After Pete Rose, it's pretty much a concensus that the three best switchitters of all time are Mantle, Murray, Chipper. Below are some stats to consider;
these are 162 game ave season stats
HR AVE H RBI R OBP
CHIPPER 31 .306 178 107 108 .405
MANTLE 36 .298 163 102 113 .411
MURRAY 27 .387 174 103 87 .359
It appears Chipper and Mickey Mantle are in a dead heat for best switch hitter right behind Pete Rose. What are your thoughts?
Monday, March 26, 2012
Friday, March 23, 2012
Braves almost never had Chipper
If you were a baseball fan back in 1990, you may remember the hype about a prospect named Todd Van Poppel. He was a big, laser-armed high school kid from Texas, the consensus No. 1 draft pick. But he had committed to attending the University of Texas.
The Braves coming off a 97-loss season, held the top pick. They weren't willing to take the gamble on Van Poppel. Bobby Cox, then the team's general manager, had made a last-ditch plea to sign Van Poppel. "He said he was going to school," Cox said at the time, "but I'm sure somebody will pick him."
The Oakland A's did take Van Poppel with the 14th pick -- and signed him. The Braves settled for a high school shortstop from Florida named Larry Wayne Jones Jr. -- everyone called him Chipper -- and gave him a $275,000 signing bonus plus $68,000 to cover college expenses in case his baseball career didn't work out.
"Chipper is a blue-chip high school talent," Braves vice president Paul Snyder said then. "The fact that he can switch-hit is a definite bonus, as is his tremendous speed. For us, it's a quality draft at a quality position."
No, Jones wouldn't need that $68,000. And I'd say that baseball career worked out pretty well.
Jones announced Thursday that he'll retire at season’s end after what will be 19 seasons in the majors and more than 2,400 games played. Back when free agency began, they said players would move around from team to team like traveling salesmen, or that they would retire in their early 30s because they'll have made so much money. But Chipper stayed with the Braves, grinding out a career as long as he could, playing for years on bad, aching knees. He enters his final season with 454 home runs, a career .304 batting average, 1,561 RBIs, a National League MVP Award and 11 years playing in the postseason. When he appears on the Hall of Fame ballot in five years, he'll go straight to Cooperstown. Thanks Chipper!
The Braves coming off a 97-loss season, held the top pick. They weren't willing to take the gamble on Van Poppel. Bobby Cox, then the team's general manager, had made a last-ditch plea to sign Van Poppel. "He said he was going to school," Cox said at the time, "but I'm sure somebody will pick him."
The Oakland A's did take Van Poppel with the 14th pick -- and signed him. The Braves settled for a high school shortstop from Florida named Larry Wayne Jones Jr. -- everyone called him Chipper -- and gave him a $275,000 signing bonus plus $68,000 to cover college expenses in case his baseball career didn't work out.
"Chipper is a blue-chip high school talent," Braves vice president Paul Snyder said then. "The fact that he can switch-hit is a definite bonus, as is his tremendous speed. For us, it's a quality draft at a quality position."
No, Jones wouldn't need that $68,000. And I'd say that baseball career worked out pretty well.
Jones announced Thursday that he'll retire at season’s end after what will be 19 seasons in the majors and more than 2,400 games played. Back when free agency began, they said players would move around from team to team like traveling salesmen, or that they would retire in their early 30s because they'll have made so much money. But Chipper stayed with the Braves, grinding out a career as long as he could, playing for years on bad, aching knees. He enters his final season with 454 home runs, a career .304 batting average, 1,561 RBIs, a National League MVP Award and 11 years playing in the postseason. When he appears on the Hall of Fame ballot in five years, he'll go straight to Cooperstown. Thanks Chipper!
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Arodys Vizcaino Surgery
Relief pitcher Arodys Vizcaino is slated to undergo Tommy John surgery and will miss the 2012 season and possibly some of the 2013 season.
Arodys had inflammation in his elbow the previous year, but instead of getting surgery then he decided to take some time off to rest instead (which basically delayed the inevitable). Unfortunately, that didn't work out well for him, as it got progressively worse when he came back and will now need surgery to take care of the problem completely. Vizcaino is one of the Braves' top pitching prospects alongside Randall Delgado and Julio Teheran and was expected to play a role in the team's bullpen this year. In 2011, Arodys pitched in 17 games for Atlanta in 2011 and had 17 strikeouts in 17 innings pitched.
While it is not good news by any means, I think the Braves will do just fine this year without Vizcaino. Besides Arodys, the Braves will still have core of their bullpen intact, with Eric O'Flaherty, Jonny Venters, and Craig Kimbrel finishing the final three innings. Aside from these guys, the team also still has Peter Moylan coming off of shoulder surgery in the offseason, Cristhian Martinez, Cory Gearrin, and possibly Kris Medlen, if he doesn't make the starting rotation.
While Vizcaino would have been a great addition to the bullpen this year, the Braves should have enough firepower to compete with the rest of the National League East this year, if not the entire National League as well. Kimbrel will be coming off of a year in which he had 127 strikeouts in 77 innings pitched, and obviously Fredi Gonzalez will be relying on him less this year to save his arm for the whole season.
The only real problem that could arise for the team heading into the regular season is if the younger starting pitchers get roughed up early on, but even if that does happen, the Braves have a good stock of pitchers in the farm system and won't have to worry too much, as opposed to the offense
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