Throughout the current baseball season, the Atlanta Braves have seen their world be turned upside down. A team that was so consistent over thirteen rigorous seasons now finds itself with what seems like new players everyday. And this has happened to team that isn’t used to changing its lineup card every single day. Consistency has been the name of the game for the Braves throughout their streak of divisional championships. Those who helped the Braves stay consistent and atop the National League East, now have mostly gone their separate ways. Nowadays, only a few remain from the same teams from way back, when at the time, all the Braves had to worry about was drafting and developing talent for the future. The only different aspect know, is that the Braves are now being forced to develop talent, and also play them, all within a yearlong baseball season.June 15, 2005 was the first time in over twenty-six years that the Braves started seven rookies in one game. Many never expected a day to come like this ever in Atlanta for all of the success that the team had experienced for over thirteen seasons. The seven players the Atlanta Braves have called have all shown that they have talent. With the likes of: Pete Orr, Kelly Johnson, Ryan Langerhans, Andy Marte, Brian McCann, Wilson Betemit and Kyle Davies, the Braves future sure is bright, but the question is, what does the team’s future hold for them for the remaining of the season?
If there’s one thing that all of the players on the Atlanta Braves’ roster have in common, it is that most of them seemingly have been on the disabled list at least once in this very short season, considering that the All-Star Break isn’t even here. With the sudden surge of depleted players in Atlanta, thus the Braves have been forced into action by playing seven rookies within one season. The last time the Braves played seven rookies was in during the ’78 season, and that team didn’t fare out too well. Now, it seems as though the Atlanta Braves are getting a first hand look at what their future may look like in the years to come.
No one expected the Braves to seem as a young as a high school baseball team before the year started. In fact, Sports Illustrated picked the Braves to reach the World Series in October, and face off against the New York Yankees. Well, if all holds true, the Braves sure are going to need a lot of luck to get there, and more than likely, seven rookie players probably won’t have it in them.
What has proven to be the Achilles’ Heel for the Braves this season is its pitching rotation. This would have been the last thing people would expect to give the Braves trouble, yet somehow it did. Many changes to the Braves’ pitching lineup have been made this year. John Smoltz was moved from being a dominant closer, and back to his old starting pitching position. Thus, with the removal of Smoltz as closer, an important question arose, “Who would replace Smoltz”?
Well, the Braves got their answer, and it sure wasn’t well received among the organization. Dan Kolb was the man expected to replace the ever so dominant Smoltz as the closer of the ball club. And just with the production of Kolb this year, you would start to question whether the man was really a pitcher or not. For some reason Kolb has been everything the Braves hoped he wouldn’t be. Atlanta saw his potential when he played for the Milwaukee Brewers, in one of the smallest baseball markets in the country. And now with Kolb pitching in one of the largest baseball markets, it seems as though he has cracked under the in intense pressure of playing in “Hotlanta”.
However, with most of the baseball world expecting the Braves to be on absolute fire, and glide all the way to the World Series, that has been quite the case.
With what seemed to be a stellar pitching rotation, it has easily not come anywhere close to meeting its yearly expectations. Along with the rest of the team, it seems as though the entire pitching staff has been on the disabled list at least one time or another. Tim Hudson was the Braves’ big offseason player signed during free agency, and yet Hudson currently has a mediocre 6-5 record. Hudson, along with John Thomson and Mike Hampton have all had their fare share of time on the disabled list as expected with the way the year has gone for most Braves’ players. Hudson suffered a rib injury, which will easily keep him out for at least another week. Thomson is currently on the DL with an injury to his finger, which doesn’t sound bad, but will keep the pitcher out for at least 2-3 months. Hampton, who was placed on the DL back on June 5, was placed there as a result of injuring his forearm, and as a result is expected to be out slightly longer than Thomson.
Along with the Braves’ starting pitchers, the team’s franchise player is also currently out with an injury to his foot. The man who has seemingly seen it all in Atlanta, Chipper Jones has found himself on the DL for over two weeks now, and will find himself remaining there for another good 2-4 weeks.
Yet, with one of the Jones’ injured, the other Jones has no doubted stepped up during Chipper Jones’ absence. Andruw Jones now currently leads the Major Leagues with 24 homeruns, and is so due to a hot streak that he has found himself on lately. Jones has hit 12 homeruns out of his last 15 games through Sunday, and doesn’t look as though he plans on slowing down anytime soon.
Yet, even with one player who is currently playing out of this world as far as production goes, the injuries to the team are still the main factor which holds the team back from its full potential.
So this is where the little kitties come in to play for the Braves.
Of the seven rookies, Wilson Betemit has been the busiest of them all. Betemit has been asked to go beyond the call of duty as far as effort goes. Currently, with Jones out at third, Betemit either finds himself playing Jones’ position or shortstop every day for the Braves.
As far as the others go, Ryan Langerhans is a terrific defensive outfielder, while first baseman Kelly Johnson is an extremely disciplined hitter; Johnson was named Player of the Week in the NL for June 13-20. Andy Marte was said to have been one of the best players in the minor leagues this year, and pitcher Kyle Davies allowed no earned runs in three of his first four starts.
And with all of this fresh, young talent, the Atlanta Braves find themselves with a 41-34 record, and three games behind the Washington Nationals for first place in the N.L. East. The Braves are also coming off of a three-game sweep over the Baltimore Orioles.
With the Braves only three games out of first place, while at the same time starting seven rookie players, imagine what the team could do if all of the Braves’ regular starters were currently playing?