Tag: Chart of the Day

The Braves suddenly have a power-hitting shortstop they didn’t know they had: Yunel Escobar.  Moving him down in the lineup seems to have unleashed an ability Escobar hadn’t shown before.  He’s now up to 11 homers and a very good .857 OPS to go with average (not stellar) defense and a reportedly poor attitude.  There’s […]

Excuse this quick media rant: What makes a player good defender?  If you’re following some Braves broadcasters and writers, you’d think it’s a lack of errors, and little else. For many years, defensive statistics were so limited that they were meaningless.  We had errors, along with putouts and assists, but these have very little meaning […]

Derek Lowe has been alarmingly inconsistent this year, so much so that you could make a legitimite case for him as the worst member of the Braves’ current rotation.  He hasn’t been able to locate his sinker half the time, and as you’re probably aware, that’s a big part of his game. Unlike some pitchers, […]

We’re digging into the farm system for today’s chart. A 16th-round pick out of Nova Southeastern University (Division II), Riaan Spanjer-Furstenburg is the Appalachian league’s leading hitter and the Danville Braves’ first baseman.  He’s hitting .459/.500/.721 in 70 PAs, which is basically what I do in my video games. Below is a chart of his […]

Objectively speaking, Brian McCann has been the Braves’ best hitter this year.  He has an .883 OPS, the best among Braves who have been regulars all year.  But is McCann anti-clutch? He has been this year.  His WPA is barely in the black at +0.03 despite All-Star-level numbers in most categories.  The “clutch” component of his […]

We’re back!  I’d love to say I had some trouble with the switch to digital or something, but that wouldn’t make any sense. Today’s chart shows Chipper Jones’ season gradually getting worse and worse.  He’s been stuck around .300 for most of the year with a very slight decline in power and walks since the […]

Today we’re going to talk about one of Joe Morgan’s favorite topics: consistency.  The opposite of “consistent” would be “streaky,” and one Brave in particular has been noted over his career for his streakiness.  That’s Kelly Johnson, and he’s the inspiration for today’s chart. The Braves never seem to know what they’re going to get […]

To say that the Braves didn’t have much team speed before trading for Nate McLouth would be an understatement.  The various broadcast teams covering the Braves have made a big deal about his speed since then, focusing especially on his stolen base success. I have to commend them for this, particularly the FOX team of […]

Pitching philosophy has always been one of the more interesting aspects of baseball to me.  Everything from a starter’s ability to pace himself to his ability to hit a certain location, from how his stuff is working on a given day to his pitch selection; all of it can have a massive effect on his […]

They’re falling out of contention fast, but the Braves’ pitching staff is still fun to watch, for the most part.  Below you can see the staff’s Wins Above Replacement for 2009. Javier Vazquez and Derek Lowe alone have totaled more WAR than the entire lineup combined.  That’s probably not surprising, but I am a little […]