Spring Training Thoughts-March 28
Right now is the best part of Spring Training guys. The position battles are starting to wind down and we are getting a good feel for who will be where come Open… wait? What’s that? We don’t know much more than we did before pitchers and catchers report? There is still an outfield position battle and a starting shortstop battle? Oh, my bad guys.
But seriously I love this part of Spring Training because the rumor mill heats back up and people (including me) can speculate all kinds of ridiculous trades. Plus, the team has put it together the past few days. The team is 7-3 with two ties the past 13 days and a solid group of hitters are looking good.
Martin Prado has been hot the entire Spring and is batting .362/.431/.483 with more walks than strikeouts. Dan Uggla can still hit homeruns. He has 6 and is batting .313/.404/.750. Brian McCann (not the best offensive catcher in the game by the way) is hitting .293/.400/.463 with a couple bombs. Michael Bourn and Freddie Freeman have picked it up lately as well.
There are still some questions with the team though mainly including:
- The team hasn’t decided on a shortstop yet
- Matt Diaz is on the team
- We don’t know who is going to win the outfield bench battle
- and Matt Diaz is on the team
Like many Braves writers (including me) have said already, Matt Diaz is the main problem with the bench right now. If he was gone we would have a much better bunch that would look something like this. Ross/Hinske/Wilson/Sutton/either Parraz or Durango. Unfortunately I don’t think that is going to happen; somehow Matt Diaz will be wasting a spot on the pine.
Hopefully people have realized why a two week sample size is pretty rough as Tyler Pastornicky has bumped his average up above Andrelton Simmons. He should be a lock to start the season in the 6 hole in my opinion but apparently the people in the dugout like defense a whole lot. The point is, Simmons needs to work on his hitting more than Tyler Pastornicky does.
Chipper Jones’ injury is definitely a bad thing but it could actually have a positive impact on the team. According to MLBTR Frank Wren inquired about Will Venable and Marlon Byrd. Neither of these players seem like ideal fits to me but it is good to see that our GM is looking for outfield help. Hopefully we get someone good enough to play everyday in the outfield instead of some fourth outfield type guy.
Sorry about the infrequent posting guys. School sucks. Follow me on Twitter @CarlosCollazoTT and check out the Tomahawk Take Facebook Page. Stay classy boys.