Atlanta Braves Afternoon Chop: Freddie Freeman’s Home Run, SunTrust Outside Food Rule
By Jeff Schafer
Atlanta Braves change policy on bringing outside food into SunTrust Park
Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: The Atlanta Braves have announced a stricter rule set on bringing in food/drink items into their ballpark.
Beginning on opening day, the Braves will not allow outside food and/or drinks into SunTrust Park. In the Atlanta-Journal Constitution article, it mentions the Braves saying it’s because “of tighter security being put into place this season throughout the league”. Hmm, I’m not buying that.
I saw that brand new menu of food items that they’re going to be serving and I’m thinking it has something to do with that. Food sales may have been down so what better way to make those items more profitable? Just my initial thoughts.
"The Atlanta Braves have changed the policy regarding food and beverages that fans are permitted to bring into the new SunTrust Park.Beginning this season, ticketholders will not be allowed to bring in outside food. Exceptions will be made for infant food and for special dietary restriction items, according to a Braves spokesperson. However, those bringing in such food items will have to enter through a predetermined screening location."
"Fans may bring their own water, but it must be in a sealed plastic container."
Atlanta Braves trade rumor round-up: Matt Szczur, Jose Quintana
Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: The hottest rumor topic out of the Atlanta Braves fanbase right now…who’s going to be that last bench spot?
Rumors starting flying around about Matt Szczur when Ken Rosenthal tweeted about him and the Braves on Tuesday. It’s possible the Braves trade for Szczur, but we can’t give up too much for him. Mainly because he’s out of options and if he doesn’t make the Cubs opening day roster, he’ll be put on waivers…Braves could just monitor that and scoop him up.
Kelly Johnson, Angel Pagan, Jeff Francoeur and a few others are still out there looking for work. Who’s going to accept that minor league contract from the Braves?
"In the quest for bench help, most of the attention has gone towards free agents but with little movement on signing either Kelly Johnson or Angel Pagan, it appears the team has shifted its attention to the trade market.On Tuesday, Ken Rosenthal reported that Chicago Cubs outfielder Matt Szczur could be a possibility.This would make sense for the Braves on multiple levels. First, outfield depth is clearly the weakest spot on the team right now. Current bench options Jace Peterson, Chase d’Arnaud and Emilio Bonifacio have all played some outfield in the past but all are better suited for infield roles."
Braves’ Freddie Freeman: Hits first spring homer Thursday
Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: Braves Freddie Freeman is having a great 2017 Spring…he honored his parents by playing on Team Canada, he’s hitting the cover off the baseball, he’s got a team ready to win ball games and he’s ready to show he’s a better first baseman than Anthony Rizzo!
Freddie continued hit hot hitting on Thursday going 2-3 at the plate and blasting a homer off Justin Verlander in the 1st inning.
The superstar is entering his 27-year-old season — many “experts” believe that year is a professional baseball player’s best season. He surely looks ready to expand on what he was doing in the second half of the 2016 season.
Freeman went 2-for-3 with a solo home run, his first long ball of the spring, in Thursday’s Grapefruit League game against the Tigers.
The homer capped off an epic 12-pitch battle against Justin Verlander and proved to be the only run the Braves could muster against Detroit’s ace. Freeman’s now hitting .484/.543/.613 through 31 spring at-bats and seems more than ready for Opening Day.
Next: Who Starts At Third Base Adonis Garcia or Rio Ruiz?
Prospect roundtable: 2016 Rome rotation
Tomahawk Take Editor’s Note: Pretty cool article here on MiLB posted a few days ago. I had it saved to read and finally got through it. Sam Dykstra sat down with five Braves prospects Allard, Soroka, Toussaint, Weigel, and Sanchez from last year’s championship team the Rome Braves. These guys will continue to soar through the Braves minor league teams and all will most likely be with the Single-A Advanced Florida Fire Frogs. What a great time to start a new team — having these guy pitchers come to that team will definitely get fans to come out to these games.
"If you wanted to find the Minors’ most exciting rotation last season, all you needed to do was follow the road to Rome.The Class A club’s starting staff boasted six of the Braves’ top 20 prospects at various points during the season: No. 4 Kolby Allard, No. 5 Mike Soroka, No. 9 Max Fried, No. 12 Touki Toussaint, No. 16 Patrick Weigel and No. 20 Ricardo Sanchez. (Keep in mind, these ranks are all within a farm system that MiLB.com recently tabbed as the game’s best for pitching.) Unsurprisingly, Rome captured the South Atlantic League title on the strength of a staff that posted a 1.16 ERA over seven playoff games.On Friday, MiLB.com sat down with five of those starters — Fried was scheduled to pitch in Atlanta’s Grapefruit League game against the Mets — to discuss what made their 2016 championship run so special and the brotherhood that developed over the course of the season."