Key Middle Infielder Is Rough Position
The Braves have had 147 “shortstops” in their history. Those are just the ones listed on their history tab on the Atlanta Braves site. That doesn’t include utility guys or players that played some at short. We’ll stick to that 147 for this exercise.
The shortstop position is key to the middle infield and key to a defense in baseball. The guy that mans the shortstop location has to be counted on numerous times.
If you think about the Braves history, we’ve had some pretty solid shortstop in our day.
The longest tenure with the Braves organization is Rabbit Maranville as he was with the Braves from 1912-1920 and 1929-1935…a total of 15 years.
The longest consecutive tenure with the Braves is Jeff Blauser as he spent 11 straight years from 1987-1997.
Baseball is a strange game and one where you have quite a bit of turnover through the years. The shortstop position is a tough spot to hold onto. Hopefully, that guy we’ve got at short right now will be around for a while.
Looking at a recent poll
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The Atlanta Journal Constitution recently ran a poll of readers who voted on the best Atlanta Braves’ players at each of the positions of all time.
When they got to the shortstop position, the readers selected, in what the Journal said was a very close vote, Andrelton Simmons as the top Braves’ shortstop of all time, beating out Rafael Furcal.
Simmons was terrific for the Braves, but was only here for four years. So why did Furcal lose the vote?
Simmons vs. Furcal
Both Simmons and Furcal came up to the Braves when they were twenty-two. Simmons only played in forty-nine games during his rookie campaign. Furcal meanwhile, played in one hundred and thirty-one games and was National League Rookie of The Year. Furcal came up and was ready to play. Simmons came up in June while Furcal started the season in Atlanta.
While with the Braves, Furcal was an All-Star in his fourth year in the league. Simmons — somehow — was never voted to the All-Star Game. However, he did win two Gold Gloves during his time with the Braves, Furcal never won one with the Braves. So I’d say plus one for Simmons there.
The highest batting average Simmons ever had as a Brave was .289 his rookie year when he only played in forty-nine games. When playing a full season for the Braves, Simmons only topped out at .265 as a high. Furcal meanwhile had a high batting average of .295 his rookie year and never hit below .275 as a member of the Braves. Hitting from the leadoff spot too.
Simmons wasn’t really known for hitting though. At the time, we were okay with his below average hitting since his defense was so spectacular.
Simmons high for on-base percentage was .335, again in his rookie year in those forty nine games, while Furcal never had an on base percentage lower than .321 as a Brave and had a high of .394.
If you look at RBI’s for both Simmons and Furcal, the most Simmons ever had in a season with the Braves is fifty nine. Furcal’s most RBI’s as a Brave, sixty one. Both are about even in that category.
However, where I enjoyed Furcal so much was his speed. Man, he was fun to watch. He stole forty-six bases in his last year with the Braves, while Simmons had six as his most while on the Braves roster.
They were both great during their time with the Braves and both were fun to watch for different reasons. I’ll admit though, in AJC’s poll, I voted for Furcal.
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What’s your take? Who did you vote for? If you didn’t vote on AJC, who would you have voted for? Erick Aybar? Daniel Castro? Yunel Escobar? Alex Gonzalez? … kidding, kidding.