Brandon Jones: It wouldn’t be the same if the Braves didn’t have a Jones in the outfield. That can very well happen next season if Brandon Jones has a good spring training. He will almost certainly win a platoon role with the mighty Matt Diaz. These two sluggers have the ability to make up the best Braves platoon in a long time. These two sluggers both bring different things to the table that will help compliment each others skill sets.
Brandon Jones had a breakout season last year for the Mississippi and Richmond Braves. Some would say that he had the best all around season for a hitter in the Braves system. Combined at AA and AAA Jones hit .295, with 40 XBH, 19 homeruns, as well as 100 RBI’s, 61 Walks, and a .367 OBP. The young Floridian showed that he can hit for some power and still have a good on base percentage. That is going to be very big for him in the majors. Being a patient hitter that can hit the ball to all fields, plus draw a good amount of walks, he has success written all over him. In all probability the thing that will hold the young left fielder down next season is his high strikeout rate. B. Jones struck out a career high 120 times last season. If he can just control is high strikeout total he can be a very good hitter.
With the addition of Mark Kotsay, it makes Brandon Jones chances of making the team a little less likely. Since Jones doesn’t have that much experience in center field that is really going to hurt him last season. In the Mexican League this off-season he played a good amount of games in center. According to some scouts and broadcasters they have said that he started off a little rough, but with time he played a better center field. I say that it’s going to hurt him because the newly acquired Josh Anderson can play all 3 outfield positions, plus he is a very good base stealer. So Bobby Cox might want to use him in late game situations when a base runner is needed. One thing that Jones brings that Anderson is a good eye at the plate and he is a very good young power hitter that has a knack for driving in runs. That will extremely important in late game situations. On top of that the 23 year old Panama City, Florida (my hometown) native does not bail out against left-handed pitchers. In fact in the Mexican League he had a .260 average against righties and a .340 average against lefties. That is going to be huge for him going into spring training.
If Brandon Jones can star hitting right-handed pitchers better and stop striking out as much he is going to win a platoon job in left field with Matt Diaz. I am going to say that B.Jones is going to have the best season out of any Braves rookie this season. I am also going to make a prediction saying that is going to rank in the top 5 rookie of the year balloting.
Manny Acosta: Acosta did exceptional in his rookie season last year. He had a 2.28 ERA with, 22 strikeouts in 23.2 innings pitched. Acosta has a fastball that ranges from 94-100 mph. His fastball also has some pretty good movement on it. He also has curveball/screwball. Those two pitches are usually his out pitches. The only problem that I have with Acosta is that he walks too many batters. He walked 14 hitter in 23.2 innings pitched. Every once in a while you would see Acosta nibble around the strike zone and walk a batter. He needs to just attack the hitters with his great fastball, changeup, and curveball/screwball and get outs.
Acosta is going to have to pick up the slack for the Braves bullpen next season. Since Ron Mahay, Octavio Dotel, Joey Devine, Jose Ascanio, Oscar Villareal and Chad Paronto are all going to pitch with different teams next season. He is in all likely hood is going to be the man setup man for the first time closer Rafael Soriano. Acosta jus has to pitch the same way like he did in the Mexican League and he is going to have a successful rookie season. Acosta is going to be a very good setup man for the Atlanta Braves next season.
Filed under: Miscellaneous
