This review was written by Leah Mayo (aka mccannfan), who can be found at Braves Girl Blog.
The Braves acquired the Angels-bred, born and raised, Casey Kotchman in a trade for Mark Teixeira right before the trade deadline in July 2008. At first, Kotchman got off to a slow start as he was getting acclimated to his new surroundings and new teammates. He batted a lowly .157 in his first 20 games before he was placed on the bereavement list to be with his ailing mother, who had suffered a brain hemorrhage and was not doing well. He stayed in his hometown of St. Petersburg, Florida at his mother’s bedside until September 1st, to avoid being placed on the restricted list.
After returning to the team, Kotchman began to come around at the plate, hitting .300 in his next 20 games played. He began to settle in more, still getting used to being on the opposite coast from where he started the season and the early years of his career. He hit only two homeruns while with the Braves in ’08, hitting 12 with the Angels, and he’s never hit more than 14 homers in a season, lacking the power that most first baseman have. He projects to not hit many more than 12 to 15 homeruns in a season -- that just not the kind of hitter he is.
One of his better assets, before the 2008 season, was that he drew a lot of walks, having drawn a total of 118 throughout his career, and he’s still capable of doing so. The Angels had asked him to hit for more power and be more aggressive and that affected his selectiveness at the plate. He also won’t strike out a lot, only having done so a total of 124 times in five seasons, with his highest amount coming in at 43 strikeouts in 2007. He won’t steal a lot of bases, having stolen the same amount as catcher Brian McCann in the five seasons that Kotchman has spent in the majors.
Defensively, Kotchman can hold his own against most of the first basemen in the game -- he has committed only eight errors in his major league career at first base. He has a career fielding percentage of .997, which is not as highly regarded a stat as it used to be, but compared to the other NL first baseman, his defense near the top. Braves fans haven’t seen much of Kotchman, but we already have pretty good idea of how good he is in the field with the glove.
Kotchman won’t hit 30 homers a season, lacking the power that is typical of first basemen, but when he’s on the top of his game, he’s a good, solid hitter, who hits from gap-to-gap, will take walks more often than not, and won’t strike out much at all. We know what we’re getting from a fielding standpoint, as he knows how to flash some leather. If he stays healthy, he should be able to produce the kind of season that the Braves had envisioned for him when trading for him. According to just about everyone in Braves camp this spring, Kotchman seems to be in better spirits and is a seemingly different person than when they last saw him. Let’s hope this remains true throughout the season.
Thanks to Leah for a great preview. If there is anyone else who has not yet submitted their preview, and I've contacted you about writing it, and you still want to see it posted, please get it in before the end of spring training -- you've only got one week left.
0 recs | 32 comments
My opinion of him completely changed when I saw what a jerk he is in person. Before, I was willing to give him a lot of leeway, now, he better produce or I’m going to come up with my own Kotchman version of FYF.
cbwilk - March 31, 2009
Are you sure your Grizzly Adams beard didn’t scare him away?
10-4 - March 31, 2009
If he had even remotely glanced in my direction you might have a point, but that dude has, what we who get autographs on the regular refer to as, “Yankee Ears”.
cbwilk - March 31, 2009
Sounds about like the guy he replaced.
timmy3 - March 31, 2009
From what I understand, Tex was pretty good about signing. Unless you’re referring to him hearing the sound of a Yankee truck backing up a pile of cash on his front yard, then yeah, he’s got Yankee Ears.
cbwilk - March 31, 2009
He strongly dissappointed my brother and a few friends on one occasion, I know.
And they had his name painted on their chests. Obviously, things are slightly different at a big league park; but he failed to even acknowledge them through the whole game, and they were probably 10 rows back right adjacent to first base.
Sort of solidified my feelings on the guy. Even though it was mostly our means of acquiring him that soured me from him.
timmy3 - March 31, 2009
And I should note-- these are some of the more loud, extroverted individuals I know.
Teix heard them. There is very little doubt in my mind of that fact.
timmy3 - March 31, 2009
Well, it sounds like he was playing at the time. I can’t really blame a guy for trying to focus on the game. If this happened during pregame then I can’t be on Tex’s side, but during the game he’s got stuff to do.
cbwilk - March 31, 2009
RENTERIA!!!!
Tex sucks and is a douche.
One of the top baseball moments in my LIFE was when ATL was here in the STL, the night of a crazy storm that blacked out this city, and the Braves lost around 1 am to like a thousand people. But they had scored 20+ runs in four games prior.
Anyway – Renteria was warming up for an AB that game, and soem LOUD mofos were screaming all types of hilarious Renty stuff: “Come back to a team that loves you!!!” and “You’re still welcome as long as you didnt go to chicago!!” and things like that.
One of the clever things said got our whole section to laugh, and Renty was looking back, CRACKING UP!!!! You could tell he was trying to stay in the game, but had to give it up when they got him to laugh. He looked up at those guys a few times til he found them…
Tex sucks.
traphicg - March 31, 2009
I don’t see how this equates to ‘Tex sucks.’ If anything, it just points out how cool Renteria is.
cbwilk - March 31, 2009
It was just one incident… I don’t know a lot of details other than that the were fairly disappointed that he never acknowledged them. But with the way Tex worked out for the team; I’m just not his biggest fan anyways.
timmy3 - March 31, 2009
I'm with you
I don’t know how many times my mother or girlfriend (now my wife) asked me why I didn’t acknowledge them cheering for me during games. I seriously NEVER heard them and they were screaming their heads off.
justincredubil02 - March 31, 2009
This guy?
He was forced to smile here.
10-4 - March 31, 2009
And you would think that he would attempt to be extra nice since he is still new here…
Side Story _ Only read if you are bored_
A similar thing happened to me when I was a young lad. For some reason, I was a really big Vancouver Grizzles fan. I’m a southern guy, born and raised, so its kinda unexplainable that I would like them. Anyways, my favorite player was Shareef Abdur Rahim. For my birthday, my dad took me to a Hawks v. Grizz game. I took a basketball to get signed by my man Reef… I got there early, and was the only guy standing on the Grizz side. I got Bryant Reeves and Mike Bibby’s autos, but when Reef came out he just kinda walked by and ignored me…pissed me off…
From that point in time, I was like "Fuck other teams and everyone in the world, I’m just going to cheer for my Braves, Falcons, Hawks, Thrashers, and Bulldogs…
bwellnjonesco - March 31, 2009
you're right
that’s 30 seconds of my life i can’t get back.
i jest i jest.
apoxonbothyourhouses - March 31, 2009
That sucks man. It’s also the reason why I’d never go to a game looking for one specific guy. I see that all the time and more often than not they go home disappointed.
Mike Bibby is way better than Shareef was anyway.
cbwilk - March 31, 2009
Vancouver Grizzlies?
Jesus Christ.
How ironic would it be that Reef ended up playing for the Hawks after he left the Grizzlies.
royhobbs - March 31, 2009
They should've kept Gasol.
timmy3 - March 31, 2009
I was still in high school when that happened and I only cussed around my friends. When they announced the trade, I walked up to my mom and said “I can’t believe that bitch is coming into MY town.” Unfortuntely my mema had just left her house and was coming over… She didn’t believe me that I was talking about the NBA.
bwellnjonesco - March 31, 2009
Imagine how sick the Hawks would be if they had Gasol to go with the guys they have now.
Obviously, things would have played out differently; but still- I think that team would have gotten better a lot sooner.
Still love pulling for them; because they’ve gotten pretty darn good in spite of Mike Woodson; who is painfully inadequate as far as I’m concerned.
timmy3 - March 31, 2009
What about the Yellow Jackets?
McGriff the Crime Dog - March 31, 2009
lol
Smoltz's Beard - March 31, 2009
I’m not sure how fan-friendly Kotchman is or not, but I know he really does like to keep to himself, which is probably a bit obvious. I wonder how he was when he was with the Angels, regarding fans and autographs. At AutographFest, my friends said that Kotchman was really nice to them and seemed a bit on the shy side. He took multiple pictures with them, too. He even posed for a phone photo that my friend took and sent to me because I couldn’t make it.
I know, though, on the day of the last home game when the players were boarding the bus, he did acknowledge fans who were calling him when going to the bus, as some others did not. Of course, no one could sign then because of security purposes (TP was the only one that did and then he promptly was re-searched), but not everyone is going to be an outgoing guy and as friendly and nice as McCann and Francoeur. There are several guys that ignore fans when they are free to sign, at least when I’ve been there, when they’re boarding the buses to go to the airport.
mccannfan - March 31, 2009
The Angels are generally considered the worst organization in baseball when it comes to autographs. From top to bottom, for years, they’ve just been bad about it. Garret Anderson is the same way. It’s no surprise that Kotchman, who was basically raised in their system because of his dad, is like that.
And yeah, I’ve seen plenty of guys who suck about it in general but are great about it when they’re put in a signing session scenario. It doesn’t mean he’s a terrible person or anything, but I just don’t think much of guys who are like that. It doesn’t take much to show a bit of appreciation for the people who allow you a multi-million dollar career.
cbwilk - March 31, 2009
I didn’t know that, but he may not be used to signing autographs for fans. I don’t know, though.
That is true. I hear Chipper doesn’t sign a lot usually and KJ can be on the rude side at times, or at least in my experiences trying to get his autograph and what not. And when I went last, all the Latin players signed for Latin fans, but kind of ignored the rest of the fans there after the game. Guess it’s just what they feel like doing and I do realize they probably don’t feel like signing all the time and have lives. But I agree, I don’t like when players are just blatantly rude to their fans.
My best experience so far was with Mac. When I went to a game in last August, he made sure he signed for as many people as he could that was out there while waiting for the rest of the players and coaches. A kid dropped his ball and Mac saw it and made sure that he signed it afterward. He even came back out of the bus to acknowledge fans that were out there. I’ve never met him personally, I’ve come close few times, but you can tell he’s just the nicest person without even meeting him. When he couldn’t sign after the last home game, he did acknowledge fans and wave smiling. And Jeff is too. They both took the time after the ‘08 FanFest conference that they did with their dads and signed for everyone that they could, even with security people trying to rush them out to some other place and there weren’t supposed to be autographs in the first place. They were really apologetic, too, when my mom and sister tried getting a quick picture afterward, too. I wish more players were like those two.
mccannfan - March 31, 2009
Mac and Frenchy are awesome. Those two really haven’t changed at all since they were in the minors. Both are just very nice, personable guys. I’ve definitely had more fun with Francoeur, since he’s a talker, but both are great.
That’s funny about Chipper and KJ. I’ve always thought Chipper signs a great amount for a guy of his status. Being realistic about it, he could sign for hours and he’d still have people asking. When you’re as big as he is, you really could never do enough. And KJ, maybe you’ve caught him on bad days, cause I think he’s one of the best signers in the majors.
cbwilk - March 31, 2009
That’s what everyone was telling me when we went out there to the buses, that he rarely signs then. Maybe it’s just the timing or something. When I was there, he did sign one autograph and he was also with Bobby, and I’m assuming they better be on the bus when Bobby gets on, lol.
I might have. When seeing the guys get on the bus after games, he didn’t acknowledge anyone and went on the bus to talk on his phone. But I know he does sign a good bit. He has when my friends have gone. I don’t think he’s necessarily trying to be rude, but it just sort of comes off that way.
mccannfan - March 31, 2009
Buses are always a tricky scenario anyway. I’ve had a number of guys tell me that more than anything they want a good seat on the bus and they’re willing to sit it in it for forty minutes before it leaves if they have to.
cbwilk - March 31, 2009
Ha ha, they’re only on it for like 10 minutes, maybe a little longer, lol. I know one bus is always packed and the other is like practically empty, which is why usually the hometown guys come out later, or so it seems. They could spread out across the whole bus. There was maybe ten people on it.
mccannfan - March 31, 2009
Yeah, I thought about that after I posted it. I was talking about minor league buses, which have pretty much nothing in common with major league buses.
cbwilk - March 31, 2009
i have a good mccann pic from fanfest 07, hopefully i can find it.
10-4 - March 31, 2009
Cool, hope you can find it.
mccannfan - March 31, 2009
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