Management to Blame for KJ’s Results?

In 2007 Kelly had the exact approach that Chipper mentioned in this article. Going into last season Pendleton and Cox preached being more aggressive in order to limit the strikeouts. The results were a higher batting average, lower on base percentage, lower slugging percentage, and less home runs. He saw almost 200 less pitches last year compared to the season before despite having 6 more plate appearances. I can’t directly blame anyone but Kelly for this, but when a coach preaches aggressiveness and not patience it is easy to see how much this can change a hitter over the course of a full season.

KJ in a Platoon?

…posted by Ben Duronio

Can someone actually try and make sense of this platoon that Kelly Johnson is in with Omar Infante?

I just don’t see where Bobby gets the idea that Kelly shouldn’t play vs. lefties while Infante is insanely worse against them.

Omar Infante

vs. RH, .256 AVG/.301 OBP/.387 SLG
vs. LH, .248 AVG/.291 OBP/.382 SLG

Kelly Johnson

vs. RH, .263 AVG/.353 OBP/.405 SLG
vs. LH, .279 AVG/.363 OBP/.447 SLG

Kelly is better both vs. RH and vs. LH. Hell, Infante himself is better vs. RH than LH! This platoon is beyond ludacris, and I really can’t understand Bobby’s methodology with this.

Kelly Johnson and Matt Diaz

…posted by Ben Duronio

Kelly Johnson and Matt Diaz are the two most under-rated players in the Braves every day lineup. The importance of these two in this lineup is also under-rated. The Braves and all other organizations know what they’re going to get from guys like Chipper, Teixeira, McCann, and Francoeur. They know these are the hitters that drive in the runs and can truly put teams away.

With Kelly Johnson we have a player who at the top of his game is at the second tier of his position in terms of performance.

The first tier 2nd Basemen-

Chase Utley
Robinson Cano
Brandon Phillips

The second tier 2nd Basemen-

Jeff Kent
Orlando Hudson
Dustin Pedroia
Ricky Weeks
Brian Roberts
Kelly Johnson

Many sports writers and fans across America may not quite view Kelly as a second tier 2nd basemen. If you analyze the stats however, it is clear that he is comparable with all of the other players. Having the 5th highest OPS of all second basemen in baseball proves that he is a premier second baseman. His power numbers out of the position are great and only improving. The 52 extra base hits he had last season should be improved upon this season and he should see many more at bats as he has the full time job out of the gate this season. If he is able to put up 60+ extra base hits and 20+ home runs he will not only be setting up runs for Jones and Teixeira, but he will be driving in runs at a very high rate for a leadoff hitter. Every day that goes by it looks more and more like Kelly will be the leadoff man for this team. He will be the catalyst to one of the best offenses in the league, and for his position, there aren’t many other 2nd basemen who could do as good of a job as KJ.

Diaz isn’t quite a second tier left fielder, as left field is a very productive position in the past few years with names like Soriano, Holliday, Ramirez, Dunn, and Burrell heading the pack.

Matt hasn’t had 400 or more at bats in a season yet, and if given the starting job this season he is looking at possibly 500 or more. Diaz’s stats from the past two seasons stretched accross 500 at bats shows that he is a quality left fielder who can hit for a very high average. His isoOBP is low, but that is made up for by his high average. Last season if he had enough at bats, the only left fielder with a higher batting average was Matt Holliday. It appears that Diaz will hit in the eighth spot of the lineup a majority of the time, and he will have many opportuniteis to drive in Francoeur, McCann, and Kotsay. If is able to sustain his average over the course of 162 games and 500+ at bats then he could be seen as one of the most productive left fielders in terms of Runs Created per Game.

These two players will help eachother out. Diaz should be on base frequently and Johnson will have many opportunities to drive him in. If both of these players are able to improve on their seasons last year then this lineup top to bottom will be very effective and in the top of many statisitcal categories. Here’s to KJ and Diaz continuing to fly under the radar and put this Braves lineup over the top.