The Braves have some decisions to make coming up and most of them will start as soon as the All-Star break ends. But first, lets congratulate our All-Stars:
C – Brian McCann – Fan Vote
3B – Chipper Jones – Player Vote (First time in his career being voted in by the players.)
SP – Jair Jurrjens
RP – Jonny Venters
Tommy Hanson and Craig Kimbrel both got left off the roster. Hanson is fourth in the NL in ERA and Giants manager Bruce Bochy took three of his own starting pitchers instead. Kinda unfair right? Kimbrel leads all qualified relievers in strikeouts and is tied for the Major League lead in saves. Kimbrel also won rookie of the month for June.
Both deserving all-stars and could be added this weekend but there are a lot of deserving players left off the NL All-Star team, like Andrew McCutchen.
McLouth vs. Schafer debate, part two
Earlier, I touched on Nate McLouth and Jordan Schafer and what the Braves should do when McLouth comes off the DL. The hold up in the article was that Martin Prado was still on the DL. Well folks, he’s due to come off either this weekend or the start of the All-Star break, and it’s about time to revisit it.
McLouth has batted .240 in his last 10 games, while Schafer has batted .231. In 25 at-bats, McLouth has one RBI on six hits. Schafer has one RBI on nine hits through 39 at-bats from the lead-off spot. Not exactly breathtaking stats from either. Big difference is McLouth has 10 walks and one K through those last 10 games and Schafer has a whopping one walk and 13 Ks in his last 10. Kinda reminds me of the old Jordan Schafer stats.
In July, Schafer has the lead with a .238 AVG over McLouth’s .231 AVG.
In the past 3o days, Schafer leads with a .231 AVG over McLouth’s .205 AVG.
Oy vey.
What do the Braves do once Martin Prado comes back? Does Schafer go down to the minors? Does Schafer get benched on the Major League roster and someone else goes down? Does McLouth get benched?
Can’t really platoon them in CF. McLouth has hit .164 vs lefties and .261 vs righties. Schafer has hit .179 vs lefties and .241 vs righties. Not exactly a stellar platoon in any fashion.
Here’s the options as I see it, in no particular order:
- McLouth in CF, Schafer demoted to triple-A to get more at-bats and develop.
- McLouth and Schafer platoon in CF.
- McLouth traded and Schafer in CF.
- McLouth traded, Schafer demoted and someone else in CF.
- McLouth traded, Schafer on the bench.
Which one would you prefer?
Freddie Freeman doing damage
Freeman, in his last 10 games, has batted .303 with four HRs and 10 RBIs. The dude has been on a tear lately and has seriously won a few games for the Braves, almost single-handedly. Freeman has played exceptional this year and has picked up some of the slack that Chipper Jones and Dan Uggla have left. Uggla, on the other hand, is showing a little bit of life, slugging three HRs and seven RBIs in his last 10 games. I gotta feeling he’ll turn it around.
Oh yeah, I got the Braves beating the Phillies this weekend on our contest wall, check it out if you agree!
The Braves still aren’t hitting for average; they have even lowered their team average recently but are getting timely hits. The last time the Braves had a team that could pitch this well and struggle with the bat kinda made history. I’ll let you figure it out with the following:
