Center Field Options

When the Braves consider next year’s starting outfield, they have a bevy of players from which to choose.  It’s just the first year the Braves will be plagued with this problem as they have tons of promising young outfielders in their farm system.  Today we’ll look at some of the options in center field.

Mark Kotsay - The Incumbant CF

Kotsay’s contract expires at the end of the 2008 season and he may or may not be resigned.  Kotsay has been effective in Atlanta, batting .299 with 37 RBIs, 6 HRs, and a .346 on-base percentage in 83 games.  He’s been on the DL with back issues (he had back surgery in Oakland that knocked him out for most of last season) but for the most part has been healthy.

Gregor Blanco - The Rookie

Gregor Blanco has played the most time of the young Braves’ outfield prospects, batting .258 with 27 RBI, 11 stolen bases, and a .371 on base percentage.  Blanco is speedy - he’s currently ranked second in the NL in bunt hits with 14.  Blanco has been slowed recently by a bone spur in his ankle, which is growing worse as the season progresses.  He’s doing a pretty good job batting leadoff and has impressed with his time in Atlanta.

Josh Anderson - Rising Star

Anderson has played most of the year in Richmond, but is absolutely tearing up the baseball there. He’s batting .316 with 37 RBIs, a .361 on base percentage, and a whopping 40 stolen bases.  He’s cutting down on strikeouts when compared to years past, and and should definitely be considered when the Braves look at their outfield after the season.  It’d be great to see some speed come back to Atlanta, where we have a history of speedy outfielders.

Jordan Schafer - Once The Future King

Schafer was once heralded as a sure lock for the Braves’ starting center field spot in 2009, but a run in with an HGH suspension (he says there’s a side to the story that hasn’t been told) has limited his playing time and knocked him back a step or two.  He’s batting .269  with 46 RBIs and 9 HRs in just 71 games and has an OBP of .371.  I’d be surprised to see him make the jump from AA ball to the big leagues, but it’s not impossible.  He still has a future with the Braves organization, I’m just not sure it involves a role in center field in 2009.

Who do you think the center fielder should be next year?  Kotsay or one of the youngsters?  I’m excited about Josh Anderson and want to see him in the bigs next year for the Braves, be it in Center or Left.  But with potentially Kotsay, Anderson, Blanco, Brandon Jones, and Matt Diaz competing for three outfield slots, it’s going to be competitive - and fun to watch.

Kotsay To DL, Anderson Called Up

Braves’ center fielder Mark Kotsay was placed on the 15-day DL today after tightness in his lower back prohibited him from even taking batting practice Thursday before the game against the Brewers.  Speedster Josh Anderson was recalled from AAA Richmond and will be in Cincinnati on Friday night for the start of a three-game series against the Reds.

Kotsay, who missed his last four starts, had back surgery in March of last year.  He came to the Braves in a trade for prospect Joey Devine.  Kotsay is not the first Braves outfielder to go on the DL - Matt Diaz is expected to miss about six weeks with a partially torn PCL that will not require surgery.  While Diaz and Kotsay are on the DL, Josh Anderson is expected to share time in center field and left field with Gregor Blanco.

Anderson was acquired from the Astros in a trade last year in November for reliever Oscar Villareal.  He impressed in spring training and was beat out for the fourth outfield spot by Blanco.

Smoltz Smokes Nats

Dear Mr. Smoltz,

Thank you so much for your good work on Saturday, April 12th. Can you please keep this up all year? We would all appreciate it.

Sincerely,

The Writers and Staff at BravesBlast.com

Coming off of their much needed victory last night, the Braves dove right in to claim another from the Nationals at Washington today. An initial 91-minute rain delay did nothing to soggy the Braves offense.

In fact, they wasted no time at all scoring four runs in the first inning, with a little help from Jeff Francoeur knocking the first of his two homeruns for the day. When all was said and done, the kid From Parkview had a career-best seven RBI’s. You know things are going well when all nine starters bat in the first inning.

Francoeur’s second homer came in the sixth, with one runner on base. Not to be outdone by his childhood friend, Francoeur’s high-fives hadn’t ended when Brian McCann knocked a single shot some 400 feet.

Smoltz had a (for him) shaky first inning, goofing a throw to first and throwing a semi-wild pitch. But after regaining his classic composure, it was nothing but the Smoltz we know and love. Resourceful, professional, and keenly intelligent. I truly don’t think we Braves fans know how good they have it having a stabilizing and consistent force of nature like Smoltz in the line-up. Plus, it was pretty evident his shoulder was bothering him the entire game.

His line for the day? 6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 5 K. The one earned run attributed to Smoltz came in the 4th.

The Nats starter, Scott Lannan lasted through the 4th and the Braves went through three of their relievers by game’s end.

Finally, I am starting to feel good about our bullpen! With very respectable outings by Bennett and Boyer, Manny Acosta zipped it up in the 9th. The one stinker in all this, and the one guy I have truly been pulling for, was Ohman. Lasting less than an inning, he really didn’t do anything to counter the criticism Frank Wren took for acquiring him from Chicago.

So, yeah. Excellent series so far. Can you smell a sweep?

________________________________________________________________________________

Smitty’s Random Notes:
(A stream of consciousness recall of unrelated observations for the short-of-attention span)

» Sorry, Willie Harris, but I totally don’t miss you.

» Tough-guy Hustle Award goes to Matt Diaz for his aggressive and heads-up base-running.

» Still looking for Teixeira’s bat to wake up. The defense is there; let’s get something going at the plate.

» I still believe in you Ohman. I want to believe.

Jurrjens Impresses, Braves Win 10-2

It’s not often you hear Bobby Cox call someone “sensational” - especially a young pitcher after their first start.  But Bobby didn’t hesitate to pull it out when talking about the 22 year old starter Jair Jurrjens, who made his first big league start for the Braves tonight.  Jurrjens went 5.1 innings, struck out five, and gave up two earned runs on seven scattered hits and one walk.  He notched not only his, but the Braves’ first win this season.

I was really impressed by Jurrjens.  In the post-game interview, he kept beating himself up for the one walk.  He didn’t seem happy or self-absorbed with the win or the five strikeouts.  He didn’t mention the nasty changeup he throws without hesitation.  He was upset with himself for the one walk and kept saying how he needs to limit the walks this season.  Jurrjens didn’t even get in trouble until the sixth inning.  And his fastball was around 93-94 all night long.

The bats weren’t silent either.  Martin Prado started the evening at second in place of the injured Kelly Johnson (knee, day-to-day), and kicked the game off with a triple.  Chipper knocked him in.  Prado would go on to reach base 3 out of 5 times to the plate, scoring each of those times.  Matt Diaz added a homer in the fourth.

Going into the 8th, the Braves led 3-2, before the floodgates opened.  Both Yunel Escobar and Mark Teixeira broke out the long ball - Tex launching a two-run homer and Yunel going yard to put a three spot on the board.  Add a few singles here and there, and the Braves ended up putting seven runs on the board in the eighth.  Will Ohman came in and closed out the game in the ninth.

Great to see the Braves get their first win on the board - especially with the offense really clicking in the eighth.  Jurrjens is going to be something special.  He’s soft-spoken and modest, and has nasty stuff to back it up.  He is willing to learn from the older guys and will really benefit from that throughout the season.  Hopefully we’ll continue to have Teixeira break out the bat, as he had a slow spring.  Also good to see our bullpen pitch 3.2 innings of scoreless relief.  We’ll take that.

Braves are 1-2 and showing signs of life.  Hampton on the mound tomorrow for Atlanta.  Here’s praying he can stay alive through it.

Braves Rally, Can’t Beat ‘Stros

Jo-Jo Reyes started for the Braves today hoping to overcome some recent struggles.  Unfortunately for Reyes and the Braves, he pitched four innings and gave up five runs, six hits, and walked four.  The Braves scored five runs in the 8th, thanks to two errors by the Astros, but gave up a run in the bottom of the eighth to seal the loss.

Rafael Soriano, a more key part of the pitching staff than Reyes, gave up two runs in the sixth inning on a two run homer.  We’ll hope he can pull his stuff together as the preseason wraps up here soon - we need him to be lights out in the bullpen to have a strong relief staff.

Offensively, Gregor Blanco went 2-4 with an RBI and a run scored.  Yunel Escobar went 1-3 with a run scored as his preseason batting average is now at .462.  Anderson, Diaz, and Schafer also added an RBI.  Schafer came in as a pinch runner, scored two runs, and went 1-1.  Diaz was 1-1 as well, continuing his strong preseason.  A five run eighth tied the Braves for the lead, but Buddy Carlyle got the loss after hitting a batter and facing five batters in the bottom of the eighth.

Whether or not Reyes remains with the team through the second round of cuts (planned for Friday) is yet to be seen.  I’d guess he gets cut as he’s going to start the season at AAA Richmond.

Next up, Tim Hudson gets the start tomorrow night against Justin Verlander and the Detroit Tigers at 7:05pm.

Handicapping The Outfielders

We all know that Jeff Francoeur and Mark Kotsay have their positions locked down. Francoeur remains the face and future of the Braves’ outfield, and Kotsay is the veteran bridge until Jordan Schafer is deemed ready for big-league play. Over in left field we’ve got a slightly different situation. Matt Diaz platooned last year with Willie Harris and put up some decent numbers of his own (a .338 average, a .368 on base percentage, 12 HRs and 45 RBIs).

The question this year is whether Diaz gets his own starting gig in left or platoons with another player. The lead candidate for the possible platoon, at least prior to the start of Spring Training, was Brandon Jones. He’s left-handed, and he has had success in the minors. This spring though, he’s seemed anxious at the plate, striking out too frequently (7 times in 24 at bats).

Some would argue that even had Brandon Jones not written himself out of the playing situation that Diaz deserves to play a full season by himself. He’s certainly a capable offensive player - and even though Terry Pendleton says he wouldn’t teach anyone to start batting the way Diaz does, something has to be working.

Here’s an interesting statistic.  Since the start of 2006, out of all players in the majors with at least 650 at-bats, the players with the highest batting averages are as follows:

This suggests that Diaz is among one of the better hitters in the game. Now most of his starts come against left-handers, but he’s not half bad against the right-handers either.  In 2007, he went 51-146 with 6 HRs for a .349 avg against left-handers. Against right-handers, he went 37-110 with 3 HRs for a .336 avg. His OPS (on base plus slugging) was .932 against lefties and a respectable .813 against righties. I think Diaz is ready for a full-time job, and I believe Cox thinks he could handle it. We’ll see how it unfolds, but right now I think there’s a higher probability he finds himself in left permanently.

We recently had a question to the mailbag about whether or not Josh Anderson could outplay Mark Kotsay for the center field job. I don’t think that’s even a possibility at this point - Kotsay may not have the range Andruw had (or Anderson has), but he has a great arm and the Braves will give him his opportunity. I know some of us are concerned that he’s going to hurt his back playing hard, but he’ll get the starting job out of spring training. I think Anderson will be one of the four players coming off the bench heading out of spring training.

I’ve written enough - but those are our outfielders. Diaz, Kotsay, and Francoeur should be our starters, and we’ll go from there. I expect Anderson will be the main backup, with maybe Jones playing another role. But he needs more development time. A little more patience wouldn’t hurt him.

Braves Down Cardinals 12-5

Tim Hudson was strong in his start today against the St. Louis Cardinals.  Though he gave up two unearned runs, he only gave up 3 hits in four innings.  Scott Thorman led the offensive charge with 4 RBIs and a three run homer.  Matt Diaz helped out as well with three hits in three at-bats, with 1 RBI.  Josh Anderson, fighting for an outfield slot, helped his case with a two for five effort, knocking in three runs and tacking on a stolen base.

Backing up Hudson, Peter Moylan pitched an inning to test out his elbow soreness - and did a great job, striking out one in a perfect inning.  Manny Acosta closed the game out with a scoreless inning, and Chris Resop contributed two scoreless innings with two strikeouts, giving up two hits.

We’ll continue our Yunel Escobar soapbox by mentioning his 1-3 effort with one run scored.  That leaves him at a petty .520 batting average this preseason.  Another one of our favorite infield prospects, Brent Lillibridge, continued to impress with  one hit and an RBI after taking over for Chipper at third base.  If you don’t know about Lillibridge, look him up.  He came to Atlanta, along with Mike Gonzalez, from the Pirates in exchange for Adam LaRoche, and he’s a good prospect at that.

Next up is the Cardinals again - with Jair Jurrjens hoping to continue his very impressive start.  We’ll keep a close eye on the game and keep you updated.

Braves Fall to Mets in 10

It’s painful to write, but the Braves lost to the Mets in 10 innings earlier today.  Atlanta rallied and tied the game 2-2 in the 8th, but New York scored in the bottom of the 10th to take it.  Some quick highlights from the game:

• Charlie Morton and Blaine Boyer both looked strong, each pitching two innings.  They each gave up one hit and struck out one.  Morton walked two, but neither pitcher gave up a run.
• Jo-Jo Reyes gave up 2 hits (both in the first inning), allowing Angel Pagan to score on a Ramon Castro stand-up triple.
• Jordan Schafer had two hits and scored a run (off of a Matt Diaz single) to put the Braves on the scoreboard in the 4th inning.  He also hit a sacrifice fly in the 8th to tie the game at 2 runs a piece.  Schafer’s now batting .444 in the preseason.
• Mets starting pitcher, Mike Pelfrey pitched 3 scoreless innings to start the game, allowing only 2 hits.
• Matt DeSalvo pitched hitless 8th and 9th innings for the Braves to allow the game to go into extra innings.

So there you have it.  Not a powerful offensive showing by either team, but a good chance to look through the pitching staff to see what we have coming down the pipeline.  A hard-fought game into extra innings, despite being a loss, lets us know that baseball season is truly on its way.

Braves’ Decision: Left Field

I answered this question from PhilliesFlow.com in our perspective trade a couple days ago, and I wanted to take a moment to elaborate on some decisions the Braves have to make. From the article:

What do you see as the biggest decisions the Braves will make between now and the start of the season?

The fourth and fifth rotation spots are crucial. Having a solid back end of the rotation to compliment the Smoltz/Hudson/Glavine trio is something we need to know can hold their own. Be honest, a Smoltz/Hudson/Glavine/Heatlhy Hampton/Jurrjens or James rotation is about as mean as any out there. If everyone is healthy, it’s not a one-two punch. It’s a one-two-three-four punch. Now, it’ll only work for a year or so, but it could be nasty.

I think the other crucial decision is who will fill out the bullpen. We have more pitchers overall than we did last year and I think the bullpen will be stronger than it was, but we need to get our guys picked out and they need to embrace the roles they’re given. The only other key question to be answered is who will fill out the left field platoon with Matt Diaz. I think we’ll likely see Brandon Jones out there, but Josh Anderson also wants a piece of the platoon. That’ll be interesting to watch.

With Kotsay playing Center, we’re going to see some interesting competition for the left-field slots. Matt Diaz has the inside track on one half of the platoon, but we are going to see Brandon Jones (bats from the left side of the plate) try and take Willie Harris’ slot as the other half of the platoon. Of course, speedster Josh Anderson is a very talented outfielder also ready for the big time.  If we throw Jones in the platoon with Diaz, we’re sending a very talented center fielder back to AAA ball.  Something has got to give - we have too many outfielders given the positions we need to fill.  No matter whether we end up with Anderson or Jones in the outfield, they’ll be a good compliment to Diaz.

What do you think will happen with our outfield situation?  Who makes the big league team out of spring training?  Will we trade some of them for bullpen help or will we keep them all on hand?