Found February 09, 2012 on Baseball Professor: Yardbarker Blogger Network
A3
Can you even doubt Brian McCann at this point? He’s been one of the most consistent players at the position over the last six seasons and had it not been for an injury, McCann would’ve had a career high in home runs. Sure his RBI totals were down a bit from previous seasons, but we can attribute that batters around him (Dan Uggla, Jason Heyward) slumping for most of 2012. It seems like McCann has been around forever so many will be surprised to learn that he is only 28 and entering the prime of his career. McCann is one of those “set and forget” players. Best case scenario: Starts to hit more home runs Similar players: Matt Wieters (BAL), Miguel Montero (ARI), Carlos Santana (CLE) Worst case scenario: Alex Avila (DET) Strengths Consistency, lineup, power, age. On paper, the Braves have quite the lineup and with McCann slotted in the fifth slot, he should have plenty of RBI opportunities. He hit 24 home runs, which was tied for most in his career, in his fe...
THE BACKYARD
BEST OF MAXIM
AROUND THE WEB
RELATED ARTICLES

Rejuvenated Jones exactly what Braves need

In some ways, Chipper Jones is acting his age, which is exactly what the Atlanta Braves need. In other ways, Jones is a kid again, which also is exactly what they need. Listen to what the old Jones says about working with Jason Heyward. Hes full of wisdom and advice, sounding like a hitting coach as he describes swings and mechanics. Watch him hold court in the clubhouse, the...

Beachy heads Braves' new wave of young starters

Julio Teheran was not yet born in 1990 when Steve Avery joined Tom Glavine and John Smoltz in the Braves rotation. Atlanta, which added Greg Maddux for the 1993 season, won six Cy Young Awards in the decade. Now Teheran, who just turned 21, is the youngest of another youth movement. Brandon Beachy, Mike Minor, Randall Delgado and Teheran combined to start 50 games as rookies last...

Top 15 Prospects: Atlanta Braves

While playing competitive baseball the summer before I started high school I had a teammate named “Rusty” who always wore an Atlanta Braves baseball cap. Although he was the best hitter on the team he was constantly bombarded with ridicule because of his choice of chapeau. Atlanta was the bottom feeder in the National League and was coming off a 65-97 season, which saw...

Braves Carlos Perez Struggles With Command

After gaining significant helium during the 2010 off-season, prospect followers expected young left-hander Carlos Perez to firmly establish himself as the best of the next wave of young Braves pitchers. With Randall Delgado, Arodys Vizcaino, Julio Teheran and Mike Minor in the midst of breaking through at the Major League level, along with prospect fallout from the Michael Bourn...

2012 player preview: Randall Delgado

Randall Delgado made a lot of strides in 2011, ending up in the major league rotation to finish the season, but at the end of the day, there is still a lot of room for improvement.Delgado's year started in Mississippi, where he started 21 games and threw 117 1/3 innings. In his stint at Mississippi, he struck out 110, walked 46, and allowed 11 homers, all coming together to give...

All In: Brandon Beachy

I like being a sleeper T...it helps me with the ladies. Fantasy Sleeper 2012 Brandon Beachy wasn’t even the best Braves pitching prospect heading into 2011.  In fact, he was probably #3 behind Mike Minor and Julio Teheran.  Regardless, the Braves put him in the starting rotation from the beginning, and those guys started out the year in the minor leagues.  Well, Beachy...

Manuel Gives Extra Motivation to the Braves

It is not like the Atlanta Braves really needed any extra motivation headed into this offseason. They collapsed in amazing fashion and saw the team that edged them out of a playoff spot celebrate with a World Series title. Questions of ‘What if?’ and “What could have been?” were undoubtedly left in their minds. As a team, they had all the motivation that...

What Will the Braves Do?

The Braves had a terrible collapse last September. People outside of Atlanta don't hear much about it because (a) the Red Sox had a worse collapse, (b) the media loves to report on Boston teams, and (c) even Braves fans don't really care about the Braves.This offseason, the Braves didn't do much. As Jeff Passan put it in his examination of the Braves' offseason:No...

Veteran reliever gets minor league contract

Reliever Scott Linebrink agreed to terms on a minor league contract with the St. Louis Cardinals, and will be among the non-roster invitees to spring training. The 35-year-old Linebrink was 4-4 with a 3.64 ERA in 64 games with the Atlanta Braves last season. He struck out 42 in 54 1-3 innings and held batters to a .235 batting average. In 607 career games, Linebrink has a 3.51...

None nastier than Kimbrel

Craig Kimbrel throws a nasty breaking ball. He grips it like a spike slider (maybe) and the ball moves like a curveball (sort of). It's a relatively short curveball, but one moving upwards of 87 mph when it leaves Kimbrel's hand. The combination of speed and drop are unparalleled in the major leagues today. Checkout the discussion and a picture of the grip in the forum...

Cards, reliever Linebrink agree to terms (AP)

Reliever Scott Linebrink agreed to terms on a minor league contract with the St. Louis Cardinals, and will be among the non-roster invitees to spring training. The 35-year-old Linebrink was 4-4 with a 3.64 ERA in 64 games with the Atlanta Braves last season. He struck out 42 in 54 1-3 innings and held batters to a .235 batting average.

Cards sign reliever Linebrink to Minors deal

The Cardinals' list of Spring Training non-roster invitees grew by one on Friday with the addition of Scott Linebrink, who signed a Minor League deal just eight days before pitchers and catchers are required to report to camp.
THE MLB HOT 40
Today's Best Stuff
For Bloggers

Join the Yardbarker Network (YBN) for more promotion, traffic, and money.

Company Info
Help
What is Yardbarker?

Yardbarker is the largest network of sports blogs and pro athlete blogs on the web. This site is the hub of the Yardbarker Network, where our editors and algorithms curate the best sports content from our network and beyond.