re: Braves fans: Would getting a leadoff hitter help this team tremendously?

quote:

---

I think if we can find a average to solid leadoff hitter, it would make our offense a lot better. I would like to get the Astros on the phone and see what they'd sell Altuve for.

---

We ain't trading out cleanup hitter, bruh

quote:

---

I'd like to see either this...

1 - Simmons
2 - Heyward
3 - Upton
4 - Freeman

or this.

1 - Shafer/?
2 - Simmons
3 - Freeman
4 - Upton
5 - Heyward

---

Either of those would be a huge downgrade over Heyward in the leadoff spot. Schafer has a career .309 OBP, and even that is inflated by his first half last year. Simmons has a .307 career OBP and doesn't take walks. Right now his OBP is .356 this season, but I would wait a while before I put any stock in that. Meanwhile, Heyward has a .350 career OBP and even has a .311 OBP this season while struggling. He takes tons of walks, so that somewhat protects his value even when he goes into slumps. The only reason people don't like Heyward in that role is because he has power, but he's still the best leadoff option this team has.

ETA: Heyward also leads the team in SB with 4. Simmons has 0. Last year he had only 6 SB and was caught 5 times. Fun fact: BJ is second on the team with 3.