AJC > Sports > Braves > Blog > Archives > 2007 > April > 30
Monday, April 30, 2007
Change is probably good for Langerhans
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Nostalgia aside, folks, the trade of Ryan Langerhans felt like relief to me. Gosh, with all due respect to such a nice guy, here is what my first reaction was to yesterday’s news: “ahhhhh” - like how it feels when you’ve just sat down in a hot tub.
It had gotten brutal to watch. It made you squirm in your seat or want to look away. And when you looked at Langerhans, walking by in the clubhouse, he would look away. Seemed he wanted to avoid your eyes. Painful.
Langerhans was hitting .068 (3-for-44). He had his first extra-base hit and first RBI yesterday. Together with three RBI from platoon-mate Matt Diaz, that gave the Braves the lowest RBI total among left fielders in baseball this year. Their .162 batting average was tied with the Washington Nationals for worst among left fielders in the majors.
My eyes nearly popped out of my head last Tuesday when Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez chose to walk him with first base open and two outs in the ninth inning. My eyes were still bugging when Pete Orr got to first, having driven in two runs.
Gosh, Langerhans is soft-spoken and a gentleman and not nearly as bad a player as this stretch made him look. That said, I have to think, as painful as it was to leave the team he came up with, a change has to be good for him too, just to break up what was going on.
For all intents and purposes, call-up Willie Harris would seem to be a temporary fix, someone to plug into a left field platoon with Diaz, until the Braves make a deal to bring in somebody proven.
But you also never know.
The Braves have caught lightning in a bottle before. Remember Chuck Thomas? Remember Nick Green? Come to think of it, from what I can tell, Harris has a little bit of Charles Thomas in him. (Thomas was known to be beyond media friendly, salt of the earth, regular dude.)
Harris approached me one day in spring training this year and said “Excuse me, but have we met yet? I’m Willie Harris.” He stuck out his hand. Thirteen years for me around baseball clubhouses, and that was a first.
Harris brings speed (7 steals in 17 games in Richmond), versatility (DOB writes he can play all three outfield positions, second and third) a little bit of experience (played parts of four seasons up with the Chicago White Sox and one with Baltimore), and a bat that might not have the greatest history (.238 career batting average in majors), but at least it’s got a shot at producing. He’s got a running start, having hit .362 in AAA Richmond.
The Braves always like a good glove, but left field is a place they need production, and it seems like they search out there almost every year. Check out the turnstile in the last 10 years.
Just opening day lineups alone, the Braves have played seven leftfielders in the last 10 years. (Ryan Klesko, Otis Nixon, Reggie Sanders, B.J. Surhoff, Chipper Jones, Brian Jordan and Langerhans.)
The most regular left field presence was Chipper Jones - out there from 2002, 2003 and part of 2004.
That list doesn’t include the other guys playing left field in 2004 like Eli Marrero and Dewayne Wise, who’s injury paved the way for Charles Thomas’ callup that June.
Many within the Braves organization didn’t even know who Thomas was. But he was the hot bat when they needed somebody new. He was leading the International League in hitting (.358) at the time. And he took off in Atlanta. He hit .372 in his first 28 games. He wound up hitting .288 for the Braves that season, a spark plug and fan favorite. For the season leading all National League rookies with a .378 on-base percentage.
He left in the trade that brought Tim Hudson from the Oakland Athletics.
My point is, there’s a precedent if Harris gets any big ideas.
And as a little aside, Harris is only the second player born in Cairo, Ga. to play in the major leagues. Need I say the other?
Should be an interesting day at the ballpark. We have Harris’ arrival. We have a chance to find out more about what is going on with Bob Wickman - candid as he was yesterday after another blown save when he said “I think there has to be something wrong that I can’t throw a strike.” We find out how Lance Cormier’s right triceps is doing and whether he’ll resume his injury rehab.
Oh and Hudson gets to return to the mound to try and forget that ninth inning meltdown in Florida that ruined his last start. Not to mention other things he’s trying to get off his mind like the recent deaths of his grandmother and former Auburn teammate Josh Hancock.
Stay tuned, good people.
Services »
