Braun- looking like second half 2014

[reillymcshane]

Braun, maybe not the Braun of his mid to late 20's, but still a very good All-Star caliber OF. Outside shot at a Silver Slugger in the OF this year I would think.

Bryce Harper will take that award wrapped up.

[reillymcshane]

One more big month like August was and it'll be real interesting to see how close his numbers are to his "prime" years.

I thought that if he could stay relatively healthy, Braun could put up an .850 OPS. He's at .852, so he's spot on. I never really expected him to go back to being a .900-950 OPS guy (I hoped he would, but I was trying to be realistic in my brain). Age and injuries simply are going to keep him from being the player he was at 28.

 

If he can play at this level for a few years, I'd be pretty happy to have the guy as part of the team. Staying healthy is the key for him.

[FVBrewerFan]

The whole rebuilding process starts with Braun. They need to decide whether to trade him, move him to 1B, or keep him in RF. That will go a long way in figuring out how all the other dominos will fall.

[SoCalBrewfan]

It's worth remembering that the league ops is .711 right now whereas it was it was in the .750s ten years ago. I think many people's expectations haven't fully adjusted; at .852 Braun is 11th in the NL in OPS and there's only three guys over .925.

[pacopete4]

It's worth remembering that the league ops is .711 right now whereas it was it was in the .750s ten years ago. I think many people's expectations haven't fully adjusted; at .852 Braun is 11th in the NL in OPS and there's only three guys over .925.

 

 

Exactly. He's still one of the best hitters in the game. Many teams would love to have him I'm sure. Glad he's a Brewer and hope we can find pieces to put around him during his career.

[DuWayne Steurer]

One more big month like August was and it'll be real interesting to see how close his numbers are to his "prime" years.

I thought that if he could stay relatively healthy, Braun could put up an .850 OPS. He's at .852, so he's spot on. I never really expected him to go back to being a .900-950 OPS guy (I hoped he would, but I was trying to be realistic in my brain). Age and injuries simply are going to keep him from being the player he was at 28.

 

If he can play at this level for a few years, I'd be pretty happy to have the guy as part of the team. Staying healthy is the key for him.

 

 

This is where I am. I expected an .825-.850 OPS from him coming into the year, and on top of that he's on pace to play about 150 games. I think we're getting "best case scenario" for health and production. He's 31, and considering he's not a big guy, and fairly athletic, it's not unrealistic to expect to get decent production from him for at least then next 3-4 years.

 

He's sitting at 3.2 WAR right now, and should be around 4-ish at the end of the year (if his batting line stays relatively static). While that's certainly not "MVP" Braun, a 4 WAR guy is a valuable piece.

[pacopete4]

He's sitting at 3.2 WAR right now, and should be around 4-ish at the end of the year (if his batting line stays relatively static). While that's certainly not "MVP" Braun, a 4 WAR guy is a valuable piece.

 

Does him being in RF instead of LF affect him differently? Because his WAR in his MVP years would be of him being a LF. I realize he's playing RF for us now, but we all kinda know he's out of position.

[BrewCrewForever]

Braun, maybe not the Braun of his mid to late 20's, but still a very good All-Star caliber OF. Outside shot at a Silver Slugger in the OF this year I would think.

Bryce Harper will take that award wrapped up.

 

Three OF get Silver Slugger Awards. Harper is a lock, then it is up between McCutchen, Pollock, Braun, Upton, Gonzalez and Blackmon I would assume.

[torts]

considering Stanton has more HR's (27) and 67 RBI's in almost half the at bats as the rest of the OF in contention i'd be shocked if he doesnt get one of the three slugger awards.

[tmwiese55]

Yea if Stanton comes back soon and hits well to finish he would probably snag one. If he misses another 10-14 days I don't see how you can give him one when he missed so many games. McCutchen is a lock in my opinion. The remaining guys mentioned are a toss up with Braun as of now.

[The stache]

considering Stanton has more HR's (27) and 67 RBI's in almost half the at bats as the rest of the OF in contention i'd be shocked if he doesnt get one of the three slugger awards.

 

Stanton won't get one, not missing the entire second half of the season.

 

Harper and McCutchen will get two of them. It will be between Braun and A.J. Pollock. If Braun continues producing at the rate he has been, or even picks up his run production just a little (assuming people get on base in front of him), he has a real shot at 30 HR and 100 RBI. Right now, Braun's OPS is higher than Pollock's. While Pollock has more stolen bases, that won't figure into Silver Slugger. Braun has a 10 home run advantage.

[The stache]

You know, they'll probably give the third to Carlos Gonzalez, because he's been on a home run tear. I don't think he deserves it, though. He's a completely different player away from Coors. He's got a .994 OPS at home, and a .790 OPS on the road. Braun has a .772 OPS at home, and a .951 OPS on the road. He's not benefiting from some huge boost at home.

[tmwiese55]

Yea for some reason I saw Gonzalez's stats after my post in this thread, didn't realize how hot he'd gotten. I agree he'll get the third. Braun looks like 4th place as he keeps hitting.

[reillymcshane]

I was thinking they gave the award to a guy at a specific OF position - LF, CF, RF. It would seem to make more sense to do that, at least in my opinion.

[pogokat]

I can completely see Braun running like Crazy for the next three weeks to try and have a 30/30 season.

[tmwiese55]

I thought the same thing yesterday during the game. Outside shot at getting to .300 as well. I'd be curious to see his post April splits and numbers, been close to his old self since. See post ASB break is 306/382/541

[dlk9s]

Since April, he's at .291/.364/.526/.891.

 

If you tweak it to either include his last game in April or to not count the first few games of May, his numbers look even a little better, with the OPS breaking .900.

[tmwiese55]

Doesn't improve it as much as I thought. Being it was so drastically bad I thought it would bump it up a lot more.

 

Curious, where were you able to look that up or be able to pick a date etc.? I haven't been able to find a spot to do things like that yet.

[1992casey]

You can go over to this site:

 

Baseball Musings Day By Day Database

 

Search for a player, and manipulate the dropdowns accordingly.

 

This is the kind of result you'll get:

 

Ryan Braun: May 1 to Sept. 7, 2015

 

If you want to post a link or create a bookmark that stays "current," simply pick an end date that's sometime in the future.

[Baldkin]

Doesn't improve it as much as I thought. Being it was so drastically bad I thought it would bump it up a lot more.

 

Curious, where were you able to look that up or be able to pick a date etc.? I haven't been able to find a spot to do things like that yet.

 

You can do this at www.baseball-reference.com by going to "Game Logs" and then selecting two different dates, it will give you the statistics between them (inclusive).

[tmwiese55]

Thanks guys. I go on baseball reference a descent amount but didn't pick up on that yet

[pacopete4]

I can completely see Braun running like Crazy for the next three weeks to try and have a 30/30 season.

 

This would be great. I'd love that average to get up to around .290 and a 30/30 season. That would be a great thing for him to bounce into next year and beyond. Thumb or not, he can still smack the ball around. Plus, the closer he is to his MVP years, the more people realize how great this guy really is.

[reillymcshane]

A lot of Braun's improvement just seems like confidence. He looks like he's not afraid to hit the ball. Not an uncommon thing for someone with an injury. It's taken a little time to get back into his comfort zone, but now he's got that look to him that makes hitting so easy looking. Let's hope he can just stay healthy and keep hitting.

[The stache]

I can completely see Braun running like Crazy for the next three weeks to try and have a 30/30 season.

 

This would be great. I'd love that average to get up to around .290 and a 30/30 season. That would be a great thing for him to bounce into next year and beyond. Thumb or not, he can still smack the ball around. Plus, the closer he is to his MVP years, the more people realize how great this guy really is.

 

He's close to that right now, hitting .288 with 25 HR and 22 SB, top 10 in the NL In home runs, stolen bases, runs, RBI, slugging and OPS. If he has just one fairly big game, say two home runs and a couple extra RBIs, I think .290 +, 100 runs, 30 HR, 100 RBI, and 30 SB is very doable.

 

He's got 5 multi-hit games in his last six. He's seeing the ball well, and a few mistake pitches are going to go bye bye into the seats.

 

Here's what I'd projected for Braun back on April 13th:

 

I don't think moving Braun is the answer. Rather, he needs to get it through his head to play smarter. He can't be diving for balls out of his reach, or running into walls. He's become a bit fragile, and we need him on the field. My projections for him this season have been fluctuating for the last month. Now I think he hits between .290 and .300, hits about 25 home runs, and comes close to 100 RBI. I do think he will be closer to the player we are all used to seeing by the end of the season.

 

http://forum.brewerfan.net/posting.php?mode=quote&f=63&p=935036

 

That projection, at least right now, is looking pretty good.

[The stache]

Lost amidst this terrible season is Braun's power-speed numbers. He's just the 31st player in MLB history to have four 20 HR/20 SB seasons.

 

There have been nine players in MLB history with two 30 HR/30 SB seasons, Braun being one of them. If he were to do it again, he would be only the fourth player in history. Howard Johnson did it three times, Alfonso Soriano did it four times (shockingly), and both Bobby and Barry Bonds did it five times each.