• Jamie Shoemaker

Jason Heyward is starting and Jose Constanza is benched? Oh My!
jose constanza
Some will say Jose Constanza is better than Heyward.

Why is everyone acting like Gonzalez is making the worst decision of the season by going with Jason Heyward down the stretch?

It’s not that far fetched folks. It’s not as crazy  as it seems.

According to most knowledgable baseball writers, scouts, and managers, I believe Heyward is better than Jose Constanza.

You’re asking, “Why are you writing this?”

In my post earlier today, a person commented this:

they need to trade Lowe and Heyward. Heyward has the biggest ego. He doesn’t dive for the ball and when it gets away from him, he trots after it. That is on the defensive side, now for offensive, he seems to be getting some hits now but where has he been all year? Oh yeah that’s right with an injury and he isn’t even all the way through his sophomore year. Send him back to the minors and give Constanza a shot.

Lowe doesn’t even get an explanation, you have seen his pitching lately.

… and then he recently finished with this after battling it out with others …

ok you are still talking about offense, but what about defense? Heyward sucks at defense, he can catch pop ups and fly balls, any baseball player can do that, but he doesn’t make any spectacular plays. Just like Gonzalez, he is an awesome defensive player with a so-so bat, that is what Constanza is, awesome defense, plus he can get on base with a bunt, HELLO better than Heyward!

Yes, this is a small sample of the Braves population but I’ve seen it all over Twitter as well.

Let just take a look at the two, historically.

Jason Heyward’s minor league stats:

Year Age Tm Lg Lev Aff G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS TB
2007 17 2 Teams 2 Lgs Rk ATL 12 48 43 4 13 5 0 1 6 1 3 9 .302 .354 .488 .843 21
2008 18 2 Teams 2 Lgs A-A+ ATL 127 533 471 91 149 29 6 11 56 15 51 78 .316 .381 .473 .854 223
2009 19 3 Teams 3 Lgs A+-AA-AAA ATL 99 422 362 69 117 25 4 17 63 10 51 51 .323 .408 .555 .963 201
4 Seasons 240 1010 882 165 280 60 10 29 125 26 106 139 .317 .390 .507 .897 447
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 9/19/2011.

And let’s examine our boy Jose Constanza:

Year Age Tm Lg Lev Aff G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS TB
2005 21 2 Teams 2 Lgs A–A CLE 87 392 342 39 88 5 5 0 24 26 43 52 .257 .346 .301 .647 103
2006 22 2 Teams 2 Lgs A+-A CLE 120 512 434 86 134 20 9 2 36 39 72 80 .309 .410 .410 .820 178
2007 23 Kinston CARL A+ CLE 112 498 445 71 122 13 4 2 34 39 39 80 .274 .334 .335 .669 149
2008 24 Akron EL AA CLE 95 376 338 44 94 12 6 0 34 23 28 42 .278 .334 .349 .683 118
2009 25 Akron EL AA CLE 130 575 486 98 137 15 7 0 46 49 75 65 .282 .378 .342 .719 166
2010 26 Columbus IL AAA CLE 113 448 404 69 129 11 8 1 32 34 35 54 .319 .373 .394 .766 159
2011 27 Gwinnett IL AAA ATL 86 363 333 47 104 2 4 1 25 23 25 41 .312 .361 .351 .712 117
7 Seasons 743 3164 2782 454 808 78 43 6 231 233 317 414 .290 .364 .356 .720 990
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 9/19/2011.

Finished yet?

Are you seeing anything glaring? I don’t see anything other than SB category that Constanza has Heyward beat in. Nothing that would signify that Constanza is the better player, offensively.

Nothing.

We all know their current stats but maybe you don’t know that Heyward has a .455 OBP in his last 12 games and batting .286. Constanza is slumping ever since his ankle injury, but he hasn’t had that much action.

For the sake of the Braves future, keep playing Heyward, he’ll come around.

Everyone else agree?