JOSH BROWN COLUMN: Can Braves be better in 2015?

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Everyone seems to be predicting the Atlanta Braves are going to be worse in 2015 than they were in 2014.

In 2014, the Atlanta Braves were second to last in almost every offensive category in baseball. However, the Braves had the fifth best ERA in baseball, and their pitching has improved this off-season. The 2015 Braves will be better than the 2014 Braves.

The Braves have a good chance to be contenders this year. They’ve got strong pitching, great veteran presence, speed and defense and contact hitting. Sounds like 1991 all over again.

Am I predicting them to go to the World Series? Of course not. But, I’m saying this team is stronger than the talking heads are giving them credit for.

I haven’t been a believer in Christian Bethancourt until this spring training. If Bethancourt can hit, it’s a game changer for the Braves in 2015.

Not only is he showing he can hit, he’s also athletic. Athletic catchers do not come around often. In general, your major league catcher looks like Brian McCann — a guy who has a little power, frames pitches well and calls games.

If Bethancourt’s athleticism allows him to do more than this, it will be huge for the team.

I still miss Evan Gattis, and I may not ever get over it. If Bethancourt can raise his batting average and throw almost everyone out, which is what scouts are saying that he can do, I’m in.

The Braves also got better this off-season by picking up Nick Markakis. If you think Jason Heyward is better than Markakis, then you are wrong. Very wrong. Heyward cannot hit .280 with a beach ball.

Markakis hits .280 in a bad year.

Heyward cannot hit lefties. Markakis is a massive offensive improvement in right field.

“But Heyward is a better fielder.” Markakis also won a Gold Glove last year.

“So you’re telling me that Markakis is just as good defensively and is much better offensively?” Yes. Markakis plays baseball better than Heyward plays baseball.

The Braves still have some questions surrounding second base. If Opening Day was tomorrow, I’d take Jace Peterson at second base all day long.

Whether it’s him or Phil Gosselin, the team’s in better shape than last year. Both players can get on base, and they don’t like to strike out.

Remember the column I wrote last year predicting Peraza to be the future in center field?

The Braves are currently teaching him how to play center field in Gwinnett. So, we’ll see.

The bottom line is the 2015 Braves are going to be as good as Fredi Gonzalez manages.

If Gonzalez platoons second base while Peterson is raking, then the team’s in trouble.

If Gonzalez plays Melvin Upton Jr., when Eric Young Jr. is laying out for plays and getting on base, then the team’s in trouble.

If Chris Johnson is struggling offensively, and Gonzalez continues to play him every day, then the team’s in trouble.

If Gonzalez takes out a pitcher in the seventh inning during a no-hitter, then the team’s in trouble.

So many of Gonzalez’s questionable moves in the past might be attributed to Frank Wren.

Us measly fans without the inside track may never know the inside dynamic of that operation. Hopefully, Wren influenced those questionable moves, and Gonzalez will be better off without him.

Gonzalez has already been ejected from a spring training game, which makes me excited.

Based on what I’m seeing in spring training and the off-season moves, the Braves have the ingredients for a really good team.

They have a great pitching staff, some passionate veterans who like to fight and some low strikeout contact hitters who get on base. Sign me up.

Let the National League East and every other writer completely dismiss the Atlanta Braves. We like it that way, actually.

Source: Rome News

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