By Martin Gandy
For Foxsportssouth.com
March 12, 2010
Players that have a good spring training are often expected to turn that into a good season, but quite often players that have a bad spring training try to downplay the importance of that one month of stats. For Braves players, what can we learn from a handful of good spring performances and from a handful of bad spring performances?
On the good side of the Braves performances this spring is the all-everything-stand-out-rookie-talk-of-the-majors this month, Jason Heyward. All he's done this spring is hit .429 with a .619 on-base percentage and good power. He's having a good spring, but what will his season look like? Troy Glaus in another Braves player who his hitting everything in sight... and when I say everything, I mean everything. Glaus has collected 8 hits in a row and is now hitting .750 this spring. That's ridiculous!
There's little chance that either of these two players can keep up this kind of production throughout the season, but will they be able to come somewhere close? Is this spring production a sign that Glaus is back from injury and that Heyward is ready for the Majors? Do these stats tell us enough to answer those questions?
On the poor side of Braves spring training performances is the guy being counted on to bat lead-off and play center field for 160 games.
Nate McLouth has just one hit in 16 spring at-bats and he has struck out a team-high 6 times. Should we be concerned over these numbers?
Similarly, Omar Infante is just 2-for-16 this spring. Is this a sign that he is regressing from his stellar super-utility form of the last two seasons? If nothing else, these spring numbers serve as wake-up calls to these players that they need to make the adjustments necessary to right the ship.
The most impressive Braves pitcher this spring has been Kris Medlen, who hasn't allowed a run in 7 innings spanning 3 appearances, while only allowing 2 hits over that span. How about the often-troubled reliever Manny Acosta? He has giving up just one hit and one walk over
3 appearances spanning 4 innings while striking out a team-high 6 batters. Should we take from Acosta's performance that he has turned a corner and solved his control issues and is now ready to be a major part of the Atlanta bullpen? Or should we refuse to believe those numbers, and instead remember the dismal season he had last year?
Newly acquired relievers Jesse Chavez and Takashi Saito have been bitten by a failure to locate their pitches and have been giving up runs in droves. Between them they have given up 12 runs in just over 5 innings of work, and Chavez has yet to record a strikeout, though he has issued 4 walks. At this point, would the Braves be crazy to carry these pitchers on their opening day roster?
Ask any player or coach and you'll get a different answer on the meaning of spring stats. Most answers tend to see encouragement in good performances and a sense that the player will turn things around if they are performing poorly. Most veterans are expected to be ready for the season regardless of what their spring stats look like, and still other players are slow starters who take time to get their bodies up to full speed. For rookies like Heyward it's important that they do well in spring training, as it shows the team that he is ready to be in the Major Leagues.
So what can we learn from spring training stats? For the fans it's a love-em or fear-em type of scenario. We love guys that are hitting well like Glaus and Heyward, but fear how guys who are struggling like McLouth and Infante once the bell rings. Much as some parents and students may hate standardized testing, that is the benchmark by which all students are measured. For baseball players, stats are the reflection of what you've done on the baseball diamond, and they are therefore the benchmark by which all players are measured.
Spring stats do matter. They can determine who makes the team and who doesn't. They can determine if a rookie is ready for the Majors, and they can tell us if a player is ready for the season. While all these spring training stats may start over once the regular season begins, for the first month of the season at least they are still fresh in our minds. They do matter and we should pay attention to them just as we pay attention to them during the regular season.
