DOTW: Underrated Careers in Baseball Recently.

AUTiger7222 said:
I understand what you're saying. But you can't jack pitches that are away from you in the dirt out to LF. It's virtually impossible. You either have to lay off of them or hit them to RF.
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Drew often laid off those pitches though. His only real problem were sliders dropping out of the zone. His problem post 2006 was that his bat got slow because of his bad knees and back. He couldn't get around on good pitches and had to guess more.
 
Going to bring up a name from the past, but it's probably not the best example for this thread: Bruce Chen. Granted, there was an enormous amount of hype, surrounding him, when he was moving through the Braves system. When the Braves traded him to the Phillies, probably everybody had left him for dead. Yes, he never lived up to that intial potential and was a journeyman. He was first traded by Atlanta in year 2000 and he's still kicking around the majors! Even if there's the Dayton Moore connection, it's amazing that he's had a career for this long.
 
Knucksie said:
Going to bring up a name from the past, but it's probably not the best example for this thread: Bruce Chen. Granted, there was an enormous amount of hype, surrounding him, when he was moving through the Braves system. When the Braves traded him to the Phillies, probably everybody had left him for dead. Yes, he never lived up to that intial potential and was a journeyman. He was first traded by Atlanta in year 2000 and he's still kicking around the majors! Even if there's the Dayton Moore connection, it's amazing that he's had a career for this long.
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Don't know if I'dcall him underrated. THat would be like calling Jeff Francouer underrated.
 
Millwood1Hitter said:
LOL Bruce Chen. Not underrated at all, he is what he is, a lefty that has had a long career.
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He had the last laugh. If in 2000, you would've asked any Braves fan if Chen would've still been in the majors within even a few years, let alone 15, you'd have been considered crazy.

zitothebrave said:
Don't know if I'dcall him underrated. THat would be like calling Jeff Francouer underrated.
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It's hard to categorize him, because Chen went from being a blue chip prospect to being close to scrap heap to hanging around, year after year. So, whether or not that's considered "underrated," who knows? He beat the odds though, and it's still rather impressive to be in the majors for that long.

We could assemble an interesting thread of all the Braves pitching propects, from the last 25 years, and there would be A LOT of forgotten names. Granted, different factors come into play (injuries, wrong situation/chemistry, stunted development, etc.). Forget about WAR for a moment, and just think about what it takes, just to be a major league player and then what it takes to remain there, year after year.

One last point - it may not seem like a big deal, but he actually led the AL in starts for 2012. Who would've ever guessed?
 
Keith Lockhart.

What a clutch pinch-hitter and stand in 2B. Loyal to the manager and team.

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Loved Keith, very good all around player that played hard and did whatever was best for the team. Very good defensively and decent with bat, and a very good late inning PH option against a tough RHP. The guy had a lot of clutch hits for us.

Unfortunately, he was called upon and asked far too often to do too much and get overexposed. He was apart of some great late 90s teams, but the organization failed to get a viable starting 2b.

He was the perfect 10th man for an NL team.

I don't understand the hate for him by many Braves fans.
 
Millwood1Hitter said:
Loved Keith, very good all around player that played hard and did whatever was best for the team. Very good defensively and decent with bat, and a very good late inning PH option against a tough RHP. The guy had a lot of clutch hits for us.

Unfortunately, he was called upon and asked far too often to do too much and get overexposed. He was apart of some great late 90s teams, but the organization failed to get a viable starting 2b.

He was the perfect 10th man for an NL team.

I don't understand the hate for him by many Braves fans.
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Bobby having to use Lockhart as the Braves DH was pathetic. Wasn't Lockhart's fault he was put in that situation and wasn't Bobby's fault he didn't have anyone better.
 
Millwood1Hitter said:
Loved Keith, very good all around player that played hard and did whatever was best for the team. Very good defensively and decent with bat, and a very good late inning PH option against a tough RHP. The guy had a lot of clutch hits for us.

Unfortunately, he was called upon and asked far too often to do too much and get overexposed. He was apart of some great late 90s teams, but the organization failed to get a viable starting 2b.

He was the perfect 10th man for an NL team.

I don't understand the hate for him by many Braves fans.
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Don't flatter our beerless leader by taking him seriously.

Lcokhart sucked, Lockhart playing over Giles in 2001 was a true travesty in 2002 it was egregious. . That alone is worth the hate.
 
zitothebrave said:
Don't flatter our beerless leader by taking him seriously.

Lcokhart sucked, Lockhart playing over Giles in 2001 was a true travesty in 2002 it was egregious. . That alone is worth the hate.
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Say what? Quilvio Veras was the starting 2b until he got injured in July in which the Braves called Giles up and gave him a majority of at bats, so much so that after Furcal went down later on he became our full time lead off hitter.

And in 02 he got off to a bad start and suffered a severe ankle sprain and also lost his daughter.

But Lockhart was a solid player from 97-00, jjust should not have played as much and wasn't Bobby's fault he didn't have any better options on those teams. He was a utility infielder.

Championship caliber teams should not be stuck on relying on a Lockhart-graffinino platoon to win games. Not especially when you also got a Klesko-Williams platoon in left and a Tucker-Batista platoon in right with Weiss/Guillen at short.
 
Millwood1Hitter said:
Say what? Quilvio Veras was the starting 2b until he got injured in July in which the Braves called Giles up and gave him a majority of at bats, so much so that after Furcal went down later on he became our full time lead off hitter.

And in 02 he got off to a bad start and suffered a severe ankle sprain and also lost his daughter.

But Lockhart was a solid player from 97-00, jjust should not have played as much and wasn't Bobby's fault he didn't have any better options on those teams. He was a utility infielder.

Championship caliber teams should not be stuck on relying on a Lockhart-graffinino platoon to win games. Not especially when you also got a Klesko-Williams platoon in left and a Tucker-Batista platoon in right with Weiss/Guillen at short.
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Veras had 558 innings at 2B in 2001 Lockhart had 313. It's not quite the story you painted. Especially since Lockhart had more PA in the second half of the season. And if you want to sub in Quilvio playing over Giles as well that's fine. Giles was hurt in 02, that stank, but he still lost time to others. Like Lockhart.
 
zitothebrave said:
Veras had 558 innings at 2B in 2001 Lockhart had 313. It's not quite the story you painted. Especially since Lockhart had more PA in the second half of the season. And if you want to sub in Quilvio playing over Giles as well that's fine. Giles was hurt in 02, that stank, but he still lost time to others. Like Lockhart.
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I'm not gonna take any time to look up stats, but Veras struggled big time coming back from injury and had numerous nagging injuries during that time period in which Bobby filled in with Lockhart until the Braves brass finally cut ties with Quilvio in mid July because they were high on Giles and gave him majority of at bats.

Giles struggled at the beginning of 2002 at the start. It appeared that pitchers had a scouting report in him after 2001 and Giles need to make an adjustment, then he got injured, was out for almost 2 months, and at that time Bobby was comfortable going with Lockhart and Derosa at second base, and we were winning. Part of the reason as well Giles was terrible defensively and didnt become a good defender until putting a lot if time in with Hubbard after that seasonGiles didn't exactly impress after he was called up either.
 
Millwood1Hitter said:
Say what? Quilvio Veras was the starting 2b until he got injured in July in which the Braves called Giles up and gave him a majority of at bats, so much so that after Furcal went down later on he became our full time lead off hitter.

And in 02 he got off to a bad start and suffered a severe ankle sprain and also lost his daughter.

But Lockhart was a solid player from 97-00, jjust should not have played as much and wasn't Bobby's fault he didn't have any better options on those teams. He was a utility infielder.

Championship caliber teams should not be stuck on relying on a Lockhart-graffinino platoon to win games. Not especially when you also got a Klesko-Williams platoon in left and a Tucker-Batista platoon in right with Weiss/Guillen at short.
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I remember Marcus Giles first homerun with the Braves in 2001. It was a Grand Slam! He had a lot of power for a little guy.
 
I remember DeRo took the job from Giles in Colorado... then he rolled his ankle on a single.

I rooted for DeRo. Very consistent singles hitter.
 
bravesnumberone said:
Also, Paul Konerko. Pretty solid career for the White Sox.
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I wonder if the Dodgers and Reds regret the way they handled Paul Konerko at the beginning of his career considering the great career he's had with the White Sox? The Reds probably not so much because Konerko was traded for Mike Cameron who was then flipped to Seattle for Ken Griffey Jr. But the Dodgers traded Konerko to the Reds for closer Jeff Shaw. As the Braves saw with the way the Adam LaRoche for Mike Gonzalez deal worked it, it's not a good thing to trade an everyday position player for a closer especially one that was as highly thought of as Konerko was coming up through the Dodgers system.
 
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