Braves season preview: The outfield

As a preview to the upcoming Braves season, AJC staff writer Carroll Rogers breaks down the team by position. Today, the outfield.

Jeff Francoeur can single-handedly turn around the production of the Braves’ outfield. It was his struggles last year, along with injuries to Matt Diaz and Mark Kotsay, that dragged the Braves to the depths of the major leagues with only 27 home runs from its outfield.

Enlarge this image

AP

Jeff Francoeur (right) will be key to the Braves outfield’s offensive revival. Josh Anderson (left) is fighting for a spot in center.

SEASON PREVIEW

• The rotation | Spring stats
• Sutton's take on the staff
• Q&A with Derek Lowe
• More: The outfield | Murphy's take
• The infield | Lemke on infield

RELATED BRAVES LINKS

• Schedule • Beat blog • Stats

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Trying to improve his home run total of 2007 (19), Francoeur bulked up and it backfired. He hit only 11 home runs in 2008, lost his confidence and found himself in Class AA for a weekend. He finished the season hitting .239.

Francoeur revamped his batting stance this winter working with Texas Rangers hitting guru Rudy Jaramillo, and the results are showing up in spring training. If he rebounds to the 100-RBI form of 2006 and 2007, and Garret Anderson puts up his status quo, the Braves’ outfield is back on track.

Three other things to watch

• Will youth serve in center field? The Braves will turn to a youngster in center — either 26-year-old Josh Anderson (.286 (16-for-56), two homers, seven RBIs), who is out of options, or 22-year-old Jordan Schafer (.396 (21-for-53), one homer, three RBIs), their former top prospect who has pushed Anderson this spring. Anderson is more of the prototypical leadoff hitter/speedster and Schafer has more power. Either way the Braves go, there will be unpredictability, with Anderson having played just 61 major league games and Schafer never having played a game above Class AA.

The center field job likely won’t be decided until the final roster move — or maybe beyond.

• How will Garret Anderson bounce back from missing most of spring training with a strained calf muscle? That’s the first question he’ll need to answer, showing that as a 36-year-old he can get ready for the season in a week. Then it’s how will he respond to facing National League pitchers after 15 years in the American League with the Angels. The .296 career hitter is 632 hits away from 3,000 for a reason, but he’ll have some adjusting to do. He joins Manny Ramirez as the only players in baseball to hit .280 or better each of the past 14 seasons.

• When and how will Bobby Cox use Matt Diaz? Diaz has a healthy right knee, he’s 30 pounds lighter and coming off a sizzling spring training. With the signing of Garret Anderson, Cox has an everyday-caliber player in left field, so what to do with Diaz and his .318 batting average as a Brave? Cox could play it as a straight platoon, or at least get Diaz in there to rest Anderson. Anderson hasn’t played more than 94 games in the field in the past three seasons, spending the rest of his time as the designated hitter.