It has only been 7 years right? Why am I back after such a long hiatus? Because I love Braves baseball and I love minor league baseball. And those two things were pretty much everything this blog was supposed to be about back when I decided to start in many, many years ago. So where have I been you ask? Long story, but I wrote for another Braves blog (Talking Chop) for about six years as their minor league recap guy. That was fun until it became more job-ish than I really wanted. I left for a year and then was asked to return by Martin, the site manager. But then he left after two months and that was my queue to leave as well. I still visit TC, and it really is the best Braves blog out there, but it was just too rigid anymore for what I wanted to do.
So I took time off and realized that I still want to write, that I had been doing it so long, that I guess I needed to keep doing it. And then I checked the cold, dead husk of this, my original blog, and saw that it had 26 hits on July 4, 2013. WHAT?!?! And that reminded me why I wanted to do all of this in the first place: people want info about Braves minor league players and there still aren't a ton of places to find it. So I am making a comeback, and I am older and wiser than I ever was before (well at least a better writer anyways).
Lets talk about Joey Terdoslavich shall we? The Braves just called up "Terdo" (on the record? I hate that name, but unfortunately it looks like it will stick) and I am sure a lot of people are wondering what we have with him. I've always been a fan of the guy because I just have a thing for doubles hitters. He was drafted out of Long Beach State as a power hitting third baseman, and I am sure the Braves would have loved for that to work out, but Terdo is terrible in the field just about anywhere he is. They tried him at third in the minors for a couple of years but eventually he got moved across the diamond to first and then to the outfield where he has found a home.
Back to the doubles thing: he can hit them and hit a lot of them. In 2011 at Lynchburg he set the Carolina League record for doubles in a season with 52. He also hit 20 homers that year which also isn't bad. After a disappointing start in Gwinnett in 2012 he was shipped to Mississippi to get things on track and put up similar numbers to his Lynchburg campaign. He returned to Gwinnett for 2013 and put together a fantastic half season with a .318/.359/.567 line with 18 homers and 24 doubles. His June stats were the most impressive with 10 of his homers coming during the month and adding 13 walks (he had just 9 in the first two months of the season).
So what are the negatives? Well he can't really hit lefties that well (.235/.304/.382 so far in 2013). We already talked about how he can't field. And he doesn't take many walks. Although he has gradually gotten better throughout his career (going from a 6% rate all the way up to 8.8% this season). He doesn't strike out a ton either which can offset the lack of walks. Aaaaand the only positions he can play are currently manned but Jason Heyward, Justin Upton and Freddie Freeman. Even if he could play third it isn't like Chris Johnson has been a gaping hole at third.
So what we have now is a guy who could be a nice pinch hitter against right handers and someone who can spell Freddie Freeman, the corner OFs or even fill in at DH until Evan Gattis gets back.. but may not have a place on this team in the future.
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