41: Seeing the future of the franchise

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by Chrisklob

CHARLESTON, SC – I’ve been a baseball fan since I was a kid and a Braves fan since the mid-80’s. I probably would have been a Braves fan sooner but my parents would never buy cable so I never got to see them play, at least with any regularity, until I was in college and bought cable on my own. Man, I miss Skip and Pete and TBS!

That being said, I did not become a fan of minor league baseball until 2000. Josh Hamilton, who was heralded as “The Next Big Thing”, was assigned to the Charleston RiverDogs and the local media was in full lather as they covered him. I decided to attend a few games and I became hooked. I don’t know exactly when I decided to collect autographs, but once I did, I couldn’t be kept away from the ballpark when the home town team is playing. I even started traveling to cities such as Columbia, Greenville, Myrtle Beach, Charlotte, Zebulon and Jacksonville to see certain teams and players on their stage.

Don’t be mistaken. I’m not one of those sick autograph chasers that stalk players at their hotel or, even worse, at their homes. Ball players are people too, and I am very careful to not impede upon anyone’s personal time. Also, in the nine seasons that I have been collecting, I have never bought or sold an uncertified autograph. I don’t believe in it. At the minor league level, players work hard for little pay. To sell one of their autographs might literally take money out of someone’s pocket. I take this very seriously.

What attracted me to collecting minor league autographs is the fact that it’s fairly easy (as I am inherently lazy) plus the fact that at the same time you get to see tomorrow’s superstars. I have had the opportunity to see some of today’s biggest stars play while they were still “kids”. It’s a real thrill too look at the “crawl” on the bottom of the ESPN screen and see the name of a kid you knew just a couple of years ago.

As a Braves fan, I have had the opportunity to see their minor league teams through four levels of play: Low A, High A, AA, and AAA. I’ve also gotten a lot of their autographs, many of which currently occupy prominent places in my study and in my son’s bedroom.

Last weekend was a particularly fun one for me. On Saturday I had the chance to see the Rome Braves in Charleston and then on Sunday I traveled to Myrtle Beach to see the Pelicans. Along the way I saw some of our future and got a bunch of pictures (for future autographs) and got a bunch of good stuff signed.

I won’t lie to you. I don’t consider myself to be an expert talent evaluator. At the levels that I see, the top prospects are generally so far and away superior to the others it’s kind of funny to watch the other players try to keep up. I’ll leave the real talent evaluation to Gil. He gets to see many of the Braves top prospects play amongst the crème de la crème and against former major leaguers. Because of that simple fact, and the fact that he’s been watching prospects longer than I have I will defer to him in this regard.

What I can offer though is a basic evaluation of a player’s personality. One benefit to seeing young players is that many of them still enjoy signing autographs and talking with the fans. Over the weekend of April 11-13 I had the opportunity to see both the Rome Braves and the Myrtle Beach Pelicans. Those teams are the Braves Low A and High A affiliates, respectively.

Rome’s roster has a ton of up and coming prospects. Jason Heyward is the most talked about, but Cody Johnson and Jeff Locke are both on that team and are currently listed in Baseball America’s Braves Top 10 Prospects List.

I had a chance to chat with Jason Heyward for a few minutes. He is listed at 6’4″ and 220 lbs. I don’t believe he actually weighs that much but let me tell you, while he’s not exactly skinny, this kid has a frame that was meant for hanging meat on! He’s still quite young and when he fills out, he’s going to be a monster! Kind of reminds me of a young Derrick Lee. He’s playing in the outfield now but frankly, I suspect the move to first base will come sooner, rather than later. Oh, he’s got a laser beam for an arm too! Through the first 22 games of this young season, he’s got a .310 BA, .358 OBP, .405 SLG, and .763 OPS. Only one home run so far, but the power numbers don’t generally develop until they are a little older.

I didn’t get the chance to speak with Jeff Locke, but I did chat with Cody Johnson very briefly, he was “okay” to talk with. He struck me as one of those kids that has been told how great he was ever since he started playing t-ball. I won’t hold that attitude against him until I see him a few more times though. Gotta give the kid the benefit of the doubt! He was also very impressive in the outfield. Strong armed, like Heyward, and pretty fast. So far his numbers look like this: .259 BA, .330 OBP, .506 SLG, and .836 OPS. One thing that concerns me is the fact that he has 34 K’s (against only 9BB) in 85 AB’s. However, one thing I’ve learned watching baseball at this level is that these numbers are seldom indicative of what a player will do in the higher minor leagues or the majors. There is plenty of time to make the necessary adjustments.

On Sunday, a couple of friends and I drove up to Myrtle Beach. The Pelicans were hosting the Frederick Keys, Baltimore’s High A affiliate. Now THAT team is loaded with prospects. Six of Baseball America’s Baltimore Top Prospect top 10 were there, including Matt Weiters. Weiters went to Georgia Tech, but grew up in the Charleston area. He was picked 6^th overall by the Orioles last June and it is safe to say that he’s on the fast track to the bigs. Anyway, aside from Weiters, we wanted to see Gorkys Hernandez and Tyler Flowers. Those guys got so much press during the spring that we wanted to see if the were the real deal. Flowers is another monster of a man. At 6’4″ and 245 lbs., he seems awfully big to be a catcher but he did a good job behind the plate.

Gorkys Hernandez was very impressive in the field. He got very good jumps on just about every ball hit his way (and Frederick hit the Pelicans hard that day). What really impressed me is his speed and the fluid nature of his motion as it seems effortless. He is putting up some rather impressive numbers so far: .309 BA, .378 OBP, .568 SLG, and .946 OPS. Even more impressive are the FIVE triples he has in only 81 AB’s! Hey, I told you the kid has good wheels. Between Schaffer’s “issue” and Hernandez’s performance, it might create some real issues for Homeboy Upstairs. Some tough decisions will have to be made. Seems to be a good problem to have though, don’t you think?

I’ve asked our blog hostess to post a few of the photos that I took that day so you can get a look at the boys in action. Hope you enjoy the seeing the future of the franchise!

~Chris~

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