FOX Sports South.com checked in with play-by-play announcer Chip Caray to discuss the latest with the Braves.
FOX SPORTS SOUTH: A recent 'Atlanta Journal-Constitution' article questioned whether the Braves' use of their bullpen and the way they train their pitchers has led to the number of Tommy John surgeries on the staff. Do you think there's any validity to questioning the team's approach?
CHIP CARAY: I think any time you make a blanket statement regarding medicine and apply it to individual players, that's a very dangerous thing.
Everybody's different and everybody's career started in a very different way. We don't know if these guys were used and abused as little league players, college players, high school players, junior legion players or any other level before they got to the major leagues.
I can't comment specifically on what training methods the Braves use because I'm not involved in that, but I think it would be ludicrous to suggest any team is going to try and deliberately hurt its players, which is sort of what that question implies.
All I know is that the history of game is told with guys who have had this surgery and parents are having their kids get this medical procedure done when they're in high school, which leads to a whole different round of questions.
But you have to remember, when Eric O'Flaherty and Jonny Venters' (who both recently underwent Tommy John surgery) workloads were so heavy, they happened to be two of the three best pitchers on the ball club in the bullpen. So the choice any manager has is very simple: do I try not to win the game and rest these guys or do I pitch these guys and try to win? Because if he didn't use them, the same question people are asking about the workload would be 'Why didn't you use O'Flaherty?' or 'Why didn't you use Jonny Venters?'
It's a total no-win situation or any major league manager. At the end of the day, his job is to win games and use the pitchers as consciously and as best as he can and I would assume it's up to the players to tell the managers 'I'm available' or 'I'm not' and to the best of my knowledge, I've never heard one of the guys say 'No, I can't pitch today.'
We talk an awful lot about pitchers' arms being abused, but remember, 15-20 years ago, starting pitchers were throwing 300 innings. Now guys are throwing 200 innings and all of a sudden we're having Tommy John surgeries all over the place. I wonder if there's a correlation that nobody wants to talk about.
I don't have any numbers to back that up, but it seems guys are pitching too little instead of too much.
FSS: This last home stand we saw Evan Gattis with the pinch-hit home runs, the grand slam. How are you seeing him progress? Because if seemed for a while that teams had a game plan against him but he has adjusted and is looking for different things now at the plate than he was before.
CC: That's what good players do.
It's always a challenge for a player the first time through the league. He doesn't know them, which is to his disadvantage but if the other teams don't know him at all, it's to his advantage.
Now he's seeing teams the second time through and he's being forced to make some adjustments. I think he's doing that and most notably in his strike zone command.
When were in Arizona on the road trip, they kept throwing him sliders low and a way and he would swing and miss and they would go and get him chasing chest high and helmet high fastballs that he couldn't lay off of either.
We saw him last home stand with the Dodgers and the Twins and those were pitches they tried to get him to chase and he didn't. He waited patiently and got his pitch and ultimately really good players get their pitch and don't miss and when he got them on this home stand, he didn't miss it.
He's studying, he's always learning. He's a professional and that's really the highest compliment you can give a guy as a ball player. He's a special ball player who takes great pride in his craft and every time he comes out he's must-see TV, which is great.
FSS: Jason Heyward has been hitting well in his return from the DL. Do you think that time away helped reinvigorate him?
CC: There's no denying the first four weeks for Jason weren't productive. But he looks like he's got his swing back.
Jason is at his best, in my humble opinion, when he's going foul line to foul line. In his rookie year there was no way to defend him. He could hit the ball to the outside down the left field line and he was quick enough and strong enough to rifle it out of the ballpark that way.
He's hitting balls to left field, which is a good sign. Jason's been good and the better he is, the more forceful this offense can be and that starts right at the top of the order for guys like Freddie Freeman and Justin Upton and Brian McCann to drive in.
