Live from Opening Day: Heyward homers his first time up!
April 5, 2010: Jason Heyward at the cage. "He's the real deal," Chipper said. (Photo by M. Bradley)
Bobby Cox couldn’t think of a suitable antecedent. Neither could Terry Pendleton. Neither could Chipper Jones, who was himself a rookie of immense promise.
“The media spotlight is 10, 20 times bigger than it was even 10 years ago,” Jones said, and that’s true.
When Jason Heyward picked up a bat and walked to the cage Monday, he took in his wake a camera crew and two still photographers. And when he, on his sixth practice swing — actually his fourth full swing, the first two having been bunts — he hoisted a delivery from China Cadahia over the fence in right-center, a writer who has been covering the Braves since 1984 (i.e., me) felt compelled to note it.
“Everyone who gets here has talent,” said Pendleton, the Braves’ hitting coach, speaking as he watched Heyward take his pregame swings. “What’s impressive about him is the way he carries himself, the way he goes about his business.”
Said Chipper: “He’s the real deal.”
Having been here these past 26 years, I can say with some measure of authority that there has never been a Braves rookie whose Opening Day debut has stirred such anticipation. Chipper was a September call-up in 1993. Andruw Jones arrived in August 1996. John Smoltz, Steve Avery and Tommy Hanson were midseason promotions.
Bottom line: There aren’t many rookies who ever make their first big-league start on Opening Day, and there have been few in the history of the sport whose advent has been a bigger deal than Heyward’s. Think not? Just click on this link and you’ll find a story by Ben McGrath in the The New Yorker, which isn’t to be confused with Baseball Digest, on Jason Heyward.
“We had Rafael Furcal start on Opening Day,” Cox said, “and he was 19.” Or thereabouts, someone noted.
“Sometimes 19, sometimes 22,” Cox said, laughing.
And Rafael Furcal, however old he was, wound up being the 2000 Rookie of the Year. If the projections for Heyward are accurate, he’ll win the 2010 ROY award and then the MVP before 2015. You wonder if the wattage of this spotlight will prove too great for any 20-year-old, but everyone who has been around Jason Heyward makes the same point: He’s not just another 20-year-old. He’s different. He’s special.
And we’ll be here all afternoon and into the evening to see how he fares. Join me for this august occasion. (Though technically it’s April. I made a little joke.) I’ll be obliged if you did.
Update: On cue, Jason Heyward hit a home run his first time up. Off Carlos Zambrano. Three-run shot way back into the bullpen in right-center. Crushed it. Whoa.
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475 comments Add your comment
Mike Lupica
April 5th, 2010
4:43 pm
Can I go ahead and send in my rookie of the year vote now?
Miss Chelle
April 5th, 2010
4:43 pm
I knew he would hit a HOME RUN today…way to go JH…GOOD LUCK BRAVES…i’ll come to a game later in the season
HEYWARD aka ‘HEY NOW’ IS THE MAN TO WATCH
Say Hey-ward Kid
April 5th, 2010
4:44 pm
saltala…..ia with the rangers walkoff
BigTimeTECHFan
April 5th, 2010
4:44 pm
I’m sick of hearing about Woods, don’t even care about masters because the media will not talk about anything but him.
Will
April 5th, 2010
4:44 pm
Just heard the Radio Call of Heyward’s Homerun. It gave me chills just now. WOW! Unbelievable feeling. It had to be incredible to see and experience in person.
StingerSplash
April 5th, 2010
4:44 pm
Larry Munson, if you say anything about his thighs ….
Growler
April 5th, 2010
4:44 pm
How about just:
“The Say-Jay Kid” for his nickname?
Wow!
Funny though. Zambrano threw ONE bad pitch.
Lowe looked like he had a dead arm in the top of the first of the season opener.
Oy.
John
April 5th, 2010
4:44 pm
Nice play by Chipper. Heyward’s homerun was unbelievable!!!
the mook
April 5th, 2010
4:44 pm
kominski- just let us be happy.
Mark Bradley
April 5th, 2010
4:44 pm
It’s going to be pretty hard for the rest of the game — or the week — to live up up to the bottom of the first.
observation
April 5th, 2010
4:45 pm
They have this brand new invention called a radio. It’s really great. It receives frequency waves from the air and converts it into audible sound. You should check one out sometime, though they are still very rare and expensive.
Tyler Durdin
April 5th, 2010
4:45 pm
Before everyone gets too excited, remember that Jeff Franceour HIT A 3-RUN HOMER AGAINST THE CUBS IN HIS MLB DEBUT back in 06. Let’s see what else he does before crowning him the next Hank Aaron ok?
jed
April 5th, 2010
4:45 pm
HOW COOL WAS THAT?!
Ted
April 5th, 2010
4:45 pm
Easy Braves fans! It’s only one at bat….REMEMBER ME? – Brad Kominski
—
Yes I do. And it was Brad Komminsk.
Jason Heyward
April 5th, 2010
4:45 pm
[...] Live from Opening Day: Batting seventh, Jason Heyward | Mark Bradley [...]
Let's go highbrow for a moment (for the Tech crowd)
April 5th, 2010
4:46 pm
Officials at CERN have shut down the Large Hadron Collider and instead will focus their efforts on studying the remains of Heyward’s homerun ball for evidence of the elusive Higgs boson particle that would help confirm the Standard Model in particle physics.
cheese
April 5th, 2010
4:46 pm
a little sloppy defensively chipper and esco but overall good first inning and 1/2
Chris Miller
April 5th, 2010
4:46 pm
Haven’t seen anything in Atlanta as electrifying as Heyward’s home-run than watching Joe Hamilton beat Georgia … in Athens. Even Vick’s best seemed to come on the road (i.e., OT vs. the Vikings).
Robz747
April 5th, 2010
4:46 pm
thataboy Lowe, 3 groundouts is more like it
Bravesmb
April 5th, 2010
4:46 pm
Well at least that one notoriously bad Lowe inning is out of the way. Sinker looked much better in the second
wow
April 5th, 2010
4:46 pm
Its “breaking news” on the AJC main page, lol nice!
joop
April 5th, 2010
4:47 pm
This is going to be a fun year =)
Mark Bradley
April 5th, 2010
4:47 pm
You have to admit, Tyler, that hitting one out your first at-bat in the big leagues on Opening Day is pretty remarkable.
bravefalconhawk
April 5th, 2010
4:48 pm
3 RUN BLAST FOR JASON HEYWARD, THE ERA HAS BEGUN
J-Hey Kid
April 5th, 2010
4:48 pm
I think it’s time to buy up these J-Hey Kid shirts before they sell out!!!!
http://sportscrack.com/tees_j-heykid.html
Mark Bradley
April 5th, 2010
4:48 pm
Zambrano plunks Martin Prado. We might have a fight today.
wow
April 5th, 2010
4:49 pm
I feel the same way Mark.
hello
April 5th, 2010
4:50 pm
How was J-hay recieved in the dugout after the blast?
jc_dawgs
April 5th, 2010
4:50 pm
Zombrano and the rest of you big league picthers out there….
When you get behind 2-0 on this guy….you’d better walk him…or he’s gonna take you down town.
Are you getting this Mr Holladay!
todd grantham
April 5th, 2010
4:50 pm
Let’s hope Jace doesnt follow in the footsteps of Jordan Schafer.
Matt
April 5th, 2010
4:50 pm
Hitting a homer on your first at-bat must feel awesome for a player.
And does anyone know if the Braves plan to retire Glavine’s number? I assume they will but haven’t heard anything official.
Scoots
April 5th, 2010
4:51 pm
Mark – did the dugout give him the silent treatment after the homer like they usually do with rookies, or were they too excited?
Dawg Man
April 5th, 2010
4:51 pm
Yay JASON!!!
wow
April 5th, 2010
4:51 pm
They could give him the silent treatment, everyone was jumping up and down. Big high fives and smiles from everyone.
todd grantham
April 5th, 2010
4:51 pm
Zambrano is getting shelled!!!!!!!!!!!
Mark Bradley
April 5th, 2010
4:51 pm
And now McCann homers. Big Z is out of it. And also out of the game. Here comes Lou Piniella.
Bravesmb
April 5th, 2010
4:51 pm
B-MAC! KEEPING UP THAT SPRING POWER!
wow
April 5th, 2010
4:51 pm
Boom!
todd grantham
April 5th, 2010
4:51 pm
Dang Mark, its hard to keep up with the highlights
Mark Bradley
April 5th, 2010
4:52 pm
The dugout was unbelievably pumped after the home run. No silent treatment.
Growler
April 5th, 2010
4:52 pm
Mark:
Yeah Tyler is a wet shirt! Yeesh!
But the one thing to maybe be concerned about in that inning is Glaus.
Double oy, there.
And Chipper, for the first time ever to me, looks old (sigh).
But a nice start.
kyle
April 5th, 2010
4:52 pm
WOW WOW WOW!!! JH just blew my mind…..
Mike
April 5th, 2010
4:52 pm
Offense looks sick. McCann BOOOM!!
DTC
April 5th, 2010
4:53 pm
Zambrano had the expression on his face like – this is spring practice, right? Oh, . . . . it’s not?
Mark Bradley
April 5th, 2010
4:53 pm
Zambrano: Pitched to 13 batters. Got four out. Eight runs, all earned.
Coach (2011 or Bust)
April 5th, 2010
4:53 pm
Zambrano is a punk, but what else is new?
As for Jason Heyward…..the legend has begun.
hello
April 5th, 2010
4:53 pm
Who is going to give him the pie in the face after the game?
Chris Miller
April 5th, 2010
4:54 pm
Who doesn’t love the kind of power from the left side of the plate the Braves have this season? That, a couple of 15-game winners, decent set-up guy and psychotic closer can win championships.
Mark Bradley
April 5th, 2010
4:54 pm
Zambrano’s ERA is 54.14.
4braves
April 5th, 2010
4:54 pm
If the Cubs throw at Heyward the benches will clear.