Heyward’s bunting: As I recall, last Friday the defense put on the shift. Needing a baserunner, Heyward bunted for a hit. McCann and Ryan Howard have done this in the past. The “fan” on Twitter is in fact quite the sabermatician. Yes, his tweet was polite, and seemed to be offered from a true fan’s perspective. Later he tweeted that he wasn’t expecting a response. The fan was taken to task by other “experts” – who went as far as setting up mock Twitter accounts in his name. Even Medlin got involved in the conversation, and thought Heyward might’ve gone too far when Jason mentioned Ryan Braun and PED’s in the same tweet.
But back to bunting. Even in this era of statistical analysis, there is still a place for bunting in baseball. Perhaps it will be rare that a beast like Heyward is asked to bunt, even batting in the two hole. But when the defense puts on the shift, the bunt can be a valuable weapon – particularly with the bases empty. Many fans may disagree, instead wanting to see doubles and home runs. These same fans bemoan the high strikeout numbers. They want to have their cake and eat it too.
Bethancourt: Knowing the Braves, they’ll keep him in the minors until June so they can wrangle another year of service out of him before he goes free agent (like Simmons last year). We may not see Bethancourt until June 2014 (unless McCann walks). Better to keep Gattis on the roster as the backup backstop until McCann returns.
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