Morning Chop: Atlanta Braves’ News 1/10
March 17, 2013; Port St Lucie, FL, USA; Atlanta Braves starting pitcher
Julio Teheran(49) delivers a pitch against the New York Mets in the spring training game at Tradition Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Barr-USA TODAY Sports
Morning Chop: A Summary of Atlanta Braves’ News
3 UP / 3 DOWN: 2014 Starting Pitchers
Matt takes a look at which starting pitchers you should target and avoid for the 2014 fantasy baseball season.
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Julio Teheran – The Braves young starter was ranked the #1 right-handed pitching prospect by MLB.com to begin the 2012 season. The Braves worked with Teheran throughout the 2012 season, having him repeatedly change his delivery in hopes to reduce the injury risk that came with his pitching motion. The Braves continued to tinker with his mechanics, which yielded results that were not close to living up to the previous expectations set for this top prospect. After the 2012 season, the Braves decided to scrap this failed approach and let Teheran get back to using his old delivery. Well, we saw how this worked out for Teheran in 2013, as he looked like the top pitching prospect from his days in the minors. Teheran flirted with no-hitters on multiple occasions in 2013 while earning Rookie of the Year considerations. After accumulating 185 innings pitched in 2013, the reigns should be completely off for this future ace in 2014. Teheran will be 23 years-old to enter the 2014 baseball season, and the future is very bright for this budding superstar.
Atlanta Braves’ Next Hall-Of-Famer Will Be Chipper Jones
With the forthcoming inductions of former Atlanta Braves players Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine into the Baseball Hall Of Fame, Braves fans start to think to themselves, “who’s next?” That answer should be an easy one: Chipper Jones. Chipper will be a first-ballot Hall-Of-Famer — no question about it! …
With all due respect to John Smoltz, who will one day make the Hall Of Fame, Jones will beat him there and will absolutely be voted in when his allotted wait period ends.
Country star Aldean to perform at four big league parks
NEW YORK — Jason Aldean will perform on the field at packed Major League Baseball stadiums this season, and that’s close enough to a dream he had as a young first baseman.
The multiplatinum country music star, close friend with several Major League players and a lifelong Braves fan who has taken batting practice with the club, was at the MLB.com studios in Manhattan on Thursday, and he announced that at least four MLB stadiums will be included on his 2014 Burn It Down Tour that starts May 1 and hits roughly 50 cities through year’s end.
The tour stops will include Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, Nationals Park in Washington, PNC Park in Pittsburgh and Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, and Aldean said more ballparks may be coming….
“I grew up about an hour south of Atlanta, I’m a huge Braves fan, and the last few seasons the Braves and Phillies have had a pretty good little rivalry going — and now Washington, too. So here I’m going to two of our rivals and before I even go play Atlanta at Turner Field, so I’ll probably take a little heat from some of my buddies on the Braves. It’s all good.”
2014 Baseball Hall of Fame: Greg Maddux explains why he signed with Braves over Yankees
NEW YORK — Sometimes Greg Maddux dreams in pinstripes.
Maddux said he still thinks about what would have happened if he signed with the Yankees in 1992 instead of solidifying his legendary career in Atlanta. Maddux was introduced to the Hall of Fame Thursday alongside fellow first-ballot picks Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas at the Waldorf Astoria in Manhattan.
The Yankees’ offer to Maddux was historic for its time: a five-year, $34-million deal that would have given the 26-year-old the highest per-year salary any pitcher had ever received.
Instead, Maddux went to the Braves for five years and $28 million. Maddux said he has often contemplated what playing for the Yankees would have been like.