The Braves Elite Awards – April

This is going to be a new section of the blog, where we will hand out the best, and the worst, of the awards for the month.

Best Pitcher

While watching some starters produce very well like Tim Hudson, John Smoltz, and Tom Glavine, this guy stood out the most. He has given the Braves his all in every start, making it hard on the opponets. Jair Jurrjens was obviously the best pitcher for the Braves in the month of April, and he has proven he was way more than worth the Edgar Renteria trade the Braves made for him and CF prospect Gorkys Hernandez in the offseason. He may be 2-2, but you can blame the offense on that part.

Best Hitter

Again, there were some good hitters to pick from. But only two really got my attention. Yunel Escobar and Chipper Jones. I am going to go with Chipper Jones, as he was always there in the clutch, and the Braves wouldn’t have won some of those games without him (No, they weren’t one run games). For the month of April, he hit 8 homers and drove in 21 RBIs with a .410 batting average. He was stumbled by injuries for a few days, so he missed some at bats, but definitely not too shabby.

Best Defender

Now it’s your turn Yunel Escobar. You definitely deserved this. Mark Teixeira made some nice plays at first, but they usually do that all the time, so it’s nothing new. Yunel turns in some Web Gems and top plays just about every day. He has proven to do just as good of a job as Edgar would be doing, if not better. In fact, lets go with better than Edgar, as he has a bit more speed to him.

Worst Pitcher

Really debatable here. It was tought decision between  Chuck James, Blaine Boyer, and  Manny Acosta. Manny Acosta has blown a few games for us, especially as of late letting the bunt get through his legs and the bases loaded. Then he had that game where he gave up a few homers in an inning. I didn’t give him the award. Chuck James has had a few rocky outings, but due to his record, I didn’t give it to him either. Sorry, but Blaine Boyer wins the award. 5.40 ERA and 0-3. That’s too good. He’s gone 16.2 innings in 15 games. Not too shabby, but you have to do well in those games, and he just hasn’t performed.

Worst Hitter

Wow, the guy who you thought would be doing really well, taking the counts deep, and walking a lot has performed inefficiently so far. Kelly Johnson has the lowest batting average in the starting lineup with a .241. You know he’s begging to bring Andruw Jones back because of that stat . He only has 21 hits in 84 at bats. He’s averaging exactly 1 every 4 at bats. I know it’s early, and he’s probably just going through a little slump, but that’s not exactly what a leadoff hitter’s job is. I could see him getting dropped in the batting order and Yunel batting first, or even KJ being benched (which I doubt), if he doesn’t improve.

Worst Defender

Well, like I said, Kelly Johnson didn’t impress in his first month. He’s made 4 errors, the most on the team, and he has the lowest fielding percentage among the active Braves players. With a .955 this first month (which is pretty good, I’m not coming down on the guy), he needs to improve in just about every part of his game, bit by bit (and hit for hit in that matter).