Brandon Hicks

Reportedly called up to take the place of the injured Yunel Escobar on the roster, just in case anyone misses Jesse Garcia. Drafted out of Texas A&M in the third round of the 2007 draft, Hicks looked at first like he might be a low-average power-hitting type, but a lot of the power has disappeared as he’s moved up the ladder.

In 2007, he actually hit .285 with a .414 OBP, but that was in Danville and Rome, and a college player should be dominant at that level. He went to Myrtle Beach the next year, and hit .234, but also hit 19 homers in 93 games. Unfortunately, he hit only one in 16 games for Mississippi, putting up a .241/.333/.398 line, which he followed the next season with .237/.319/.373. This year in Gwinnett, he’s hitting .179/.258/.262.

Supposedly, he’s got a great glove. I’m not totally convinced, because I don’t really trust minor league fielding statistics, and the law of backup catcher defense also applies to infielders: if they can’t hit, they must be great defensive players, otherwise they wouldn’t be playing professionally, would they? 41 of 52 as a basestealer, including 17 of 18 last year.

Lead singer of Brandon Hicks and the Contractions.

Brandon Hicks Minor League Statistics & History – Baseball-Reference.com.

108 thoughts on “Brandon Hicks”

  4. Well, there is also the thought that Bobby likes to throw these call ups right in to the fire. He should bat 9th.

  5. “bold” prediction:
    Hicks will pinch-hit for KK tomorrow and lay down a sacrifice bunt

  6. DOB says they haven’t made a decision on DL’ing Yunel yet. Or if they have, they haven’t told him about it.

    If it’s true, they made the right decision calling up Hicks rather than Thurston. I’d like to see Hicks start when Lowe does. He really is an elite defender, and we know the team is going to score a lot when Lowe pitches, regardless, because he just knows how to win.

  7. There is roughly a 0% chance Hicks doesn’t appear at a crucial moment during the coming week.

  9. If we’re lucky, all Hicks will be doing on this road trip is providing late inning defense and carrying Chipper’s golf bag out to the car.

  10. Jason Heyward’s slugging percentage is more than 100 points better than anyone else on the team. This is not a surprise, as he has nearly half (7 of 16) of the team’s homers, and nobody else has more than two… On pace for 47 homers and 155 RBI.

  11. @7 – If you multiply that by 10 I agree with you. Actually, I agree with you if you don’t.

  13. this stat keeps getting worse

    Heyward 7HR in 81AB’s

    Rest of the team 9HR’s in 729AB’s

  14. btw, Mitch Jones has homered in 3 of his last 4 games. Also hitting .350/.409/.825/1.234over his last 10

  15. Lowe knows how to win because he knows how to have his team score runs. According to Joe Morgan, some pitchers don’t know how to have their teams score runs. If the other Braves pitchers were as good at this as Lowe, we wouldn’t be having these hitting problems.

  17. @16
    No, it was a great gag. It went completely over my head.

    I kept thinking about the old band Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks.
    Surely, getting old.

  18. Well, if I never post here again it’ll be because my Computer Science final actually killed me. I swear, I’ve never been less confident about a test in my life.

  23. Even though Hicks has been one of the more overrated players in the system, its nice to see him get a chance to play in the big leagues. The best thing that I can say about his bat is that he has cut down on his strikeouts as he climbed the organizational ladder. He still has a chance to get better–but he will need to adapt quickly….

  25. if anyone had any doubt that chip caray is the worst announcer in the history of everything, skim through yesterday’s atrocities. two of the calls on heyward are so anticlimactic its absurd.
    http://tinyurl.com/28a5hvn

  26. @20

    Ububba, you regularly ate pasta following finals? That’s a strange habit.

    I just got drunk and got laid.

  27. on the infield hit, chip states that the “pitcher did his job”. i’ve watched it over and over and i cant come to a conclusion as to what he is referring to. was the pitcher’s job to take a play away from a 3rd baseman or to throw the ball away at home? chip’s stupid and confusing…

  28. Probably more lamb than pasta, actually, but “the bacchanalia were wild and mystic festivals of the Roman god Bacchus (or Dionysus). It has since come to describe any form of drunken revelry,” according to Wiki.

    In my case, it was the ’80s/Athens version.

  33. Jason Isbell’s band (from Drive-By Truckers) is called “Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit.” Ours could be “Jason Heyward and the .400 OPS’ers.”

  34. who are the realistic trade replacements for Chipper….only guys that interest me are Sandoval, Wright, Zimmerman, Longoria, AROD, Youkilis, and Mark Reynolds. I dont see any of them, outside of AROD and his contract, possibly getting traded. No way the Nats move Zimmerman here. I dont see the Angels moving Wood either. Who am I forgetting about?

  35. Of all the things I would want to be called, I’m not sure “OPS’er” is one of them.

  36. @34 – Alex Gordon just got sent down to AAA because Trey Hillman wants to play Chris Getz and Yuniesky Betancourt. Normally I’d assume he wasn’t touchable, but…Dayton Moore loves him some former Braves

  37. it was the ’80s/Athens version.

    Meaning everybody got drunk, and almost nobody got laid….

    Edit: I would tentatively support trading for Alex Gordon. The timing of his demotion is strange enough to make me wonder if something is in the works….

  38. Well, I survived, but only because the test wasn’t a living thing and couldn’t actually kill me. But, the “bacchanalia” I might indulge in this weekend might do the trick. I hate this Godforsaken place.

  39. #37
    Or meaning, “Gee, this Kool Aid tastes awful funny…”

    #33,
    Helluva songwriter, that guy.

    And my heart goes out to the Tennessee folks.

  41. I’m not convinced that Chipper is done yet. He won’t have another 2008 and he may not hit 30 homers again, but I’m looking for something like .290/.360/.410 from him this year. This will be acceptable, but nothing more. I think our only replacement will be Hinske or Infante if Chipper is done. No way we trade for a 3rd baseman before the end of the year.

  42. COMPLETELY OFF-TOPIC:

    Item A.) Ike Davis was chosen with the pick the Mets received from us when we signed Glavine.

    Item B.) The Braves were in on Heyward heavily for a good amount of time before they drafted him.

    SO. Does anyone happen to remember any free agents that year that it seemed the Braves should have been in on, but *inexplicably* weren’t? (My insinuation is, did our finger-crossing over hopes of drafting Heyward cost us a FA we could have used.)

    Not saying this hypothetical signing/non-signing was a bad move… But just wanted to consider it and don’t really know where to find old FA lists.

  43. Heyward was picked 14th overall (as ridiculous as that sounds) so that pick was protected from being lost to a FA signing.

  44. will anyone else be at the game tomorrow? i’ll be at all 3 of the series in DC and Saturday’s game in Philly…

  45. I’m glad to see someone else think it. I’m in the boat that thinks Chipper’s not done yet either. I think his hip/bursa sac thing is hurting him a lot more than he’s letting on because of his pride in the face of the Brian Jordan comments and the fact that the rest of the offense is doing so bad.

    I think he needs a few off days and/or a possible DL stint and he’d come back hitting. Just have to accept that he’s going to have 3-4 of these extended streaks we’re he either needs to sit out or his offense is going to disappear.

  46. KJNLPOM

    But would we trade for a minor league third baseman? Is the demotion of Gordon orchestrated to finesse the how-to-replace-Chipper situation?

  49. Chipper may not be done, but if he has an extended stay on the DL, the team might be. . .

  50. I don’t think Chipper is done. He was touching .300 before the losing streak. He is in a slump. Heyward just got out of a 1-20, maybe Chipper will come out of it. I think that hip is bothering him.

    The replacing Chipper issue is going to have to be addressed at some point. There is not a college bat in the draft (in our draft range) that makes sense this year.

    Mark Tehean is raking since he left KC, maybe Gordon would do the same.

    Edit: My trip to NYC last weekend could have been worse. I could have been in town when they found that car bomb.

  52. Alex Gordon might be a guy the Braves could get on the cheap. I think the Royals are ready to give up on him. He’s been battling injuries the last two years, and to the kids credit, he’s tried to play through them. They wanted him to be a savior, as he’s from just up the road in Lincoln. He wouldn’t be the first guy (Konerko for one comes immediately to mind) to flourish in new surroundings. He really needs to play a year in AAA. The Braves could package something, let him get healthy (he’s got a thumb issue right now) let him play AAA this year, and give him a shot at third or first base next year.

  54. Stu, hope that you and yours are ok. Unfortunately Middle Tennessee’s misfortune is overshadowed by the pending disaster that is about to occur on the Gulf Coast.

    Brandon Hicks and the Contractions – very funny once I got it. Took me a while. I’ve been out of the new baby business for a long time.

  55. a look at a few guys we probably never get to see real video of…

    salcedo will probably be escobar’s replacement.

  56. 53,
    That’s the plan. He’s probably 3 years away.

    55,
    Salcedo probably won’t be able to stick at SS, he’s a below-average runner. He does a lot of things well defensively, but the lack of range probably pushes him to 3B.

  58. Based on what Chipper has said, it is looking like this will be his last year. I know it is early in the year, but he just cant stay healthy anymore. No knock on him, being 38 is tough, I know.

    Prado at third next year is acceptable, it gives us some flexibility when looking to plug the holes his retirement creates.

  59. So I floated the Alex Gordon to the Braves idea on Joe Poz, and a Royals fan suggested a Gordon/Medlen swap. This is purely talking out of school I know, but what about that idea?

  60. I’m not sure there. I definitely don’t think you can trade Medlen during the season.

  62. Acosta gives up a solo shot to Laynce Nix to give the Reds a 3-2 win. Attaboy Manny.

    The 35 people still at the game in Cincinnati really seemed to enjoy it.

  65. I wouldn’t do Medlen for Gordon. And I’m really high on Gordon.

    But if the Braves have no intentions of moving Medlen to the rotation, then I would be fine with it.

  66. I will be very surprised if 1 of our 5 starters doesn’t go down for at least one month this year. If that happens Medlen is our best option. Trading Medlen during the year would be a terrible idea.

  69. Acosta’d.

    Complain about Bobby all you want, Jerry Manual again sat on KRod waiting for the save situation and sent out Manny Acosta in a tie game in extra innings. There are no words for that kind of stupidity.

  70. Good night all around for the braves. The Phillies and the Mets get beat.

    The book says to keep your closer back in the pen for the save on the road, not sure I agree with the book, but that is how most managers do it. I think the idea is that it forces the home manager to try and win now, thus making a move to shorten his pen or bench. Not saying I agree, but that is usually what happens.

    Edit: Seems like the team holding the closer back usually loses because and inferior pitcher like Acosta doesn’t get anyone out or gets taken deep.

    Also, good night at my house as my softball team went 2-0 for probably the first time in our church’s history.

  72. The book says to keep your closer back in the pen for the save on the road, not sure I agree with the book, but that is how most managers do it

    Most are getting away from it, obviously Jerry Manual is not. There’s no more treacherous situation to be in than a tie game in a walkoff situation, obviously you want your best out there.

    It’s probably fine to use your ace setup men first and hold back your closer, but to use the back of your bullpen – which typically contains Acosta-level dreck – before your closer is crazy.

  73. I watched Acosta give up that homer at a Taco Mac near Atlanta. Kind of a perfect night.

  74. Tonight, I attended the fastest-played Yankee game I’ve seen since the Stump Merrill Era—2:29.

    Not a lotta runs, not a lotta hits, not a lotta Ks, not a lotta BBs & no mound visits. Yanks got all 4 runs in one inning (3 on a Randy Winn HR) & Sabathia was, as Monty Python might say, ruthlessly efficient.

    In other words, a pretty freaky AL game.

  75. sansho – you are misunderestimating the 80’s. Especially in Athens, GA. It was the best of times and, well, the best of times.

  76. I dont like Medlen for Gordon. I would trade a minor leaguer for Gordon, not a successful Major leaguer.

  78. Oh, yeah. I don’t even know if The Book actually says that or even addresses the issue, I was just making the point that what Manuel did was pretty obviously wrong.

  80. justhank — I was there, although I plead guilty to possibly generalizing my own experience….

  81. Could we trade one of our plethora of minor league pitchers for Gordon? Say Redmond or someone of his ilk?

  82. You guys have me seriously excited over this Gordon situation. Stop it.

    80—LOL.

  83. 81-I was actually thinking something like Gearrin + Redmond for Gordon but even the Royals wouldn’t be that dumb-would they. Resop is tearing it up as a starter in AAA maybe throw him in.

  85. Alex Gordon would be a great pickup for the braves. We sure could use an immediate backup plan for chipper in case he decides to retire, otherwise the fo might try to sign infante and make him a starter.

  86. that was Acosta’s best outing as a Brave, oh wait, thats the most he’s ever done for the Braves

  87. Wren has to know that he needs power and should know that Infante/Prado isnt a sufficient upgrade. Prado is fine at 2nd, but this lineup needs a big bat or two and he’s got LF and 3B to worry about

  88. jeffy last 10 showing his true colors:
    7 for 30
    1 walk
    1 hr

    season avg: 264
    season obp: 337

  91. No, that’s just everything that’s wrong with kids.

    This is everything that’s wrong with America, from the idiotic attention whoring act to the disproportionate, heavy handed response.

  92. Gotta agree with spike.

    Seems like the country is in a Francouresque hitting slump where we’re swinging at balls and looking at strikes.

    But I gotta admit: watching a Phillie fan get tazed gives me the Bob smile.

  93. Maybe the Phils should have a pre-game duel between the taser cop & the vomit guy.

    Many years ago, a fan jumped on the field & ran around at Shea Stadium. The cops were flailing away & couldn’t catch him.

    Disgusted at the procedings, Met catcher John “Bad Dude” Stearns, a former Big 8 football player, finally ended things with a perfect form tackle on the drunken fan in the outfield.

    Asked after the game why he’d get involved with such a thing, Stearns just replied, “He’s not supposed to be on the field.”

    Stearns also apparently once chased Chief-Noc-a-Homa off the field.

  94. I hope the recovery for Nashville is quick, Stu. In the meantime, I know from first-hand experience with various natural disasters in Atlanta (the flood last year, the tornado a couple years ago) that it hurts to watch your hometown go through something like this. I’ve really enjoyed Nashville the couple of times I’ve been there, though, and I look forward to enjoying it again in the future. It’ll bounce back.

    As far as Brandon Hicks goes, I watch quite a few Gwinnett games, and I have to say, I really don’t see in him what everyone else seems to defensively. From what I’ve seen, he’s OK going to his left, but going to his right, he constantly plays the ball to the side, even when it actually takes more work to do that than to get in front of it. As such, he had two errors in one game the other day, and it very easily could have been three. So I think he is definitely an example of Mac’s theory of “if he’s that bad offensively, he must be good defensively.” Frankly, I can’t think of a regular in that lineup who deserves to go to the majors less right now.

  95. Agree with the heavy handedness of the tasering. There’s nothing wrong with a little comic relief every now and then. Would they have tasered that big breasted kissing bandit (Morgana?) in the 70’s? Hell no. It was fun, it was entertaining…we’re just too uptight nowadays.

    BTW…that dude wasn’t the only guy tasered in the game: Johan Santana, raise your left hand.

  98. I like the tazing.

    This looks like a fine alternative to some of the other between inning events at an MLB game.

    Middle of the 6th inning – time for the Taser chase.

  99. John, that is exactly what I was thinking.

    People running onto fields lost its humor, now if your streaking, at least we know you dont have a knife or a bomb strapped on yourself.

    Who was the Royals coach that was attacked?

  100. Oh good lord, I can see where this is going.

    I apologize Mac, please delete the post if you like.

  101. I thought it was either a White Sox coach or it was a Royals coach at a White Sox game that was attacked by a guy and his son. For some reason I want to say it was in Chicago.

  104. I know it’s a shocker but Heyward was named NL Rookie of the Month for April.

  105. I think the tazing thing is funny, but what I don’t get is why these teams always hire big slow fat guys to case these people down.

  106. Yeah, the Seles incident changed everything. The 1970s != 2010s. If you run onto the field now, you pretty much deserve to get tasered.

  108. The video of the guy throwing out the first pitch wasn’t so bad. He looked like Derek Lowe pitching.

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