Braves limited Heyward's power potential

VirginiaBrave said:
You can make fun all you want but the Braves haven't turned out a position player that has been as advertised since McCann. Freeman is on his way and Simmons could still go either way. Thats not debatable thats fact.
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Prado was pretty awesome. As was Gattis (if only briefly). Yunel was pretty great for awhile too.
 
Why is everyone interpreting this as an attack on the Braves? Dude prefers to hit in the middle of the order and didn't complain about it when we asked him to something else. Now he's relieved that he can do the thing he prefers. Nowhere in the article does he blame the Braves for anything.

WHAT A MONSTER
 
Metaphysicist said:
Why is everyone interpreting this as an attack on the Braves? Dude prefers to hit in the middle of the order and didn't complain about it when we asked him to something else. Now he's relieved that he can do the thing he prefers. Nowhere in the article does he blame the Braves for anything.

WHAT A MONSTER
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Dont you get it hes a total primadonna with an attitude problem!!
 
CyYoung31 said:
Like it or not, he WAS the face of the franchise, and he WAS the best player on the team.
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Yeah, it was interesting that when he was hitting in BJ & Uggla territory, he was never called out. Let's pretend like it never happened ("small sample size!").
 
Knucksie said:
Yeah, it was interesting that when he was hitting in BJ & Uggla territory, he was never called out. Let's pretend like it never happened ("small sample size!").
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He never hit in BJ or Uggla territory for more than a month. And yes a month is small sample size.

I don't get your hate for Jason, did he poop in your cheerios or something?
 
Metaphysicist said:
Why is everyone interpreting this as an attack on the Braves? Dude prefers to hit in the middle of the order and didn't complain about it when we asked him to something else. Now he's relieved that he can do the thing he prefers. Nowhere in the article does he blame the Braves for anything.

WHAT A MONSTER
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I don't think anyone is saying he is a MONSTER. I think people are making the point that Jason Heyward is the only one responsible for Jason Heyward's performance. The inference being that the leadoff spot kept him from hitting for power, and posters pointing out that that inference would be the wrong approach.

\gets out torch and pitchforks I guess.
 
I don't really understand how you can make the argument that batting leadoff is a position ripe for power production with a straight face.
 
zitothebrave said:
He never hit in BJ or Uggla territory for more than a month. And yes a month is small sample size.
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Big enough sample size that he doesn't get Stanton money...or anything close to it.

zitothebrave said:
I don't get your hate for Jason, did he poop in your cheerios or something?
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Not sharing overzealous fanboyism isn't the same as "hate."

Kelly, OTOH, never did anything to impress...
 
Hawk said:
I don't really understand how you can make the argument that batting leadoff is a position ripe for power production with a straight face.
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I would agree with you in a different era, there were "types" of hitters you slotted into certain spots in the batting order, but I don't think that necessarily applies to the way the game is played now. Heyward is not Rickey Henderson, so this isn't an exactly fair comparison, but Henderson hit 20+ HRs four times in his career and in two of those seasons, he hit over 25 HRs. The more stat-driven crowd has contended (and I don't know whether I fully agree with them or not) that line-up construction doesn't matter, or at least matter much. Unless Heyward comes out and says "Fredi and Walker told me to change my approach," it would seem to indicate that he changed his approach on his own. That would mean he--and he alone--decided to turn back the clock and try to emulate a lead-off hitter from the 1960s. If there was a shortcoming in the coaching, it's that they didn't sit down with Jason and tell him, "Go for the downs."

The bottom line is that with so many swing-and-miss guys on the team, there was little chance that changing line-up construction was going to matter much. And we're still stuck with the two bad Wren decisions on Melvin Emanuel Upton, Jr., and Chris Johnson. When Laird was in the line-up and Uggla was still with the team, one could argue that one-half of the everyday players were flat-out terrible. You could resurrect Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig from their primes and stick them in the middle of last year's mess and things wouldn't have been any different.
 
Still mad that the Braves ruined Otis Nixon's power potential by hitting him leadoff. And not letting him do lines in the dugout before every AB.
 
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