Predictions: Early Atlanta Braves All-Star Game Contenders
By Dan Horton
Jun 28, 2013; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Braves logo in the fourth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
I don’t normally start looking at the Atlanta Braves and their All-Star chances until around the middle of June. It’s All-Star Game voting time, and has been since April 29th (which I think is way too soon). I just don’t see how anyone can make a sound, warranted selection in only 3 or 4 weeks of baseball to that point. I mean, the Cubs just called up Kris Bryant and he still has time to get votes,.
As Major League Baseball kicked off it’s ballot campaign, it also announced the balloting would be a strictly online only voting process. Many fans expressed their displeasure with this decision. The joy and fun associated with punching out the traditional chad ballots, are no more. Count me as one of the fans who will miss this formerly primary way to cast your vote.
What used to be something I looked forward to doing when I went to the park, is now a thing of the past. But I don’t need to go too much into that. This is about who from the Braves could possibly represent the club on July 15th, 2015, in Cincinnati.
I’m a traditionalist, to an extent. I don’t look at the ASG voting as a popularity contest. I think it should be the best performing players at the time ballots close. Therefore, I personally apply traditional stats when looking at who I may be voting for. I don’t dabble into the saber-metric world … I’m not that smart, and let’s just say that math has never been my forte. I also apply my own eye test.
That being said, I don’t intend to over analyze with high-tech, calculating metrics. If I like what I see, if the player is truly helping his team, and the team would be worse off without that player, then I generally vote for them.
Below are the guys from Atlanta I think are showing they should at least attract a some votes early on. Of course, this is a very early look and things can change quick, fast, and in a hurry.
Anyway, enough about the process, let’s get to the names …