This will be the first of a series of posts grading out the Braves players/coaches on the season, along with some thoughts from me about what went right/wrong, and future prospects of each player.
Brian McCann-
After almost 4 months of the 2011 season you could make a legitimate argument that Mac was having his best season as a big leaguer, which is pretty impressive when you are a six time All Star. He was voted an all star starter for the very first time, and deservedly so, as he put up a .310/.381/.514 first half line, which are outstanding numbers at any position, especially at catcher. However, it all went wrong in that marathon game against Pittsburgh in late July, when McCann strained his oblique and went on the DL. After that, he was a shell of his former self, and was certainly a contributing cause to the Braves collapse in September. Overall though, its tough to complain with 3.7 fWAR from your catcher, and McCann's overall contribution was a significant plus. With an offseason to get fully healthy, rested, and work out any mechanical issues in his swing, I imagine he will be fine next year. He will be in his age 28 season, and as long as the injury bug doesn't pop up again (this was his first non fluky injury ever), he should be back on the All Star team. Grade=B, as I can't go any higher than that because of his terrible final 35 games, but the Braves had much bigger problems this year.
Freddie Freeman- Freddie surprised me this year, as my expectation were fairly low for him. As a 21 year old first baseman who didn't have a great deal of patience in the minors, I thought it could be a roller coaster year for him. There were some peaks and valleys for him, but overall .282/.346/.446 from a guy that young is very positive, especially in what was a negative run environment across baseball this season. Freddie is a hacker, but watching him play this year has me a lot more confident that he will do just fine as an aggressive hitter. He knows what he's doing, and he hits the ball hard (line drive percentage was an excellent 23% this year). His hit tool is clearly plus, and he showed a bit of power too, belting 21 home runs. Power was a bit of a question for him, but it appears he has a chance to be a consistent 25+ homer guy in the bigs. The main thing we learned, though, is the kid can hit.
What we also learned is that Freddie has some of the best hands in all of baseball around first base, routinely digging out errant throws from all over the infield diamond. He's an outstanding receiver of the baseball over at first base, and that really helps with some below average fielders around him. However, we also learned that Freddie has the range of a statue over at first base, often getting beaten to both sides throughout the season. He needs to get better in that regard, as UZR, Defensive Runs Saved, and the naked eye all saw his range as well below average at first. Despite this his contribution was a net positive, considering the expectations. I'm sure the Braves were happy with his overall impact, and I was as well. Grade=B
Dan Uggla- What a crazy season this dude had. First half featured a triple slash worse than I could have ever imagined, hitting a paltry .185/.257/.365. However, the second half contained all sorts of Dan Uggla goodness, hitting a spectacular .296/.379/.569.
So, what changed for Dan? It appeared to me that his plate discipline became a lot better, as his walk rate did rise steadily as the season went on. However, I think the biggest thing that happened was that he stopped making contact with pitches off the plate when he offered. His 27.1% out of the zone swing percentage was far and away the worst of his career, and he made contact on 55.1% of those swings which was the highest percentage of his career. However, that percentage dropped from closer to 60% as the season hit the second half. Thus, when Dan made contact, he made harder contact which is backed up by his line drive rates in the 2nd half (16.7%, 16.9%, and 18.6% in July, August, and September respectively, as opposed to 14.3% in May and June and 12.6% in April). Overall, his season produced 2.5 fWAR, not a bad number, and means his 9 million salary this year turned out to be a bit of a bargain, as the market rate for WAR this off season was around 5 million per win. His defense was pretty bad, as expected, but he turned out to be a decent baserunner, and he came to the post every day. Overall though, we expected more, and his grade will reflect that. Grade=C+
Alex Gonzalez- While Dan Uggla turned in a half season of awful at the plate, Alex Gonzalez treated us to a whole season of it, single handedly undermining many a Braves rally by flailing helplessly at many a slider off the plate away. And why did this happen? Pretty simple really, as Alex's walk rate was its lowest in 10 years (even his putrid standards thinks 3.7% is awful), which he combined with the highest strikeout rate of his career. The combination of Larry Parrish's aggressive hitting teachings and Alex's aggressive hitting tendencies mixed about as well as oil and water. After checking out his K and BB numbers, it should surprise no one that Alex swung at 43.4% of pitches out of the strike zone, which was 2.5% higher than any other season of his career (which happened to be last year, when he also blew his previous career high/low out of zone swing percentage out of the water. Not a good trend for a 34 year old shortstop). To put that number in persepctive, it was 5th highest among qualified hitters, trailing legendary hackers Vladimir Guerrero and Miguel Olivo, Alfonso Soriano's steaming carcass, and Orioles center fielder Adam Jones. He also made more contact with pitches out of the zone than he ever had, which is just a terrible, terrible combination. That led to a .241/.270/.372, which is pretty awful even for a major league shortstop.
Alex did bring a little bit of value on the other side, as he played a terrific defensive shortstop throughout the year, especially in the first half. As the one plus defender on the infield, it was important for him to bring that day and day out, and for that he should be commended. UZR actually didn't like him much, listing him as league average at short, but Defensive Runs Saved had him at +15 runs in the field, second highest in the bigs and behind only defensive whiz Brendan Ryan. Fangraphs had him at 1.1 WAR, which probably speaks more to the lack of quality at shortstop in the bigs than any positive Alex did this season. The Braves will hopefully move on next year, as they have a guy in the minors who should be around league average defensively and will actually take a pitch in the minors. Grade=C-, thanks to his glove.
Chipper Jones-Chipper had a nice season for a 39 year old, posting a pretty decent line of .275/.344/.470, which showed a really nice rebound in the power department, as his ISO power was approaching .200 for the first time since 2008. He posted the lowest walk rate of his career however, which kind of mitigated his increase in power. Combining those aspects and a depressed run environment, his season was actually pretty similar to last year. The drop in plate discipline is a bit concerning, but it probably tells us that Chipper was actually feeling really good at the plate this year and was taking his hacks because of it. His BB rate was still 10%, which is above average, but pales in comparison to his career 14.3%. Because of this, I think Chipper could actually increase his value next year by taking more walks, which is a skill that shouldn't erode despite his age.
Chipper will be a bit of a question mark next year, as he will be 40, is very much injury prone, and is now a statue at 3rd base. He was never unbelievable over at 3rd, but I really thought his defense took a step back this year. Advanced metrics both had him very much below average as well. Next year, we will hopefully see another 130 games or so from Chipper, but I would like to see Fredi actually replace him late in a game with a lead to get a better fielder at 3rd (Prado, who is a terrific defensive 3rd baseman but fairly average in left). He almost never did this, and it would help with getting those final outs, as well as giving Chipper a bit of extra rest. Overall, though, his season was good, but not great. Grade- B-.
The Braves infield wasn't awful this year in most areas, but there was not really any standout performers this year either. When that is combined with a black hole at shortstop, it certainly left the Braves wanting a bit more. However, many of the players in place can very easily improve their performance a bit, with the 3 most likely spots being Uggla (will have a hard time repeating that awful 1st half), Freeman (only 21), and McCann (staying healthy). That doesn't even include shortstop, where getting any on base ability at all in place there will be a big improvement in 2012.
