How long should Braves stick with McLouth hitting second?
The Braves' Nate McLouth already has struck out five times in four games batting second. (AP photo)
The first four games of a 162-game season doesn’t represent a scientific sampling. But this is the way things are tilting for the Braves regarding the team’s four biggest question marks heading into the year:
♦ 1. Chipper Jones (his health and swing): Thumbs up. He is hitting .353 (6 for 17) with two doubles and two RBI. His impressive spring was not an aberration.
♦ 2. Craig Kimbrel (replacing Billy Wagner as closer): Thumbs up. The 23-year-old has two saves in two appearances, striking out five of the six batters he has faced.
♦ 3. Defense (poor last year): Thumbs up. Only one error (on pitcher Tommy Hanson), two double plays and a majors-best .993 team fielding percentage in four games. Last season, the Braves’ 126 errors trailed only Pittsburgh and Washington (127 each) for the most in baseball.
♦ 4. Nate McLouth: Thumbs down.
So here’s the problem, if we can call it a problem after four games. McLouth had a solid spring and won the starting center field job over Jordan Schafer, who was optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett. The job is McLouth’s for the foreseeable future.
The question is where to bat McLouth in the order. Manager Fredi Gonzalez has started him in the No. 2 spot, believing his speed would be an asset and his offensive problems were sufficiently straightened out.
But the reviews so far aren’t good. McLouth went 1 for 4 in Monday’s win over Milwaukee, which is fine. But he also struck out twice, which a No. 2 hitter can’t do. Success in that spot of the order is predicated on the batter making contact and advancing the runner. So far this season, McLouth is 3 for 16 (.188) with a team-high five strikeouts and one walk. He’s also 0 for 1 in stolen base attempts. (McLouth did score three times in an 11-2 win at Washington.)
The question is: How long will Gonzalez stick with McLouth? There’s an obvious viable option in Jason Heyward, who is batting sixth and is off to a good start (4 for 12) with a home run, two RBI, four walks and a team-best on-base percentage of .500.
Heyward has a better chance to drive in more runs hitting sixth. But he’ll get to the plate more often hitting second, which theoretically makes the Braves a bigger offensive threat.
Gonzalez isn’t likely to make any change soon. The question is how long does he stick with McLouth batting second?
Do you have any confidence McLouth will find a groove? Or should Gonzalez just go ahead and make the change now?
Plan for Tuesday: Driving to Augusta to cover Tiger Woods’ press conference.
By Jeff Schultz
♦
Follow me on Twitter @JeffSchultzAJC; friend me at Facebook.com/JeffSchultzAJC
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
259 comments Add your comment
chris
April 5th, 2011
9:40 pm
give it through April and if he’s still striking out a lot move him down in lineup
slimbo
April 5th, 2011
11:56 pm
some of you say give the man time,well I think the man has had time.Look at his career stats,he is a life time 251 hitter.his best year was 2008 with pitt he hit 276 with 26hr and94rbis. Thats good but he has not come close to that again.I think maybe the braves are wateing on him to be something he cant be year after year maybe with the braves hitting and picthing they can carry him even with his like of hitting.my thing is his bad def.any LL know better than to hole the ball in the outfield and that you should get it back to the infiel as soon as you can .all the winter I keep looking hopeing I would see the name SCOTT PODSEDNIC ON A BRAVES CONTRAC.
Realist
April 6th, 2011
12:23 am
Oh my God Nate got one only 2 hits for the Braves tonight! The great Chipper, McCann and Heyward couldn’t get any hits. So when are we going to move Nate to the cleanup spot, because he must be really good based on tonight’s performance, right? Wrong, that would be stupid because it’s only one game! And it’s just as stupid to talk about moving his spot in the order after only 4 or 5 games into the season. It’s sad that this question was even posed. I’d bet my life that the thought of “How long will I keep Nate in the 2 hole?” hasn’t even crossed Freddie’s mind and probably won’t unless it’s late April and Nate is hitting below 200. The fact that so many have actually humored this question with serious responses is just sad. It also makes me very glad that our manager is not so short-sightedly presumptive.
CaptainMudderland
April 6th, 2011
12:50 am
McLouth? If you look tink he can hang around again for the bulk of this year–you are truly an optimist…I think we need to send him away soon–he doesn’t need to be batting in the second spot. I have zero faith in his long-term value as a contributing factor in our quest to overtake Philadelphia.
ATLfan15
April 6th, 2011
7:43 am
all this bitching (including myself) about Nate…and he gets ONE of the only two hits last night. freakin’ hilarious.
J-Bo
April 6th, 2011
10:00 am
4 games (5 now) is certainly a small sample, but all of these “give him time” arguments were used last year and the year before so I don’t see any room for optimism. But I also don’t believe spring training is meaningless. You can see a guy’s approach. Is he making good contact? How is he reading the ball? That stuff matters more than avg. or RBIs.
And again, 162 games is a marathon. Give it till the summer and if he’s still blowing this hard then talk about a replacement. Don’t forget, his defense sucks too. I’d love to see him make a throw from Center just once. He’s not going to cripple the team.
ATLER (ramblin wreck)
April 6th, 2011
10:06 am
This guy is a bum player period!!!!!!!!
DetroitBraves
April 6th, 2011
10:07 am
Realist, Gonzalez is paid a lot of money to understand the numbers. That he doesn’t make a lot out of 4 games, or 2 hits (or lack thereof) last night is appropriate. Ignoring several years and over 2000 at-bats worth of data is not. Again, why don’t you understand that the sample size is more than a handful of 2011 at-bats? That McLouth is batting second is precisely the type of short-sighted decision you claim to abhor.
DetroitBraves
April 6th, 2011
10:12 am
J-Bo, the problem with waiting until the summer is that it is hoping for a right-tail performance when McLouth’s data to date suggests that is very unlikely (I guess by defition, anyone’s right-tail performance is unlikely – it’s McLouth’s expected outcome that is the problem). Given that the division and wildcard are likely to be decided by only a handful of games, waiting until the summer could be a critical error.
But I totally agree with you on his defense. Very sub-par. I think someone suggested on this board that Schafer would be a better option given that he may hit no worse, and at least play better defense. Ah, but this is where that big McLouth contract comes into play.