Norfolk 6, Gwinnett 7
Perspective: Kelly Johnson has 15 RBI in 43 AB in AAA. Kelly Johnson has 20 RBI in 234 AB in the majors. I've liked KJ since way back when he was a shortstop in A ball hitting 20+ homers, so I would really be happy to see him get his hitting back on track. I know any Brave fan would be happy to see that, but what would we do with him when he came back? Stick him in RF? I mean I can't believe I am saying this, but Garrett Anderson has been hitting well lately. I don't think we can just take him out. Also of note, Buddy Carlyle pitched a scoreless inning to start the game in his rehab assignment and Todd Redmond gave up 6 unearned runs in the 3rd inning.
Mississippi - Off (much to my chagrin)
Winston Salem 7, Myrtle Beach 3
Craig Kimbrel was trying to do his best Tommy Hanson impression tonight. I am happy to see him bounce back after giving up the win in his last start out. Between two levels the guy has 68 in 40IP and only 24 hits allowed. The walks are what plagued him through his first run through Myrtle Beach. Since his return to the Beach however he has 13.1IP with 22K, 5H and 9BB. The walks are still bad, but he Ks enough guys that he can get around it right now.
Campusano and Moody keept on hitting but no one else collected multiple hits and, in fact, no one after the clean up spot got a hit. David Francis got knocked around pretty well giving up 5 runs in 4.2 innings pitched and then Paul Clemens came in and gave up 2 more runs in 2.1 innings. Poor Paul.
Bristol 5, Danville 7
Well it looks like RSF is starting to get his stroke going again. Though slumping just under .400 i guess isn't slumping at all. Either way he is back up to .421 and it baffles me as to why he is still in Danville. He has been doing this for nearly 100 AB now and I just think he needs, you know, a challenge. I would say the same thing for Ware but he was abysmal in Rome earlier this year.
GCL Braves 6, GCL Blue Jays 3 - 11 Innings
There have been a lot of extra inning games down in the low minors in the past week. Bethancourt has been a little doubles machine so far with 6 in 62 AB. Thats not an insance amount, but given his age and position I absolutely love it.
0 recs | 33 comments
Matt what would you do with KJ? Just curious.
Dammit JIm - July 20, 2009
see how Church does in the next few games. If he doesn’t cut it in RF give KJ a shot out there. He’s not a horrible defender in OF (well he wasn’t) but his arm won’t be great. I honestly would put him back at 2B and let him prove he can’t hit there, let Prado do what he does best and be a super sub.
yondaime4 - July 21, 2009
Prado has to be more than a super sub, he has put up good numbers in a seasons worth of stats. I don’t see how Kelly would be better than Prado. 1 thing that sticks out a lot is how much Kelly strikes out compared to Prado.
That a boy - July 21, 2009
I’d put Prado in the OF. Kelly is a better defender at 2nd
eaheckman10 - July 21, 2009
Prado has two errors in over 200 chances at 2B. He is a 2B by trade. Why does everyone think he is so bad? He’ll never win a GG but he is acceptable.
braves99 - July 21, 2009
Uhm, his range is pretty poor. His defense projects more as a third baseman.
Bronn - July 21, 2009
except his bat doesnt
Swo12bv - July 22, 2009
The thing is, if he keeps hitting like he has, at some point that’s who he is. (That’s not at all incoherent) If his line is something like .300/.360/.440 at the end of the year with 500+ PA’s, combined with his solid hitting in 2008, that’s a big enough sample size to say that he’s that kind of hitter. It’s not unprecedented to have a player hit better in the ML than they did in the mL.
All that having been said, I still think Kelly’s got more tools—offensively and defensively—but I’m losing faith that he’s going to fully utilize and develop those tools. Combine that with a salary approaching $4mil next year, and I would advocate trading or non-tendering him in the offseason. I just don’t know how you justify paying him that much money with that kind of uncertainty.
buzzdeadwax - July 23, 2009
Kelly has already proved that he can’t hit here, that’s why he lost the job. AAA and the majors are a long way apart in terms of the talent one faces.
BullManUGA - July 21, 2009
go look at Kelly’s 2007 and 2008 seasons and then come back please.
Swo12bv - July 21, 2009
Hey--knock that facts-based nonsense off!!
Here’s a % for you—Kelly is 100% sucky!
buzzdeadwax - July 22, 2009
60% of the time KJ sucks everytime
Swo12bv - July 22, 2009
That's right, he sucks!
…hey, what happened to the other 40%?
buzzdeadwax - July 23, 2009
Prado is no longer a super sub. He has proven he is a professional hitter with good enough defense. You would have him setting on the bench? Good grief!
braves99 - July 21, 2009
what the hell is a professional hitter…people keep calling Prado that…is a professional hitter someone who is at best an avg player (because G Anderson is a professional hitter apparently)… maybe professional hitter = bad defender…. does it have something to do with doing things you never shown a track record for?….
because these are all things that would describe Prado… listen he has been great…but lets be serious here. He has never shown anything in terms of the power he has displayed as of late. He is currently posting an ISO 167… which is well above his minor league numbers….maybe he has grown up and gotten stronger…It doesn’t seem likely a guy with a career minor league OPS of around 750 is gonna continually post and OPS in the bigs around 875.
Swo12bv - July 22, 2009
RSF hand injury
Great to see RSF bounce back from the hand injury he played through 6 games and was finally sat for two games plus an off day. It would be even nicer to see him drive the ball again like he was doing before the injury. I agree a call up should have had happened by now.
littlethings - July 20, 2009
Holey Smokes
in regards to Mr. Kimbrel.
VivaLosBravos - July 20, 2009
For godness sakes
Lets see how KJ hits against Major League pitching before we start handing him a job. There’s a reason he was sent to AAA. “Injury” or not, KJ couldn’t hit my fastball the way he was swinging the first half.
And i know he’s unlucky and all, but that isn’t an excuse. You gotta get a hit every once in a while. You cannot be a professional baseball player and rely on luck or a lack their of.
Scott Coleman - July 21, 2009
who said anything about handing him a job?
yondaime4 - July 21, 2009
I honestly would put him back at 2B and let him prove he can’t hit there, let Prado do what he does best and be a super sub.
You did.
Scott Coleman - July 21, 2009
how exactly do you expect him to hit major league pitching if he doesn’t have a place to do it?
yondaime4 - July 21, 2009
He has a nice place…on the bench. He had his shot. Prado is one of the reasons we’re only 4 out of the wildcard and 6 behind the phillies. And you wanna put him on the bench again?
Sure, Prado could play 1B, but we all know Bobby won’t bench Kotchman. His defense is terrific and is a perfect #8 hitter. Not to mention he has the best eye of anyone on the team.
Sure, Prado could try and play the OF, but GA has been killin the ball the last 2 months. Diaz and Church are a real nice platoon in RF. I guess we could use him as a 4th OF, but i’d really prefer him at 2nd.
Sure, Prado could play 3rd, but where does Chipper go?
Kelly doesn’t have a starting spot and won’t unless Prado absolutely face plants. He’s a hitting machine.
If KJ would’ve hit like he was supposed to the first 2 1/2 months of the year, he would still have his job. But it’s totally unfair to Marteeeen if we give Kelly his job back.
Scott Coleman - July 21, 2009
+1
rockybull - July 21, 2009
I’m not ready to give up on Kelly starting, but you are right about Prado playing 2B, If kelly can hit we should find a spot, but I honestly don’t know where. I just felt like it would be easier to give Prado ABs as the back INF than it would be KJ
yondaime4 - July 21, 2009
Prado has to stay at 2b at this point. We look like a whole different team out there with him batting second. Kelly should just come back and be the backup. If we can’t have him around without forcing him to take well-earned playing time away from Prado, then he would not help the team. Prado’s flexibility to give Chipper an off day at 3b or to play some games at 1b could help get Kelly some more playing time than just pinch-hitting, but Prado has helped spark us and should not have playing time taken away from him just so we can hope that Kelly gets in one of his grooves again (with the danger of placing a hole back in a lineup suddenly lacking in holes).
Sir Stealth - July 21, 2009
While I’m happy to see Kelly doing better, at this point I think the Braves are better off keeping their current lineup till the team starts to slump. They are playing the best offensive baseball right now.
Maybe Kelly can replace Diory if he’s still on the bench.
Martin Prado deserves to keep starting.
Sparhawk - July 21, 2009
I’d leave Kelly at AAA until September and hope either the extended play in a non-pressure situation fixes his swing and/or other teams are impressed enough by him killing minor league pitching that they want to trade for him. Then (assuming he hasn’t been traded) I’d call him up and play him at 2B vs LHP with Prado playing 1B vs LHP and 2B vs RHP. Kelly hits LHP very well while Kotchman doesn’t and Kelly has struggled vs RHP this year.
redwards95 - July 21, 2009
I agree that we should leave him at AAA until September. We are 12-6 since KJ’s last start, which was on 6/28. Look at how our lineup has changed, Prado’s OBP is 100 points higher than KJ’s. Escobar has 13 RBI’s this month, the same amount he had in June (All star game took 3 games off the Calender and he missed two of the Colorado Games), he’s batting .405 and has an OBP of .500. All of that batting lower in the lineup. Bobby said some time ago that Escobar had the potential to hit 35 home runs. I notice in his swings that he is trying to drive the ball much more batting lower in the lineup. He’s not going the other way as much and his numbers are still up. We have got to leave him lower in the lineup and putting KJ back in the lineup would mean he would bat 2nd, except on days Prado played first. Bad idea…
michaelcooksey - July 21, 2009
Reid Gorecki
I have some questions about this guy, who is an almost 29 yrs old, 6’1", 180 lb righty hitting corner outfielder: Legit ML prospect or not? Strong defensively?
Combining his stats for the last season and a half (apparently he was hurt part of last season or at least not given regular playing time) yields some pretty decent numbers:
149 G .288 AVG 528 AB 152 H 29 2B 4 3B 18 HR 80 RBI 59 BB 106 K 28 SB 10 CS .826 (+/-) OPS
fandave - July 21, 2009
5th outfielder an his peak.
bigjoe - July 21, 2009
Teheran
What is up with him he hasnt pitched in a while does anyone know anything?
braves32 - July 21, 2009
Even with the day off, he should have pitched last night. They used a group of mid relievers for the game. Maybe someone knows.
braves99 - July 21, 2009
I don’t know, but I’m going to see Danville on Friday and it was supposed to be his turn to pitch, so I’m kind of pissed. They better throw Rasmus or Olberholtzer that day instead.
cbwilk - July 21, 2009
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