Atlanta Braves Spring Chop: notes from XM radio interviews on Tuesday

The MLB/SiruisXM Radio crew was at Disney today talking to the Braves.  There were a few nuggets of interest.

XM’s Eduardo Perez and Steve Phillips (a former player and former Mets GM, respectively) were at the Atlanta Braves camp this morning conducting interviews with several players and team officials.  Yes, that ‘cover photo’ is a pic of Perez from 2005 as a member of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays…but he’d probably appreciate that if he sees this.

Actually… the ‘on demand’ part hasn’t been uploaded as yet, but what follows is my stream-of-consciousness on what I heard when listening to the interview sessions.

There were a lot of questions about analytics, about player hairstyles, and about the general mood of the clubhouse.

Most notable:  Freddie Freeman told the interviewers that he believes it is important for the Braves to win as a draw to potential free agents for next year since there is a lot of money coming off the books after this season – that’s paraphrased, but these were his words, not my interpretation.

Here’s those snippets:

ANTHOPOULOS – taking time to learn the players; upbeat camp, getting more comfortable with the organization.  Told GMs this winter that he didn’t want to waste anybody’s time when he wasn’t ready to deal – mindset was that he didn’t want to make a mistake, which was kind of an unfamiliar position for him.  Noted that sending some of these young players down (to AAA or lower) won’t tell us anything more; they need to see what they’ve got at the major league level [my interpretation:  Dansby stays in the majors].  Acuña.

He is still ‘open-minded’ about Acuna’s promotion.  Dansby told AA that while he wanted to be in the majors, hindsight showed him that extra reps would have been a good idea.  All that said, April 13th is the date, as Perez pointed out repeatedly in side sessions.

The Braves are now sitting down with each player to discuss their needs and status with the team.  It’s a session intended to be open and honest with each one.

The idea of doing 1-on-1’s with each player came from agents calling him at Toronto because their clients consistently wanted to know where they stood with that organization.  So he developed this method to formally open communications up and to help each player improve.

Minor league options will matter for position battles – those guys without options will get benefit of a doubt.  Acuña.  Those without will have to ‘be that much better.’

The left field starter battle – still open – still talking to trade or free agent options.  Repeated this later:  “engaged” in the outfield market – not big names, but looking.

Bullpen:  Vizcaino, Jose Ramirez, Sam Freeman, AJ Minter mentioned as probable locks.  Moylan was mentioned next, then Gomez. 8-9 man bullpen likely to start the year. Acuña

SNITKER – Neither he nor Alex Anthopoulos are ruling out bringing Acuna to Atlanta at the beginning of the season.

On Analytics… between he and the staff – Ron Washington, Eric Young Sr., Walt Weiss – he likened this to teaching old dogs new tricks, though was willing to learn… just so long as it wasn’t akin to drinking from a fire hose.

FREEMAN – talked a lot about leadership, and analytics.  Acuña.  Called it important that the Braves generate some winning momentum.

Mentioned himself that every player gets a 1-on-1 with Anthopoulos and his team to identify things to work on.  Freeman’s task?  To improve going to his right defensively.  At the plate?  ‘They didn’t really say I needed anything there’.

Wanted to see a question about his eyes and his off-season Lasik surgery, but I’m guessing the interviewers didn’t know this.

SWANSON – spoke about preparation and adjustments, but not much in terms of specifics.  Honestly, I heard a lot of cliche-like phrases, but given his media demands over the past couple of years, this isn’t entirely surprising.  Acuña.

ALBIES – Mentioned that there’s still a lot of talent down in Curacao – wants to keep up his end of the deal.  His hitting approach is always to stay up the middle.

ACUNA – Speaks with his father every day:  after BP, after games, every chance he can get, it sounds like.  Coaches told the interviewers that there are a few things missing from his game:  Acuna will occasionally miss a cutoff man, might lose track of outs, might be too aggressive with a play of any kind.

[Full interview is in Spanish with Perez – reportedly to be posted; check back on @MLBNetworkRadio as that hasn’t happened yet.]

TEHERAN – thinks he should be over the home/road split problem from last season.  Went to Europe with his family during the off-season to sort of ‘reset’.  Acuña.  Acuña. On pace of play – doesn’t think it will affect him at all; thinks it will help the game.  On analytics:  ‘kinda interesting’ – claims that he didn’t know about all of that data existed… ‘it’s going to be fun’.

During his 1-on-1:  concentrate on throwing a first pitch strike… when he does, it’s a different game.  That seems to be a theme among the pitchers.

MARKAKIS – During his 1-on-1 session, he was told that he tends to play too shallow and could benefit by playing further back.  He didn’t realize that he was doing so, but he was 10-15 feet closer in at SunTrust vs. Turner Field… he thinks that it was the high wall creating an illusion of being closer to it… or that the distance to RF is shorter, period.

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• Can the Atlanta Braves still afford Dansby Swanson?

[Of note:  that’s a good pickup by the analytics guys… and also suggests that this was based on data gather during the Coppolella 2017 season.  Markakis may have thought he was in the right place being the same distance from the wall as at Turner Field, but with the shorter porch, there’s definitely a difference].

KAZMIR – Health is great – feels a lot better, no aches and pains, nothing he’s having to compensate for.  Talked about bad habits from having to do that last year… clearly glad not to have to do it.  Good vibe in the clubhouse, already knew Chuck Hernandez, likes all the young kids – they are great to be around.

INCIARTE – wants to be more selective and become a better lead-off hitting.  Acuña.

Next: Pick 1... or Pick Both.

Oh, and they mentioned some guy named Ronald Acuña Jr. a lot.