The Tigers’ Ryan Langerhans, a high draft pick (second round) who kept rising through the system because he has obvious physical gifts, but never did anything to make you think he was a real prospect. Clevlen did have a year, 2005 in High-A, in which he drove in 102 runs, but he was repeating the level and the .484 slugging percentage he put up that season looks like a typo in his career line; his career minor league slugging percentage is .421. Clevlen actually resembles several Braves minor leaguers and fringe players, like Brooks Conrad, in that he has some pop and will take a walk, but doesn’t make regular enough contact to produce many runs. His career minor league batting average is just .261.
Clevlen played just 28 games of rookie ball before starting 2003 at low-A, and handled both very well. He didn’t do too well in his first exposure to high-A, and as I said repeated the level, but on that repeat had a strong season. However, he was completely hapless in AA in 2006, but got a promotion to the big leagues anyway. In 31 games, mostly off the bench, he hit .282 and slugged .641. He started 2007 in AAA and didn’t hit at all, and went 1-10 in a September callup. He played much better repeating AAA in 2008 and had another callup in which he didn’t hit, and that seems to have solidified his AAAA status. The Braves signed him to a minor league contract this offseason. I think he was called up instead of one of the other unattractive options in Gwinnett because he hits righthanded.
Brent Clevlen Minor League Statistics & History – Baseball-Reference.com.
JC’ed (sort of) from previous…
Jon K@70 – Chipper, Escobar, McClouth, Mac, Glaus, and Diaz/Cabrera are all significantly below their career averages. Whether they “ought” to be or not is a different story, but I am sure the roster was constructed with the idea that over the course of the year all would be pretty close to that, some over, some under.
Side point – I don’t know what you mean by a “true” cleanup hitter, but Chipper has been one of the best hitters in the league throughout his career. I realize he can’t overcome the fetishist who says “but he wasn’t hitting CLEANUP!” but the perpetual problem since Surhoff/Brogna has been getting offensive production from LF and 1B for this team
Clevlen’s been quite the K King.
Man, I wish we had snagged Willingham.
Saw this as the Mets lineup for tonight. Can’t verify it.
Reyes-SS, Castillo-2B, Carter-LF, Wright-3B, Davis-1B, Barajas-C, Pagan-CF, Francoeur-RF, Santana-LHP
“What I have come to understand is that everybody believes they can be a general manager.
That makes me realize that NOBODY UNDERSTANDS WHAT THE GENERAL MANAGER’S JOB REALLY ENTAILS!”
— Steve Phillips, unwittingly defining the word “irony”
No Jason Bay? I’ll take it.
That Phillips article is full of win.
From looking at his stats, Clevlan may have a little more value than I thought. If he can hit about .260 with an OPS of .750 to .770, he’ll be passable as a 4th outfielder. Nothing to get too excited about, but it’s at least better than the Melk Dud and the others we have in AA/AAA. Playing all of positions is a plus, but I wonder how good of an outfielder he is – especially in center.
Langerhans’ career minor league line: .269/.361/.420.
Clevlen’s: .261/.341/.421.
Langerhans’ career major league line: .232/.335/.380.
Not sure what that tells us Mac, without any park context, or that Langerhans got a couple of 250 PA minor league years at 28/29 that artificially boost his totals.
If Clevlen matches Langerhans’ major league production and can play center field — well, it’s not very good, but we’ve certainly had worse reserve OFs.
Ceiling — Darren Bragg, 2002
Floor — Darren Bragg, 2003
7,
The average NL corner outfielder’s OPS was .781 last year. If he can post an OPS of .750-.770, he’s probably good enough to start somewhere. I don’t think he will, though. Strikes out a ton and has mediocre secondary skills.
Regarding his fielding, he can run and throw. I think he’d be able to handle center. Don’t know yet, though.
1. Prado 2B, 2. Heyward RF, 3. Jones 3B, 4. Glaus 1B, 5. McCann C, 6. Hinske LF, 7. Escobar SS, 8. McLouth CF 9. Medlen P
I think Bobby’s getting the hang of this lineup thing.
That’s a revised lineup because earlier it had Cabrera instead of Hinske.
14, Thank God.
12, I always appreciate the lineups being posted on the Journal. Thanks for doing that.
The first lineup was the correct one. Hinske’s out, Melky’s in.
Frenchy batting eight. Love it.
Bobby is playing the hot hand or sitting the stone cold sucking the life out of the team one. Whatever, I’m good.
edit: damn it.
Son of a Bitch. I’ll be watching women’s lacrosse tomorrow night instead of the Braves v Reds on Fox Sports Ohio. Its a damn conspiracy.
A guy at the barber shop told me that:
Hanley Ramirez for Yunell, Schafer and Vizcaino
is a done deal
Francoeur through 39 games:
2009
.243 .270 .355
2010
.212 .275 .364
17, the Mets changed their lineup. Pagan (CF) is batting 6th, Frenchy (useless) 7th, and Henry Blanco (also useless) 8th.
Hinske sucks against LHP, which is why he’s out.
Too bad there isn’t a real right-handed option. Not that Infante is someone you’d want in LF a lot, but he’s probably our best option against LHP right now.
braves14 – have you seen Melky’s numbers vs LHP? 5-36 .139/.285/.229 I believe. Im fine if Hinske cant hit them, but neither does the guy playing in his place
AJC is blowing up over this Cox quote from today and rightfully so….
David O’Brien
May 18th, 2010
5:39 pm
Bobby asked whether tempted to start Hinske despite having only four ABs vs. lefties, said, “He can hit lefties” and that wasn’t reason for not starting him. So why not start him? Cox said because Cabrera hasn’t played in a while.
Have I ever mentioned that I really hate listening to Mark Lemke talk about baseball. Has anyone heard why Sutton is missing these games? This is the 2nd one in a row.
I haven’t played in awhile, either. PUT ME IN COACH!
Good move Cox… Bmac moves down out of 4 to 5. Let’s give Glaus a try
For those of us not suffering through these broadcasts, who’s worse, Homestar or Chip?
Shame Diaz is injured, he does well against Santana.
Powell said yesterday that Sutton was home with his kids getting them ready for the last few days or school or something like that.
I would have started Clevlen.
Language, Brian.
McCann is just not right. He’s had some horrible cuts lately.
And FWIW, Cox said absolutely the right thing. You don’t say, “we, like everyone else in this league, know that Hinske can’t hit lefties, so we’re benching him today. And as long as the lineup spot is going to waste, might as well let Melky take some cuts to see if he can at least get back to mediocrity.” Instead, you say what Cox said. It’s as simple as not undermining your players.
Game tracker shows the ball McCann just struck out on being in the opposite batters box and low.
I’m getting very concerned about the vision.
It was a pretty nasty breaking ball.
BTW, I emailed Joe Posnanski, and he too expects Jeffy to be fitted for a Royals uniform in the near future.
Wow. That could been two runs in, runner on 2nd, nobody out easily. 😀
I doubt Rany Jazayerli is still willing to advocate a Frenchy trade to the Royals, as he was in June of last year.
Yeah, I rather embarrasingly remembered Poz as advocating that.
Cleared the pitchers spot. Good job, Nate.
This whole Chipper/McCann/Escobar not hitting thing is getting very old.
@29
Thanks, man. I’m glad there’s nothing wrong with Don. On a related note, I’d love for Glavine to be given a greater role on the broadcasts. I’ve been really pleased with him so far. He seems to have a natural talent for it.
Ka-boom.
Hot damn.
This Glaus guy is alright.
And Santana pushing 60 pitches through three. I like it.
csg — I’m very aware of that. That is why I said Infante was the best option.
#46 oh I agree, didnt see that part either
Wren took a lot of crap for the Glaus signing, seems to be a very solid move so far.
Atta boy Yunel
At least Escobar still has more walks than strikeouts.
And as I say that, he gets a hit.
GJ, Yesco! Cleared the Melky!
He didn’t take any crap from me. As others pointed out at the time, when you are on a budget, a guy like Glaus is the kind of low cost/high upside move you have to be looking for.
I think we can safely say Santana is laboring here.
Take one for the team, Melky!
#50 – yep, exactly
thats probably the longest ball Ive seen Melky hit
OMFG, They’re letting Lemke do PbP. I hope the fool responsible for this decision has to listen to this crap.
I wonder if the Braves and Smoltz would consider a signing in June a la Clemens with some time getting ready in the minors, with the idea of him replacing Lowe or KK.
@26
Great call dude haha
Medlen is doing well so far tonight — 4 shutout IP, 1 BB, 4 K
56 — You do know batting order has little effect on optimizing runs, right?
FWIW, that’s the first run the Mets have ever scored off Medlen (10.1 IP).
And Francoeur was 0 for 21 before that one.
It’s more me beliving Glaus is the power in our lineup at the moment than it is about the batting order. The fact he he’s batting 4th is the icing on the cake
I hate Francoeur.
I told you guys we should have kept Jeff.
@54
Take a lesson out of what not to do from RyanC. Don’t glout about how “well” someone is doing. It always comes back to bite us in the rear end haha
Well crap. You still have to like your chances for the rest of the way. I’ll take a 2-2 game against Santana in the 5th at home.
He still sucks.
Sounded like some Braves “fans” cheered that Francoeur homer. Losers.
66, Must be Bring Your Teenaged Daughter To the Game Night.
Francoeur thinks he just validated his contract.
Chipper hasn’t homered since Lyndon Johnson was in office.
I heard a good bit of jeering, and they threw the ball back.
Glaus looks like he’s 3 or 4 times as big as Johan at this angle.
And capping off a season where they lose 70 games, the Nets manage to lose the NBA lottery, too. They’ll pick 3rd.
Talk about some bad luck…
Come on let’s give chipper some credit. His last homer was off Doug Drabek, not too long ago. Wait…
The Braves simply must win this game. The thought of 0-5 against the Mets, and Francoeur and his %$#&-eating grin, would really suck.
Come on boys, get Kris a run and a W here – he has earned it.
@74
i always assumed a shiteating grin wouldnt look so sparkly. no?
We’re out-Francoeuring Francoeur here.
Melky blows.
From the Urban Dictionary:
A ****-eating grin is a very wide and, to the outside observer, stupid looking grin, usually showing smugness, self-satisfaction, or inner humor.
Here we go. Come on Kris.
I don’t think I can stomach Francoeur coming through here. How about a DP?
Moylan should not throw him a strike.
Frenchy!
That’s our Jeffy!
Like clockwork. Let’s win this.
Suck it, Jeffy.
There’s the Frenchy we know and loathe.
haha outta boy JEFFY!!!! I love cheering for Jeffy GIDP’s!! It doesn’t make me throw up anymore
84 — That’s their Jeffy!
Is there a plane to catch?
Is Prado’s Walk-Up song ‘Hey Macarena’?
Hibernation Mode in full effect.
Well, it is Santana.
ESPN has Atlanta at a 52% predicted winner. I think we’re good, guys.
Ok, besides the fact that he played and played and played even though he sucked (which wasn’t his fault) was quoted often, again not his fault, had a commercial, not his fault, and was the face of the franchise, not his fault. And acted like an entitled spoiled brat when the Braves tried to correct his defective play why do we hate Jeff Francouer so much? Just asking.
Because he was a whiny baby who moaned to the press about how terribly he was being mistreated when the Braves finally demoted him.
I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or not, Johnny, but I have actually wondering why I don’t like Jeff so much. I think it’s his unwillingness to change. Clearly things aren’t working, and yet he continues to do the same thing. Other than that, he’s not a bad guy.
Saito has been a nice signing by Wren.
No doubt Santana’s thinking he’d have gotten a win for sure, if it weren’t for that Medlen kid…
Part of it was sarcasm but part of it is me really asking why we, as the best and most knowledgeable Braves fans, IMHO, spend so much energy hating what seems to be a nice kid trying his best.
We all know he sucks but really, you could build a huge list of players that have earned millions of dollars playing baseball that were terrible at the game. Yet they continued to earn those dollars based on one small flash of brilliance.
This ump is a douche.
If Jeffy had the same attitude KJ had after being demoted, I would have no problems with him. It’s his stubbornness and stupid approach to the game that angered me.
@101
Yeah, total douche.
In the game of professional baseball, where it seems like everything can be misconstrued as disrespect, why are strike 3 calls like that not frowned upon?
Meanwhile, that’s sixteen outs in a row by the Braves.
Just psycho analyzing myself here but I spewed a lot of vitriol out about the kid just out of frustration that Bobby kept playing him. It drove me nuts.
Rob, you are right. KJ handled his situation like a professional, admitted he was sucking, did what was best for the team. Huge contrast.
@95
That’s pretty much been my position as well. The whining about the demotion thing is just post hoc justification. There are tons of terrible baseball players out there. It’s just that most teams have the good sense not to play them. I really feel kinda sorry for Francoeur that he has all these expectations about his ability that he’ll most likely never be able to meet.
All those horrendous Francouer ABs that we suffered through should be blamed on Bobby Cox and Braves mgmt. not Francoeur himself.
101 & 104—Totally agree.
We need some of Wes Helms clubhouse leadershsip.
“C’mon fellers, let’s give em hell!”
this ump at 1B is a douche also, he’s missed 3 calls
great job blocking the ball in the dirt BMac, when you can throw 100 make them hit it
why wouldnt you walk Wright? nevermind, I see now
That one got McCann in the balls.
Oh man, that slow mo shot was brutal.
planning on having kids, brian? might choose another profession.
maybe it was a pop in the gonads that brian needed to get going.
Brian is now a soprano.
He is due up first.
Poor guy. I thought he was coming out for a second there. That was sheer agony on his face.
huge billy huge
God dang that had to hurt. braves.com had a look in. Groin injury indeed.
That must not have been a direct hit, because if it was, I don’t know how he could stay in.
is anyone else having issues with mlb.tv?
no shot in the nads: 1/4 year slump
shot in the nads: batting 1.000
coincidence?
I think I’d bunt with Yunel.
Please let Hinske hit for Melky, Chino.
he will.
Now you bunt with Melky.
i take that back…he probably wont. he knows melky’s gotta get going.
nvm…melky’s bunting surely.
Well, now Melky can bunt.
Maybe Melky will get hit in the nuts here..
Does anyone think Melky can avoid hitting into a double play here?
Let Melky swing away! haha
Melky sucks.
MELKY!
MELKY?!? Does not compute.
I’ll take it!!
That works.
Melky!?
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! LET THE MELK MAN SWIIIIIIIING AWAY
That was lucky.
Melky still sucks!!!!
good…we needed that.
Melky needed that
Horrible 9th for Wright, but Ike Davis wussed out of that play.
I’ll take it….great start by Medlen tonight.
As for the play, Wright had a tough play to make and his 1B didn’t help him at all there.
143, Completely agree.
Recapped.