make francouer someone that went the other way when he was a good pull hitter. Doing that sapped his power completely. Sometimes you need to let the kids do what got them that far.
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I am such a fan of this. I don't mind hitting coaches suggesting tweaks and going over situational hitting or situational pitcher tendencies. I don't like coaches who think they need to change a hitter into what they were. The kid got to the Majors because of what he can do. Don't try and reinvent them once they make it.
 
zbhargrove said:
Francouer was never going to be great with his discipline
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I didn't say he would be great. But changing his swing took away from his power. Should have just left him alone. No swing changes werw going to fix his plate discipline issues. But the power potential was real.
 
atl717 said:
I didn't say he would be great. But changing his swing took away from his power. Should have just left him alone. No swing changes werw going to fix his plate discipline issues. But the power potential was real.
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It's incredible to me how Frenchy was reincarnated as Hunter Renfroe. Similarities are endless.
 
4maddux_cy's said:
I thought Heyward was never quite the same after our MLB staff kept trying to get him to be a pull hitter. I feel like he started rolling over more balls and just wasn't the same hitter after that. I liked that even Chipper called the staff out on that.
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I think Heyward has some - if not the lions share - of the culpability for his decline. He was/is a tinkerer, forever trying new stances and planes and positions in the box...he never did have much loft, but rather than hitting the dog**** out of the ball at an average launch angle of 10°, he started going out and around everything trying to lift it and has never gotten back to where he was. Remember the year ('13?) he started his stance holding the bat pointing toward the umpire? Awkward as hell.

I was, at one point many moons ago, a pro bowler...but before I got there I became convinced I needed to square myself at the foul line in order to maximize my accuracy and power. After two years of trying to accomplish this and being woefully off-balance, I went back to my natural angle 15° off center - which you'd never teach - but because of some unique stuff in my armswing it worked for me. And I got very good.

I wish Heyward would look at his old approach, like, eight years ago, and try and get back where he was. His plane was off, but he got to most everything and hit it all hard.
 
GovClintonTyree said:
I think Heyward has some - if not the lions share - of the culpability for his decline. He was/is a tinkerer, forever trying new stances and planes and positions in the box...he never did have much loft, but rather than hitting the dog**** out of the ball at an average launch angle of 10°, he started going out and around everything trying to lift it and has never gotten back to where he was. Remember the year ('13?) he started his stance holding the bat pointing toward the umpire? Awkward as hell.

I was, at one point many moons ago, a pro bowler...but before I got there I became convinced I needed to square myself at the foul line in order to maximize my accuracy and power. After two years of trying to accomplish this and being woefully off-balance, I went back to my natural angle 15° off center - which you'd never teach - but because of some unique stuff in my armswing it worked for me. And I got very good.

I wish Heyward would look at his old approach, like, eight years ago, and try and get back where he was. His plane was off, but he got to most everything and hit it all hard.
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A pro bowler really? That's an interesting bit of color, Gov.
 
4maddux_cy's said:
I thought Heyward was never quite the same after our MLB staff kept trying to get him to be a pull hitter. I feel like he started rolling over more balls and just wasn't the same hitter after that. I liked that even Chipper called the staff out on that.
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He's had plenty of time to go back to his old approach. I think the beaning has had more to do with his current issues than anything (although he did have a good season in St. Louis). I thought the problem that started to crop up for him is that he was too far off the plate and couldn't handle pitches on the outer half,which may be a result of him not wanting to be too close to the plate because of the beaning.

I agree with the Governor that he has always tinkered with stances and approaches and that has added to his issues. Too much thinking and when players think, they generally struggle.
 
50PoundHead said:
He's had plenty of time to go back to his old approach. I think the beaning has had more to do with his current issues than anything (although he did have a good season in St. Louis). I thought the problem that started to crop up for him is that he was too far off the plate and couldn't handle pitches on the outer half,which may be a result of him not wanting to be too close to the plate because of the beaning.

I agree with the Governor that he has always tinkered with stances and approaches and that has added to his issues. Too much thinking and when players think, they generally struggle.
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I read his struggles differently. He could always get to the outer third, even standing as far away from the plate as he did. But you could (still can) pitch him inside and he insists on having the big rotational swing with the arms extended. And those are some long arms.

I always wanted him to try and keep his arms close and take his hands directly to the ball (butt of the bat to the ball) and let his core do the work, then naturally snap his wrists through. Then he could turn on the inside pitch without the excessive movement his rotational approach leads to. His swing would be too long if he were 5'9", and he's 6'6". He's giving away what could be his biggest advantage.
 
GovClintonTyree said:
I read his struggles differently. He could always get to the outer third, even standing as far away from the plate as he did. But you could (still can) pitch him inside and he insists on having the big rotational swing with the arms extended. And those are some long arms.

I always wanted him to try and keep his arms close and take his hands directly to the ball (butt of the bat to the ball) and let his core do the work, then naturally snap his wrists through. Then he could turn on the inside pitch without the excessive movement his rotational approach leads to. His swing would be too long if he were 5'9", and he's 6'6". He's giving away what could be his biggest advantage.
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He can reach outer half. He's got tremendous plate coverage. Whether he is trying to pull everything in that zone may be a legitimate question. I never liked his stance that much. I always thought he was too upright. I haven't watched enough of him lately to see if that has changed. He may be one of those guys whose tools are so magnificent that he never had to adjust that much until he hit the big leagues. Thing that stands out to me this season (and admittedly it's just one season) is that his walk rate has fallen. To me, that means pitchers aren't afraid to challenge him.
 
For a team that doesn't have elite hitting prospects we sure seem to have a lot of high ranked hitting prospects. Swanson was top 5 coming into the year. Acuna might be #1 ending the year. Albies was a top 25 prospect. Then we have Maitan who is on a whole nother hype level.
 
Nobody could have seen this coming for Acuna. We knew he was good but man he is on a whole other level now. I don't see how he's not the #1 prospect going into the offseason. The Braves have a ton of decisions to make this offseason starting with trying to trade one of Markakis or Kemp.
 
Hudson2 said:
Nobody could have seen this coming for Acuna. We knew he was good but man he is on a whole other level now. I don't see how he's not the #1 prospect going into the offseason. The Braves have a ton of decisions to make this offseason starting with trying to trade one of Markakis or Kemp.
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When coppy started klaw was mentioning the guy he would try to pull away was acuna. Since he got stateside ppl have known.

I do think the industry thinks we are rushing him. I would have left him at aa.

I really don't see necks deal as bad. Prob worth the 11 million just to keep acuna down for two months. His roster spot and not upgrading his defense are the problems. I still think he could be a useful pinch hitter and bench guy we could afford bc acuna is on the minimum

Kemp seems unmoveable without big financial or prospect pain
 
Hudson2 said:
Nobody could have seen this coming for Acuna. We knew he was good but man he is on a whole other level now. I don't see how he's not the #1 prospect going into the offseason. The Braves have a ton of decisions to make this offseason starting with trying to trade one of Markakis or Kemp.
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My guess is Markakis cleared waivers and I'm still hopeful that he can simply be unloaded. We won't get much of anything for him and one of the stumbling blocks may be the front office's seeming aversion to paying guys to play elsewhere. I have nothing against Markakis, but it's more about clearing a position than anything else. I hope they decide to start Acuna in Gwinnett again next spring, but I imagine we will see him at some point in 2018 and they won't call him up to sit on the bench.

I agree with russ that for all of the barking, Markakis isn't a big problem on this team. I wouldn't have signed him and I definitely would have let him go elsewhere when the 4th year became part of his demands, but there are bigger issues with the team beyond Markakis.
 
I think there are teams and organizations that Heywood would have developed into the star we thought he could be. I bet if he came up with the Cardinals he would have been a stud. We just arent great at developing hitters. The ones who do probably could have done so anywhere. Our player development is good on the whole, we do really well with pitchers. Worst team in the majors at player development has to be the Royals. Absolute joke of a development system. If I was a player or agent I would never advise a draft prospect to sign with them.
 
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