See the 44 Greatest Atlanta Braves here.
Righthanded Hitting, Righthanded Throwing Shortstop
Seasons With Braves: 1987-1996
Stats With Braves: .268/.355/.415, 109 HR, 601 R, 461 RBI
There’s already been some talk about Blauser in the comments, and some people will think that this is too high. If anything, it is too low; judging only by offensive statistics, Jeff Blauser was the best middle infielder in Atlanta history. I rank him lower than Furcal and Giles because I docked him for defense, baserunning, and inconsistency, but I really don’t know that this can be sustained.
On the master list of Atlanta Braves runs created, which is where I looked first to sort out the members of this list, Jeff ranks seventh. Now, he’s not as far above average as some, but he’s more above average than Furcal, and his career is a lot longer than Giles’. He’s sixth on the Atlanta hits chart and twelfth in home runs. Six players have at least 1000 hits and 100 homers in Atlanta, and he is one of them.
Blauser had two big seasons, 1993 and 1997; they are two of the three best offensive seasons by an Atlanta shortstop (the other being Furcal in 2003) and quite likely the two best. During the years Blauser played at least semi-regularly for the Braves (1989-97) the best shortstop in the NL, by far, was Barry Larkin; the battle for second is basically Blauser versus Jay Bell, and I would give the offensive edge to Blauser. So what I’m saying is that Blauser is probably ranked too low.
Jeff was the Braves’ first pick, the fifth overall, in the 1984 draft; Tom Glavine was picked in the second round that year. One thing people forget is that Blauser played more than 300 games in an Atlanta uniform before 1991. He was the first of the champion Braves to join the team, debuting in July of 1987, a month before Glavine and two before Ron Gant and Pete Smith. He wasn’t really ready, hitting .242/.328/.352, but he was already a far better hitter and defensive player than Andres Thomas was. He played only briefly in 1988 but in 1989 hit .270/.325/.410 (playing mostly third base) and a basically identical .269/.338/.409 the next season (playing mostly short).
When Schuerholz took over the team after that season, he had basically five building blocks: Justice, Gant, Glavine, Smoltz, and Blauser. (I don’t think he could have counted on Avery.) But he didn’t like Blauser’s defense, or Bobby didn’t, and the team brought in Belliard to caddy for him. Looking at the statistics, Blauser’s defense seems pretty good, but this is subject to the same doubts as all the Braves’ infielders of the eighties; a lot of balls in play means high range factors. Blauser spent the next two seasons as a half-time, or slightly over half-time, player, playing 129 and 123 games but with fewer than three PA per appearance.
In 1993, he finally got to play full-time with 161 games, though some were partial games; he also finally got left alone to play shortstop all the time and not move to cover second or third. He responded by hitting .305/.401/.436 and making the All-Star team. I should cover here the belief that Blauser only played well in contract years. In the case of 1993, this is largely fiction. 1993 was an arbitration year for Blauser; he became a free agent after the 1994 season. He earned a pretty big arbitration award, nearly doubling his salary, but he was not playing for a long-term contract.
In 1994, Blauser was not nearly as effective, getting caught up in a nearly teamwide offensive malaise (Lemke outhit both Blauser and Pendleton) and putting up a .258/.329/.382. Jeff’s 1995 was a disaster, a .211/.319/.341 line capped by being benched in the NLCS and not playing in the World Series (though I don’t know if he was actually left off the roster). The basic point was that if Blauser hit like Belliard there was no reason not to get Belliard’s bat into the lineup.
In 1996, he rebounded offensively with a .245/.356/.419 line; the offense was just about league average despite the low batting average. However, he missed half the season with injuries and pulled off the bad fielding triple crown, leading NL shortstops in lowest range factor, lowest zone rating, and lowest fielding percentage.
In 1997 his contract was running out and he responded with a big year. The criticism may be warranted in this situation. He made his second All-Star team and hit .308/.405/.482 with a career-high 17 homers. He played well in the playoffs as well, and signed a free-agent deal with the Cubs after the season. He was horrible in 1998 and adequate in 1999, and then his career ended. He too is now unemployed.
You know, this may sound like sour grapes, but I think WE could have beat the friggin’ Tigers.
The way the Tigers played, the Devil Rays would’ve had a chance. All they’d have to do is bunt to the pitcher.
Blauser was injured in the first round of the playoffs in ’95 if I remember correctly.
@3
He played in the NLDS in 1995. He played in just one game in the NLCS and none in the World Series.
P.S. I haven’t seen this posted anywhere, but RIP, lil’ Knucksie.
Blauser was left off the World Series roster because of the injury he suffered, and was replaced by Ed Giovanola, who did not get into a game.
I think he’s ranked too low – he’s ahead of Furcal and Giles, in my book.
I believe the Braves offered him some other position in the organization after they canned him as Mississippi manager, but I’m not sure what’s happened there.
I think he either is or may return to his previous role as a roving instructor.
Some interesting names on this list……
Braves- Brayan Pena, Marcus Giles, Ryan Langerhans, Oscar Villereal, Tim Hudson, Horacio Ramirez and Chris Reitsma
http://www.mlb4u.com/trade07.php
Reitsma? Only if there’s a raging market for guys who give up two baserunners and an earned run an inning.
Brayan Pena is going to make someone at the least a fine backup. Shame it’s not the Braves, but we can only play one catcher at once and McCann and Salty have first claim.
And Andruw’s on the list, too. Not that there’s any doubt he would be.
hahaha…I guess I missed him….
Shame it’s not going to be the Braves? He hasn’t been traded yet. I don’t think Schuerholz will get rid of some cheap backup catcher who hits good. I think Pena will backup McCann in 2007.
I doubt Saltalamacchia gets to the majors next year without some injury. When he is ready, then Pena goes.
That would be a good idea, but Cox has been very consistent in wanting a veteran as one of the top two catchers.
That’s why Eddie Perez is the bullpen coach now though, right? I hope.
I would say Marcus and Blauser are pretty much even. Jeff basically had two very good seasons offensively. He has an edge over Marcus for his time served in Atlanta, but Marcus is better defensively and steal more bases. I agree that Marcus should be ranked above Jeff. Furcal’s impact in Atlanta both offensively and defensive is far greater than Marcus and Jeff.
We all love Jeff more on personal level, but he is not better than Raffy and Marcus.
Actually Mac, Jeff is not unemployed. The Braves will give him another position in the minors.
I hope the Braves find another home for him. Why did they can Blauser as a manager?
I also would have put Blauser ahead of Furcal and Giles, because I think that he brought a number of ‘intangibles’ to the Braves. To be sure, ranking midldle infielders is probably quite difficult: I always thought that players such as Frank White of the Royals and Dave Concepcion were undervalued. They made great–possibly decisive–contributions to their teams, which were not always reflected in stats.
Blauser may not have had consistently great numbers, but the Braves won when he played. I believe that if Blauser had been with the Braves (or someone with his skills) during the first part of this decade, they would have had a much better record in the playoffs. With Blauser in the lineup, they did not fare as badly as they did between 2000-2005.
Did Blauser retire electively? In his last season he posted a 767 OPS at shortstop in 200 AB. Not great, but not so bad that there’d be no place for a guy in the majors, or so I’d have thought. Hmm.