Dale Murphy breaks down Braves’ outfield

Former Braves outfielder and two-time National League MVP Dale Murphy shared his thoughts on the Braves’ outfield during his week as a special instructor in spring training.

Here is his take on the center field candidates:

• Anderson vs. Schafer: “I’ve seen Josh Anderson and Jordan Schafer and, wow, talk about covering ground. [They’re] very impressive with their range. They can both go get it. Schafer’s got an arm, very impressive …. Not seeing the guys play a lot but talking to coaches, I know that Anderson knows how to play. Sometimes you can be fast and not run the bases very well. Sometimes fast guys get into more trouble than slow guys because they think speed will take care of any mistake. These guys are good baserunners.”

• On Jeff Francoeur’s approach: “Jeff is looking good. I really like the way Jeff looks swinging and working on hitting the ball the other way a little bit. He looks comfortable and aggressive.”

• On left field: “Matt [Diaz] can just flat hit. He’s got a swing that’s there every day. I know Garret [Anderson] is a proven veteran, and it’ll be great to get him healthy and have Matt healthy, too.”

• On this group’s potential to improve on power: “We’ll just have to see. Sometimes it’s something you’ve just got to let happen. You want to put a lot of good swings on the ball and [power] will take care of itself. It’s just not something you need to really think about or worry about. You’ve got to play defense, too, and I like the way they play defense. I know I never ran like them.”