Joey Bats is batting no more. Now he is batting for the Mets. Ha. José Bautista’s time with the Braves was short-lived, but you can’t say that he wasn’t given the chance to prove himself multiple times in high leverage moments. When Bautista joined the team on May 4, Braves country was excited as well as a little concerned at how Bautista would work with the chemistry of the team. Still, it was a chance…
A former superstar is released while a few new players join the system in this week’s report. The Braves also activate their starting shortstop and continue to shuffle pitchers on-and-off the major league roster. Not much top prospect movement, though. Reminder – the Dominican Summer League will get going very soon. June 2, in fact. The DSL Braves will look to improve on their 18-53 finish last year. Period covered: 5/15-5/22. If a number is…
Transaction of Today – May 21, 1919…The New York Giants trade Jim Thorpe to the Boston Braves for a player to be named later. The Boston Braves sent Pat Ragan (May 30, 1919) to the New York Giants to complete the trade. He was the greatest American athlete of his time. A Gold Medalist, professional football player, and even a basketball player, Jim Thorpe also played a half-dozen years of professional baseball. His natural gifts…
Transaction of Today – May 20, 1925…The Boston Braves release Casey Stengel. It was his second career as a manager that would one day get him to Cooperstown, but for fourteen years, The Old Perfessor (sic) played professional ball – and sometimes rather well. His last stop with Boston, much like his first stop with Brooklyn, would allow Stengel to both play and manage for the same franchise. Of course, it was later as the…
Our Team “E” squad was an awful one to write about. Team F, though, has some fun names – including a few current Braves. In fact, Team F carries a heavy-Atlanta flavor as Boston and Milwaukee are not represented all that well by this squad. There are some weak points – especially the outfield – but there are some real strengths as well. As always, at the end, we’ll match Team F up against our…
When the Atlanta Braves picked Bruce Zimmermann last June with their fifth-round choice, the rationale was simple. The organization has had luck with small-college arms with impressive numbers. The bigger takeaway, however, was that Zimmermann was a senior sign. A senior sign is almost a rarity in today’s age. It refers to a guy who has exhausted his amateur status and has no leverage to go back to school rather than sign. Because Zimmermann had spent…
Staying power. For a team off to a good start, it’s an important factor in how far that good start may take them. The Atlanta Braves are off to a surprising beginning to their 2018 campaign, winning 26 of their first 42 games. Granted, it’d be closer to 30 if the Replay System baseball has made any sense, but ten games over .500 is an accomplishment many didn’t think the Braves capable of at any…