Saturday, March 27, 2010

The Importance of Team Chemistry and Clubhouse Moral in Major Leauge Baseball


Pictured above is Jason Heyward, the 2009 Minor League Player of the year and number one overall prospect in baseball (Photo is from an outside source)

Often times people look at a MLB team and judge how good they are by their talent. While talent is a main factor that goes into becoming a World Champion a key aspect that is often over looked is the chemistry of a ball club. The 2010 Atlanta Braves are a perfect example of how this works.

Team chemistry can simply make a ball club go from good to great. Let's start by looking at superstar in the making Jason Heyward. Jason makes everyone else on the Braves better. His maturity level is far beyond most major leagures. He has one of the best attitudes of any professional athlete I have ever seen. He loves what he does, he has a true passion for the sport of baseball. He works harder than anyone in the game. Jason plays the game like it is meant to be played. He runs out every ground ball, is always hustling and giving 100 percent effort every second he is on the field. This type attitude will spread through the whole team and we will see the Braves playing with a different attitude than we have been in recent years since their playoff drought began. Jason will bring an energy level to the team that has been long missing.

The Braves also have veterans to teach players like Heyward. John Smolthz h elped to season Chipper Jones when the entered the league, Chipper will now be given the same oppertunity with Heyward. Chipper is the only player remaining from the 1995 season when the Braves won their last World Series. He is the clubhouse leader, and will season Heyward on everything he will need to know about being in a Major Leauge Ball Player. The Braves have a good mix of young players and up and coming stars like Heyward and phenom pitcher Tommy Hanson. They also have one of the most diverse ball clubs in baseball in terms of nationality; players from the United States, Japan, Netherlands, Australia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, and Venezuela.

The Braves clubhouse mood has been great throughout spring training, which will inevitably transfer over to the first game of the 2010 season. General Manager Frank Wren along with Bobby Cox both love the makeup of the ball club heading out of spring training. Come April 5 the Atlanta Braves will be set to return to dominance.

March 27, 2010 "Inaugural" Post

I am looking forward to this opportunity to provide my insight and knowledge in sports and different aspects involved within them. A majority of my posts will involve the Atlanta Braves and Auburn University, but it will not be limited to just that as I hope to cover other major sports stories going on. Only 8 days 14 hours and 18 minutes until first pitch, it is our year I can feel it.