Atlanta Braves Annouce All-Turner Field Squad…What About A Lineup?

Braves Annouce All-Turner Field Team

Two weeks ago, the Atlanta Braves and their PR team announced a fun exercise for their fan base…a voting of which we could decide which positional players would fill out a roster consisting of the All-Turner Field team.

The Braves have only five more games at “The Ted” as they will move to Cobb County and their new SunTrust Ball Park in 2017.  The organization began playing at this ball park in 1997 after 30 years (1966 to 1996) at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium…less than one block away.

Turner Field was originally built as the Centennial Olympic Stadium for the 1996 summer Olympics.  It was to serve as the centerpiece for these Olympics, but after they were completed the stadium was converted into a baseball stadium and the Braves moved in.

For this voting fun, the Braves gave us a list of players at all positions and asked us to decide who should make the team.  Well, the results are in.  First, let’s look back at the candidates for each position.

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• Catcher – Javy Lopez, Eddie Perez, Johnny Estrada, and Brian McCann
• First Base – Andres Galarraga, Julio Franco, Adam LaRoche, and Freddie Freeman
• Second Base – Keith Lockhart, Marcus Giles, and Dan Uggla
• Third Base – Chipper Jones and Vinny Castilla
• Shortstop – Walt Weiss, Rafael Furcal, Edgar Renteria, Yunel Escobar, and Andrelton Simmons
• Left Field – Ryan Klesko, Matt Diaz, and Ryan Langerhans
• Center Field – Andruw Jones and Michael Bourn
• Right Field – Brian Jordan, Gary Sheffield, Jeff Francoeur, and Jason Heyward
• Utility Player – Mark DeRosa, Martin Prado, Kelly Johnson, and B.J. Surhoff
• Starting Pitchers – Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Kevin Millwood, Tim Hudson, Kris Medlen, Tommy Hanson, Jair Jurrjens, and Julio Teheran
• Relief Pitchers – John Smoltz, Craig Kimbrel, Peter Moylan, Jonny Venters, and Eric O’Flaherty

So drumroll please….

Here we go….

Let’s break it down by position on the winners and surprises of the All-Turner Field team

• Catcher – Javy Lopez Kinda surprised on this one with McCann being on this list, but I’m really glad Lopez received this award.  12 years with the Braves and spent seven seasons at Turner Field.
• First Base – Freddie Freeman Couldn’t really give this position to anyone but Freddie Free.  Can you believe Freeman is completing his seventh year (2010 he played in 20 games) in Atlanta?  Man, wish he was still 24 again…he’s now 27-years-old, married and having kids.
• Second Base – Marcus Giles Surprised?  Did you think Uggla would win?!?  If you’re unfamiliar with this name, YouTube his name.  He played in ATL for six years and he was fun to watch.
• Third Base – Chipper Jones Ha, well duh!
• Shortstop – Rafael Furcal He was a heck of a shortstop for the Braves for six years.  He was the prefect leadoff man for Atlanta and a fine defensive player.  A raised eyebrow and a head shake from me when I saw him over Simmons, but agree.
• Left Field – Ryan Klesko This just reminds me on how we’ve never had a great left fielder.  Klesko spent three years at Turner Field, eight with the Braves, and was a consistent power hitter in the 1990’s.
• Center Field – Andruw Jones Ha, well duh! part 2
• Right Field – Brian Jordan He won over JHey, Frenchy and Sheffield?!?  Interesting…he must have been on the voting panel.  All jokes aside, if you only know Brian Jordan from the pre and post game shows, you need to look up his stats.  He played with the Braves from 1999 to 2001 and from 2005 to 2006.  He made his lone All-Star game as a member of the Braves in 1999.
• Utility Player – Martin Prado Yeah, can’t go wrong with Prado here.  Johnson probably got many votes, but you can look past what Prado did when he was here.  I’m surprised Omar Infante wasn’t on the list to begin with.
• Starting Pitchers – Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Tim Hudson,  Julio Teheran These five are great, the best and everything you ever dreamed off in a starting rotation.  What we would all do to have the days of Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz back.
• Relief Pitchers – Craig Kimrel Ha, well duh! part 3

Next: Braves Trade Gordon Beckham to the Giants

Now that we know the All-Turner Field team, what about a lineup?  Here’s my take on a solid lineup given our squad.

1. Furcal
2. Prado
3. Chipper Jones
4. Freeman
5. Andruw Jones
6. Klesko
7. Lopez
8. Jordan
9. Maddux

That’s mine…now you step into the managers shoes and fill our the lineup card for the All-Turner Field team.