Sports Page Atlanta

Matthew Pouliot of Rotoworld came out with his mid-season top 150 prospects in the world of Minor League Baseball. What I like about what he does is that he gives analysis of many of the top players and predicts when they will break into the majors.

The Atlanta Braves had 6 players in the top 150, which is tied for 7th in the majors for the most players by a team on the list and it is also tied for 1st among National League teams.

Outfielder Jason Heyward led all Braves and was selected 9th overall. Pouliot predicts that he will make the majors in 2011. Other Braves include: Tommy Hanson, Gorkys Hernandez, Jordan Schafer, Brandon Jones and Freddie Freeman.

Here is the complete Top 150 Minor League Baseball prospects.

I’ve spent countless hours devouring first half statistics, looking ahead at schedules, and calculating futures for the National League teams. As we exit the All-Star break, here’s how I see the National League power rankings.

1. Chicago Cubs
2. New York Mets
3. Philadelphia Phillies
4. Arizona Diamondbacks
5. Milwaukee Brewers
6. Los Angeles Dodgers
7. St. Louis Cardinals
8. Cincinnati Reds
9. Atlanta Braves
10. Florida Marlins
11. San Francisco Giants
12. Pittsburgh Pirates
13. Colorado Rockies
14. San Diego Padres
15. Houston Astros
16. Washington Nationals

Congratulations to the 22-year-old right-handed ace, Jair Jurrjens for being given the National League Rookie of the Month Award presented by Gillette for the month of June.

In four June starts, Jurrjens was 3-0 with a 1.63 ERA. He had an 18:7 strikeout to walk ratio and gave up fewer hits (25) than innings pitched (27.2).

For the season, Jurrjens has an impressive 9-4 record in 18 starts. His season ERA is 3.00.

Colin, over at Braves Blast, just posted the first part of a two-part serialized article concerning whether or not the Braves should make a run for the championship this season or cut their losses and rebuild for 2009. Today, he posted 10 Reasons To Pull Out The Stops. Tomorrow, he’ll go in reverse and tell us why the Braves should rebuild.

This is good stuff here, and I’d like to comment on a few of his reasons from today.

• “They have Mark Teixeira until the end of the year and he’ll make a huge contract year push.”

I think Colin is right here. Teixeira will have a great second half, due in part to his impending free agency. He’s already begun to feel his power stroke as his nine home runs in June more than doubled his power output for the season. There’s no reason to believe that Teixeira cannot approach 40 dingers this season. My worry is that Scott Boras over prices Teixeira, and the Braves are left searching for a clean-up hitter and first baseman in the off-season. But, to make a run in 2008, the Braves must have “Big Teix”, or receive one hell of a hitter in return.

• “Chipper is chasing .400″

While this was neat as Chipper was above the .400 mark, it’s kind of a moot point now. His June batting average was almost 100 points lower than his March through May batting average, and his July batting average, although we’re only nine days in, is 70 points lower than his June. However, he’s having a superb season, and staying relatively injury-free. It’ll be fun to watch Chipper just do the things that make him a Hall of Fame worthy third baseman. But, Chipper is done flirting with .400, so don’t expect those kind of heroics.

• “Brian McCann is showing everybody why the Braves traded away their starting catcher so he could play as a rookie.”

McCann is the biggest ray of hope that this Braves team has. He’s arguably the best offensive catcher in Major League Baseball, and if it weren’t for the fan support for Cubs rookie Geovany Soto, should have been the NL All-Star starting catcher. His batting average (.293) is higher, his slugging percentage is higher (.547), he’s scored more runs (39), hit more homes (17), and even stolen a base. I’m not taking anything away from Soto, as his numbers are very similar to McCann’s. But McCann should be starting in NYC, and he’s definitely a reason for anyone to come out to “The Ted” to see one of the essential cogs for this 2008 Braves team.

Most of the news surrounding the Braves lately has been bad, so I hope this makes things a little better.  The Atlanta Braves signed their first pick from last June’s draft yestersday.

Left-handed pitcher Brett DeVall came to terms with the Braves.  The 6′4″ 220 lb southpaw was the 40th pick overall in the draft.  He was 13-2 last season at Niceville High School in Florida.

He had signed a scholarship offer to play for the University of Georgia. 

With all of the Braves players hitting the disabled list today, it was necessary for the team to recall Jeff Francoeur from his three day stint at Double-A Mississippi. Obviously, Frenchy can mash Double-A pitchers as he went 7 for 13 with a triple for a .538 batting average while there.

I’ve got a few problems with this… Let me explain by commenting on a few quotes.

It was originally planned that Francoeur would stay in Class AA for a minimum of 10 days, until after the All-Star break. However, with the rash of injuries that hit the Braves over the weekend the Braves saw an opportunity to call him back up.

If this demotion was really a learning experience, and not punishment, why would the Braves bring him back after only three days? And, better yet, why would they only “originally plan” on leaving him in Mississippi for 10 days? How much could Jeff really learn in 10 days about his swing? And, if 10 days was really the plan, why even send him to Double-A? The Braves could have benched him and gave him personalized, on-on-one instruction here in Atlanta, and not wasted the travel time, expense, and headache caused by this whole ordeal. And, in a pinch, Frenchy could have pinch hit. I still believe that a slumping, and benched, Francoeur would have been a better pinch hit option than Ruben Gotay or Jason Perry.

“It had everything to do with the four hits he had yesterday and seven hits he had in three days and starting to relax,” Braves general manager Frank Wren said Monday. “It was not until we had our call with the coaches this morning we had made the decision. It was not predicated on injuries at all. When we felt like he was comfortable swinging the bat and looking like his old self, we wanted to bring him back.”

If you believe this, I’ve got some beach-front property here on Peachtree to sell you. It’s going to take more than three days to get Jeff back to looking like “his old self”. He’s been manhandled by Major league pitching this season, and, obviously, he can manhandle Double-A pitching. This is the equivalent of a washed up boxer beating up on some grade schoolers and feeling he’s ready to challenge for the Heavyweight belt again. Francoeur isn’t ready for Major League pitchers, and three days of beating up on 20 year-olds isn’t going to help in the long run.

Update 7/7/08 4:32 PM : Good insight from the folks over at Fanhouse. This whole thing stinks to me!

The Braves send pitchers Manny Acosta and Jeff Bennett along with utilityman Omar Infante to the disabled list late last night. 

Acosta pitched well on Sunday, but strained his right hamstring trying to run to first base to avoid a double play.

Bennett hurt his right shoulder on a throw he made on Saturday.

Infante, like Acosta hurt himself on Sunday when he re-injured his right groin in the 3rd inning.  He first strained his groin on June 25th.

Chipper Jones and Brian McCann are going to represent the National League in the 2008 All-Star Game this month at Yankee Stadium. 

This is Chipper’s 6th all-star game and 5th as a starter.  To no suprise, he is a .400 hitter in all-star competition as well.  He is batting 4-for-10 with a home run.  1996 was his first all-star game and 2001 was his last.   In 2000, he went 3-for-3 with that home run which came off of James Baldwin in a game that was played at Turner Field.

McCann is making his 3rd all-star game as a reserve.   He is a career 0-for-2 in the classic.  He grounded out to short in 2006 and flew out to short in 2007.

Like Barrett Sallee suggested the other day, the Atlanta Braves sent down Jeff Francoeur to Double A Mississippi and brought up former Georgia Tech player Jason Perry.  Francoeur was batting .234 this season including .206 in June and .083 in 3 games in July.  He is also hitting just .198 this season with runners in scoring position.

Perry turns 28 next month hit .314 in Mississippi and .302 in Richmond this season.

The Atlanta Braves got attacked by the injury bug once again last night. 

Chipper Jones reaggravated his right quad running the bases in the 4th inning.  By the 7th inning, he had to leave the game.  He should miss about 2 games.

Yunel Escobar got hurt as well.  The shortstop hurt his right hip flexor when he slid at home in the 8th inning.  He is day-to-day.