Atlanta Braves: first game results of some notable top prospects
From Chipper to Acuna, there have been a lot of ‘first games’ for lots of Braves’ players that we’ve followed… some outcomes have been better than others as we look at the history.
Unless you’re just not paying attention at all, you’ll have heard that Ronald Acuna is making his major league debut for the Atlanta Braves tonight in Cincinnati – which happens to be a favorite opponent for many of our former stars to begin their careers. But how did some of those Braves’ better hitting prospects far in their own first games?
Ryan Klesko
Klesko peaked at the #2 prospect behind Chipper in both 1992 and 1994 – not a bad ranking at that. He got cups of coffee in the majors in both 1992 and 1993, though 1992 was forgettable: he was hittless in all 15 plate appearances while striking out 5 times and walking none. In fact, he only reached base once – the result of an error.
His first game was September 12th, 1992 at Houston: 1 time up and 1 time down – via strikeout. Happily, he wasn’t needed that day as Atlanta put a 9-3 drubbing on the Astros.
That time on base came during his last game that season – October 4th. Something to build on for the off-season, perhaps?
Javy Lopez
By contrast, Lopez broke in strong. In just 9 games in 1992, he hit .375 over 16 plate appearances and only K’d once.
His debut came a week after Klesko’s – on September 18, 1992. The opponent was Houston (again), but this came in Atlanta. 1 for 1 – Lopez broke in with a double that day.
Unfortunately, that was too little and too late since Houston smacked the Braves around for a 13-3 count.
As for his prospect ranking, Chipper was still number 1 in 1993, but Lopoez sneaked in at the #2 prospect ahead of Klesko for that year.
Chipper Jones
Today, the hype is all about Ronald Acuna Jr, but can you possibly imagine how big it might be with the MLB Network, twitter, and cable TV coverage if Chipper Jones had debuted today instead of 1993?
Jones missed the entire 1994 season after a devastating knee injury at the end of 1994’s spring training. But the #1 overall pick from 1990 got a taste of the majors in late 1993.
On September 14, 1993, Chipper was inserted as a pinch hitter against Cincinnati and singled… 1 for 1. He made 5 other game appearances that year, but finished 2 for 3 at the plate with a walk and strikeout besides the hit.
In that game, the Braves smoked the Reds 10-3.
Andruw Jones
Once Chipper finally gave up his stranglehold on the #1 chair among Braves’ prospects, Andruw grabbed the throne for 1996-97… after being #2 in 1995.
Everybody remembers what he did in the World Series against the Yankees in 1996, but what happened before that?
Andruw’s initial major league foray came on August 15th, 1996 at Philadelphia. In that game he was 1 for 5 with an RBI. He struck out twice, but also scored after that hit as part of an 8-5 victory for the Bravos.
He would finish 1996 with a .217 average after 113 PA’s, recording 5 homers in the process.
Jermaine Dye
Dye was the 3rd-ranked Braves prospect in 1996 behind Andruw Jones and Jason Schmidt. Hit .281 for Atlanta in 1996 – his only season with the major league club.
On May 17, 1996, Dye broke in against Cincinnati with a 1 for 2 game… hitting a homer in his first AB as the Braves won 8-2 in Atlanta behind Greg Maddux.
Rafael Furcal
Raffy became the Braves’ #1 prospect in 2000 and broke in early: April 4th, 2000. He played the whole year and hit .295 over 542 PA’s.
That first game was against the Rockies – a contest that saw him go 2 for 4, though it began with a strikeout in the 3rd inning. He would later add 2 singles with both a steal and a caught stealing in a 5-3 Braves loss.
Wilson Betemit
You might not remember, but Betemit was the #1 prospect in the Braves’ system in 2001-02, and second in 20023 behind Adam Wainwright (wimper).
Betemit broke in briefly with the Braves in 2001 – on September 18 – against the Phillies in Philadelphia. His first game wasn’t terribly noteworthy since he was used as a pinch runner – not a hitter. Unfortunately, the Braves lost 4-3 on a furious late comeback by the Phillies as they scored twice in the 9th to walk it off.
The first game AB for Betemit came the next day… a strikeout in a pinch hitting role. In 4 other plate appearances that year, he was hitless – though he did walk once.
That elusive first hit had to wait a while: until May 8th, 2004, in fact.
Andy Marte
He was the #1 prospect in both 2004 and 2006 with Frenchy being the pick for 2005. Marte didn’t live up to that hype, of course, but he did manage 308 game appearances at the major league level between 2005 and 2010, mostly with the Indians.
But in 2005, he hit .140 for the Braves in 24 games and 66 trips to the plate – and was dealt to Cleveland.
His first game came on June 6, 2005 against the Los Angeles Angels (yes, there was inter-league play back then!). Marte went 0-for-4 with an RBI and a strikeout in his first AB.
Atlanta won that game 3-2, thanks to a double by Chone Figgins (remember him?) that scored Robb Quinlan. There’s a throwback for you.
Jeff Francoeur
You realize that Jeff is still just 34 years old? He won’t be 35 until next January.
Jeff, the #1 prospect of 2005, broke in big. He played 70 games in 2005 and hit .300 with 14 homers in 274 plate appearances.
Characteristically, he walked only 4% of the time and struck out 21%. But all of that – plus his defensive abilities – was good for a 3.0 fWAR.
His first game came on July 7th, 2005… a 1 for 4 day punctuated by a home run in his first MLB AB. He knocked in 3 runs and started a sensation… with that smile.
Brian McCann
In terms of prospect rankings, Brian took a back seat to both Frenchy and Marte in 2005, but it’s pretty clear who the better major leaguer really was.
That’s why I placed him in this position despite breaking into the majors between Marte and Francoeur… on June 10, 2005.
Just imagine: 3 top prospects getting their first games all within a month of one another!
Brian did well: a 2 for 4 game against Oakland with an RBI to boot. He caught an interesting mix of pitchers that day: Roman Colon, Adam Bernero, Dan Kolb, and Kyle Davies.
The Braves fell to Oakland 6-4 as the A’s broke open a close contest in the latter innings after Atlanta was up early. Yes – unfortunately, this was one of ‘those’ early games for Kyle Davies (his ML debut came on May 21st that year!) in which he gave up a grand slam.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia
With these other guys seemingly out of the way, Salty rose to the mark of #2 in 2006 and #1 in 2007. But with Brian McCann in place, the Braves show-cased Saltalamacchia for a trade… and he then became part of Braves’ lore as a piece of perhaps the worst trade in team history.
But before then, he did break in with the Braves – seeing 329 PA’s in 2007.
May 2nd, 2007 was his first game: he took an 0-for-4 with a walk against the Phillies. The Braves beat Philadelphia in Atlanta, 4-3… despite a Ryan Howard homer (but of course).
So who did he catch that day? Chuck James started, giving up 3 runs over 5 innings. Chad Paronto followed, then Tyler Yates, Michael Gonzalez, and finally Rafael Soriano.
Salty did pick up his first hits – two of them with an RBI – four days later.
Jordan Schafer
He was #1 in 2008 and began a star-crossed season – and career – with a ‘bang’ in 2009.
The Braves opened the year with Schafer in center field. he went 2 for 4 on the day – April 5th, 2009 – against the Phillies, but his first ML AB featured a home run. He filled up most of the columns, too, with a walk, strikeout… and a run and RBI, of course.
The Braves won 4-1 behind Derek Lowe.
While he may have opened the season with a home run, Schafer has only managed 11 others at the major league level since then. A wrist injury suffered early 2009 set him back immensely,
Schafer is currently bouncing around in the upper minors – and it’s a bit unclear whether he’s an outfielder or a pitcher, but at this moment, the 31-year-old belongs to the Giants.
Jason Heyward
Probably no one on this list had a more-anticipated career start than Heyward. He did not disappoint.
The 2007 first round pick hit the majors at the start of the year – even while some suggested that the Braves should consider holding him back for the 2-ish weeks required to gain that extra year of service time that we’re hearing about so much for Acuna.
But for Jason, April 5, 2010 was the day and the Cubs were the opponent… for about an inning.
Carlos Zambrano simply had nothing that day, and even after Derek Lowe gave up 3 runs in the top of the 1st, the Braves scored 3 times to match that.
Then Heyward came up.
Here’s two views of that event… one is from the polished broadcast, the second from a fan in the stands with the atmosphere already lit up from the tied ballgame as Heyward strides to the plate.
4 RBI on the day, a 2 for 5 start, and a 16-4 final score. That’s about as good as it gets.
Freddie Freeman
This is the guy drafted in the next round after Heyward. Did the Braves draft well in 2007? Yeah.
Freeman’s start wasn’t nearly as dramatic, though the results are clearly better overall. His first game came on September 1st, 2010.
It was an 0 for 3 day with a strikeout against the Mets while his mates won 4-1.
In fact, it took until Freeman’s 4th game to get a hit, and his second hit came on the 21st… leaving him at 2 for 14. But that second hit was a long homer off of Roy Halladay in Philadelphia.
You could say he’s gotten better since then.
Andrelton Simmons
Simmons was the best position player prospect in 2012 behind 3 pitchers: Julio Teheran, Arodys Vizcaino, and Randall Delgado. His thing was the glove, of course… hitting was secondary (though that’s picked up since he was dealt out West).
Simmons got his call-up on June 2nd, 2012 in Washington against the Nationals and Stephen Strasburg as the Braves fell 2-0 despite a strong outing by Brandon Beachy. He went 0 for 3 that day, though collected hit #1 the next day… and 3 more in Miami on June 5th.
He probably also had a couple of web gems, but I don’t have that video; sorry.
Evan Gattis
Gattis was never a “top” prospect (top 5-10 or so), but his rise to the majors was about 5 parts natural talent and 5 parts folklore. Still, I want him in this list because of the anticipation many of us had about his arrival.
Gattis played his way onto the club at the start of the 2013 season, and he debuted on April 3rd, 2013.
It wasn’t during his first AB, but in that first game he did homer as part of a 1 for 4 day during a 9-2 Braves’ wipeout of Roy Halladay and the Phils. And yes – he did hit it off of Halladay… a theme we’ve heard before.
What was most awesome was the “there he goes” call from his Dad in the midst of an interview during the AB.
Then there was the “ho hum – just another day at the office” bat flip as if he knew it was long gone – despite being a fence-scraper!
Dansby Swanson
Since 2013, the Braves have been a bit short on quality position players, so we imported one from Arizona. After “the trade”, Swanson immediately became the #1 prospect for both 2016 and 2017.
Swanson’s leap to the majors came on August 17th, 2016 against the Minnesota Twins. Dansby wasted no time as he collected 2 singles in 4 AB (flying out to center for his first AB), though the Braves took a clunker against the Twins – falling 10-3.
Ozzie Albies
More from Tomahawk Take
- Atlanta Braves Mailbag: New Year’s Edition
- Braves News: Atlanta makes a pair of trades, prospect debuts, more
- Atlanta Braves History: How the Red Stockings became the Braves
- Braves News: Atlanta Braves acquire Eli White from the Texas Rangers
- Atlanta Braves Swing Trade with the New York Yankees for Lucas Luetge
Albies has hit at every level he’s played, and is showing that here in the majors, too, though his start last season was a bit slow to get going.
Though he hit at a .286 clip in 2017, it took until his third game to get a safety, and indeed after 6 games he stood at 2 for 21.
Accordingly, his August 1st, 2017 break-in game went as an 0 for 3, though he did walk and score against the Dodgers in a 3-2 win for the visitors from the West.
In Total
That’s 18 top position-player prospect since 1990… essentially 30 years. Collectively, here’s the numbers:
- 16 for 57during their debut games (.280)
- 5 home runs… 4 of them during their first AB (Dye, Francoeur, Schafer, and Heyward). That’s probably the most remarkable thing about this list.
- 11 of them collected hits in their first game
Next: Braves to Promote the Big One
What will Acuna do? We’ll find out this evening.