Draft Profiles: Blake Beaven

Blake Beaven

Height: 6'7

Weight: 210

Birthdate: 1/17/1989

City: Irving

State: TX

Position: SP

B/T: R

Physically, Beaven is a scout's dream. He stands an imposing 6 foot 7 and wieghs 210 pounds. He is an above average athlete. He has a fastball that currently sits in the low to mid 90s and has touched 97. With his frame he could add another MPH or 2. He has a great sweeping slider. But he needs to become more constistant with it. It does project as an outpitch. He needs to develop a change-up. He has command of his pitches. My only concern with Beaven is the way he throws his slider. It puts extra stress on his elbow. He profiles as top of the rotation starter. He compares favorably to Roy Halladay.

Draft Prospets: Heyward & Main

With the MLB Draft less then a month away, Braves-report.com will start to profile some of prospects that fit the Braves profile. Today the two who should be #1 and #2 on the Braves Draft board are Jason Heyward and Michael Main.
Jason Heyward

Height: 6'4

Weight: 220

Birthdate: 8/9/1989

City: McDonough

State: GA

Position: 1B

B/T: L

Strong hitter from the left side of the plate. He should hit for both average and power. He has tremendous power and power potential. Has slightly above average speed. Has great instincts. Extremely patient hitter. Almost too patient. Currently plays centerfield but will most likely be a first baseman. He could be a run producing middle of the order hitter. When he matures and gets a few years under his belt he should be a left-handed version of Derek Lee.

Michael Main

Height: 6'2
Weight: 180
Birthdate: 12/14/1988
City: Deltona
State: FL
Position: SP
B/T: R
Main may be the best pure athlete in the draft this year. He has a fastball that has touched triple digits according to some reports. Good command of all pitches. Has a slider that kind of looks like a hard slurve that hit 84 on the gun. He has shown great poise on the rubber and has mound presence. His delivery is a concern. It places max effort on his arm. His wind-up is very slow before he begins speeding up his body through his delivery. If he stays healthy and develops, he could be an ace. He is also a hitter who would be a first round pick without his arm.

532, 6005, 5,1

532, 6005, 5, 1
By chipperboy1, Braves-Report.com

532. That's the number of wins that John Smoltz and Greg Maddux will have combined when they face off against each other tonight.

335- Number of games that Greg Maddux has won during his career.

197- Number of games that John Smoltz has won during his career.

5- That's the number of Cy Young Awards that the two have combined.

4- Number of Cy Young Awards that Greg Maddux has won.

1- Number of Cy Young Awards that John Smoltz has won.

6005- Combined Strikeout total for Greg Maddux and John Smoltz combined.

3191- Career Strikeouts for Greg Maddux.

2814- Career Strikeouts for John Smoltz.

308- Greg Maddux's Career ERA.

3.28- John Smoltz's Career ERA.

154- Number of games that John Smoltz has saved during his career.

0- Number of games that Greg Maddux has saved during his career.

May 16, 1990- First Maddux-Smoltz encounter. Maddux walked Smoltz and John came around to score one of the Braves 3 runs in that game. The Braves won, 3-0, and it was Smoltz's first career shutout.

8- Number of consecutive losses that Maddux suffered after he lost that game, which remains the longest stretch of his career.

July 10th, 1992- Date of the last Smoltz-Maddux pitching matchup.

4-0- The score of that Braves-Cubs game, in which Smoltz knocked in a run off of Maddux.

24- Age of Greg Maddux that day.

24- Age of John Smoltz that day.

41- Age of Greg Maddux now.

40- Age of John Smoltz in 6 days.

2-1- The advantage that Smoltz has over Maddux in their "rivalry." Both of his wins were complete games.

4- Years since Maddux has pitched at Turner Field.

10- Number of divisions the two helped lead the Braves to (1993-2003).

391- Number of wins combined that the two won as Braves.

2/3- Two-thirds of the greatest starting pitching trio in Baseball History. Heck, it's probably the greatest trio in Sports history.

1- Number of Games that should be watched tonight.

5th Starter

5th Starter

chipperboy1

Coming out of Spring Training, I thought that we had the best pitching staff, from 1-5, in the Major Leagues. Actually, I thought 1-6 would be more appropriate. Smoltz was obviously the #1, after that it was Hudson, James, Davies, Redman, and Cormier. I thought that the signing of Redman in the wake of the Hampton injury was another classic John Schuerholz move reminiscent of the Jaret Wright waiver claim. I thought that if one of our starters went down, we’d have more than enough help to keep us with 5 starters in order to fill the rotation.

I thought wrong.

The Redman signing, so far, has been a colossal bust that is more reminiscent of an Albie Lopez-type deal than a Jaret Wright deal. And it isn’t because the Braves haven’t been giving him run support either. It’s been his ability not to hold a lead, and his penchant of allowing too many men to reach base. He can’t seem to pitch consistently. Now, this isn’t really Bobby’s fault, JS’s fault, Roger’s fault, or anybody else associated with the Braves fault except Redman. I think he didn’t have the right mindset to pitch coming into the year, which you definitely need when playing for the Braves.

Now, the question is, who replaces him? It’s obvious that he needs to be dropped, and he’ll probably end up being released. Well, Cormier is the obvious answer. But say he pitches poorly coming off the DL, which has happened before (don’t get me wrong, I want him to pitch well). Who replaces him in case that occurs? Here are my options:

1. Oscar Villarreal, partly because of the fact that he is our innings reliever who can do a solid job in starting if needed. He didn’t pitch badly last night either.

2. Anthony Lerew, probably because of the fact that he’s done it before.

3. Matt Harrison, because he has been so dominant down in the minors the last few years and has been compared to the next Tom Glavine.

4. Pick up another Pitcher through FA or Trade. It was rumored during Spring Training (on pure speculation) that we’ve been interested in Carl Pavano, but I seriously doubt JS would be willing to do that, and the fact that the Yankees pitching staff has been dropping like flies doesn’t really help that cause either. Maybe a Brian Lawrence-type could be intriguing for JS. It’s been mentioned before. They could drop Redman and pick up Lawrence.

5. Another minor-league pitcher that I forgot to mention could be used here. I couldn't think any more off the top of my head.

I honestly hope that Cormier comes off the DL perfectly healthy and in good form, but I just wanted to give some options as to what is after him.

What do you all think? Post your feedback on Braves-Report.com