Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
Sadly enough, some people were pleased when B.J. Upton had to go to the 15-day disabled list. After all he has struggled for a good deal of the year so we all might as well pray for him to get injured right? I’ll resist rolling my eyes at that sentiment and move on to the measures the Atlanta Braves will be forced to take until Upton returns. It won’t have anything to do with Jordan Schafer. We can forget about Schafer for another three to four more weeks with his ankle injury. David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported this on his twitter page.
#BravesHeyward to play CF till BUpton back, wanted to be sure leg fine before does that. In there Mon.— David O’Brien (@ajcbraves) July 21, 2013
It might seem like a strange idea for Jason Heyward to play center field but he actually has played there for a handful of games in the minors and a has seen some action there at the major league level as well. Usually the results have been pretty good with 0 errors in 5 changes at the MLB level and 1 error with 2 assists in 17 games in the minor leagues. Considering how much quicker Heyward is on his feet with the lighter frame he sports right now, he should be just fine in center field.
It is going to cost the Braves his bat for another game though because they want to be sure he is ready to leg out the large center field area before putting him out there, as you see above. Unfortunately the part of this that could backfire on the Braves is the fact that Heyward will probably do fine out there and his bat will probably be fine as well. That could only be a problem if people start to claim that the Braves do not need B.J., which they will. Hopefully when the entire Braves outfield is healthy again, they will be better than ever.
David Miller is a Senior Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @davidmillerrant, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google Plus.
