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Get ready for Jason Heyward
Wednesday, August 5, 2009 | Feedback | Print Entry
The conversations between the managers and the opposing third basemen occur organically in the minors, because the manager is often in the third-base coaching box and there is time to kill between innings, between pitches. But over the last month, a handful of third basemen in enemy uniforms have turned to Mississippi Braves manager Phillip Wellman (perhaps best known for this) and said the exact same thing: "He's 19? That's unbelievable."
Who is unbelievable at 19? To find out -- and to learn why the Rays might be ready for a late-season push now -- you must be an ESPN Insider. Insider
The player they're referring to is Jason Heyward, the 6-foot-5, left-handed hitting outfielder who is wrecking Double-A pitching as if he were a major league All-Star on a minor league injury assignment. Heyward, who turns 20 on Sunday, is batting .422 in 27 games since being promoted from Class A, including 11 doubles, two triples and four homers. He has an on-base percentage of .505, and an OPS of 1.227.
But at the core of his extraordinary potential is his plate discipline. Heyward is such a good prospect that he probably could get away with being a free swinger, Wellman mused.
"But he has a tremendous approach at the plate," Wellman said. "He doesn't swing at bad pitches." As a result, Heyward has 15 walks and only 10 strikeouts.
"I feel very, very fortunate to be the manager who keeps an eye on him every day," Wellman said. "He's some kind of special. I keep sitting back and waiting to find some sort of weakness, and I don't see it."
He can throw. He can play defense. He hits for power. He hits for average. In the first game of a doubleheader earlier this week, Heyward was on second base and a swinging bunt was hit in front of Montgomery third baseman Chris Nowak -- a do-or-die play for Nowak. He rushed it, reached down -- and it got past him, no more than four or five feet. But that was enough for Heyward to round third, sprint home and cross the plate without a throw.
Heyward didn't start in the second game of the doubleheader, but when he entered the game as a pinch hitter, he smashed a line drive right up the middle. It hit the pitcher's glove, Wellman reported, went straight up and was barehanded. "I think the ball caught him," Wellman said.
Wellman had gotten the message to do this interview early Tuesday afternoon, and before returning the call, he thought about a question that he assumed I might ask him: Whom does Heyward remind Wellman of?
He was right. I did ask him. But before he answered, I told Wellman that I had seen Heyward play an exhibition game for the Braves in spring training and thought he strongly resembled a player from the past. "But I'm not going to say who, because I'm curious to see who you think," I added.
Wellman paused. "I tell you what, in terms of the tools and talent, the fact that he can run and he's big, he reminds me of somebody I saw a long time ago. Darryl Strawberry."
Exactly, I responded -- that's exactly whom Heyward reminded me of, because he's so tall and left-handed and so angular in his strength. "But I think Jason is bigger than [Strawberry] was," Wellman said. "He's not quite as long and lean and skinny as Strawberry. He's bigger."
He also, at a young age, already possesses the kind of presence that Strawberry had, the kind of aura that caused other players to stop and watch him take batting practice. When he and teammate Freddie Freeman were promoted to Double-A, Wellman sensed that the entire Mississippi team began drawing some adrenaline from the young slugger, some confidence. "The whole ballclub feeds off those guys," Wellman said. "We'd been struggling in the first half, and they changed the whole complexion around the team, the whole environment. Everything became better."
Heyward's personality has a lot to do with that, Wellman believes. He is the son of two Dartmouth College graduates, and his manager finds him to be humble, understated. "It's obvious his parents did a tremendous job with him," Wellman said. "He's very mature for his age. He's as humble as can be, and I hope he stays that way, because he's an absolute pleasure to be around."
A lot of Braves veterans have been erratic of late. Mark Bradley wonders if the Braves should think about going to the kids -- and decides: No.
• I asked Atlanta GM Frank Wren about the Braves' pitching prospects who had made long strides this year (beyond the obvious answers like Kris Medlen and Tommy Hanson). "Julio Teheran has made the adjustments to go along with his obvious talent. He was just promoted to Rome in the South Atlantic League. We have a young power reliever, Craig Kimbrel, who has gone from Low A to AA this year with a 96-98 mph FB and a very good breaking ball. Another pitcher that has really come on is left-handed starter Jose Ortegano at AA, as well."
Wednesday, August 5, 2009 | Feedback | Print Entry
The conversations between the managers and the opposing third basemen occur organically in the minors, because the manager is often in the third-base coaching box and there is time to kill between innings, between pitches. But over the last month, a handful of third basemen in enemy uniforms have turned to Mississippi Braves manager Phillip Wellman (perhaps best known for this) and said the exact same thing: "He's 19? That's unbelievable."
Who is unbelievable at 19? To find out -- and to learn why the Rays might be ready for a late-season push now -- you must be an ESPN Insider. Insider
The player they're referring to is Jason Heyward, the 6-foot-5, left-handed hitting outfielder who is wrecking Double-A pitching as if he were a major league All-Star on a minor league injury assignment. Heyward, who turns 20 on Sunday, is batting .422 in 27 games since being promoted from Class A, including 11 doubles, two triples and four homers. He has an on-base percentage of .505, and an OPS of 1.227.
But at the core of his extraordinary potential is his plate discipline. Heyward is such a good prospect that he probably could get away with being a free swinger, Wellman mused.
"But he has a tremendous approach at the plate," Wellman said. "He doesn't swing at bad pitches." As a result, Heyward has 15 walks and only 10 strikeouts.
"I feel very, very fortunate to be the manager who keeps an eye on him every day," Wellman said. "He's some kind of special. I keep sitting back and waiting to find some sort of weakness, and I don't see it."
He can throw. He can play defense. He hits for power. He hits for average. In the first game of a doubleheader earlier this week, Heyward was on second base and a swinging bunt was hit in front of Montgomery third baseman Chris Nowak -- a do-or-die play for Nowak. He rushed it, reached down -- and it got past him, no more than four or five feet. But that was enough for Heyward to round third, sprint home and cross the plate without a throw.
Heyward didn't start in the second game of the doubleheader, but when he entered the game as a pinch hitter, he smashed a line drive right up the middle. It hit the pitcher's glove, Wellman reported, went straight up and was barehanded. "I think the ball caught him," Wellman said.
Wellman had gotten the message to do this interview early Tuesday afternoon, and before returning the call, he thought about a question that he assumed I might ask him: Whom does Heyward remind Wellman of?
He was right. I did ask him. But before he answered, I told Wellman that I had seen Heyward play an exhibition game for the Braves in spring training and thought he strongly resembled a player from the past. "But I'm not going to say who, because I'm curious to see who you think," I added.
Wellman paused. "I tell you what, in terms of the tools and talent, the fact that he can run and he's big, he reminds me of somebody I saw a long time ago. Darryl Strawberry."
Exactly, I responded -- that's exactly whom Heyward reminded me of, because he's so tall and left-handed and so angular in his strength. "But I think Jason is bigger than [Strawberry] was," Wellman said. "He's not quite as long and lean and skinny as Strawberry. He's bigger."
He also, at a young age, already possesses the kind of presence that Strawberry had, the kind of aura that caused other players to stop and watch him take batting practice. When he and teammate Freddie Freeman were promoted to Double-A, Wellman sensed that the entire Mississippi team began drawing some adrenaline from the young slugger, some confidence. "The whole ballclub feeds off those guys," Wellman said. "We'd been struggling in the first half, and they changed the whole complexion around the team, the whole environment. Everything became better."
Heyward's personality has a lot to do with that, Wellman believes. He is the son of two Dartmouth College graduates, and his manager finds him to be humble, understated. "It's obvious his parents did a tremendous job with him," Wellman said. "He's very mature for his age. He's as humble as can be, and I hope he stays that way, because he's an absolute pleasure to be around."
A lot of Braves veterans have been erratic of late. Mark Bradley wonders if the Braves should think about going to the kids -- and decides: No.
• I asked Atlanta GM Frank Wren about the Braves' pitching prospects who had made long strides this year (beyond the obvious answers like Kris Medlen and Tommy Hanson). "Julio Teheran has made the adjustments to go along with his obvious talent. He was just promoted to Rome in the South Atlantic League. We have a young power reliever, Craig Kimbrel, who has gone from Low A to AA this year with a 96-98 mph FB and a very good breaking ball. Another pitcher that has really come on is left-handed starter Jose Ortegano at AA, as well."
