Braves phenom Heyward makes team, will start

The Atlanta Braves have high hopes for the 2010 season, and they are going to be an exciting team to watch, particularly in light of the announcement by Bobby Cox that 20-year-old outfielder Jason Heyward will be starting in right field. Heyward was considered to be the top minor league prospect in all of baseball, and he has ripped it up in spring training, batting .366 with a home run and five RBIs, and he has a .500 on-base percentage. In 2009 Heyward captured the minor league player of the year award from Baseball America batting a combined .323 with 17 home runs at three different levels of the farm system.

Bobby Cox has announced that he is going to retire after the season, and he has said all along that Heyward will get every chance to earn a starting position during spring training.

“How could we keep him off the team?He’s done everything this spring. He’ll be in there every day. With him, it doesn’t matter if a lefty or a righty is pitching. He makes us a lot better. He doesn’t just hit, he can do it all. And his makeup is off the charts.”

The Braves enjoyed a truly incredible run of fourteen consecutive division crowns until the Phillies seized control in 2007, but this group would like nothing better than to send Cox into retirement on a high note. Heyward will complement a solid lineup that added slugger Troy Glaus and ex-Yankee Melky Cabrera during the off-season, and their pitching looks tough. The top four pitchers in the Braves starting rotation will be Tommy Hanson, Jair Jurrjens, Tim Hudson, and Derek Lowe, so they should be able to keep the team in a lot of ballgames. The Phillies present a formidable obstacle, but the Braves should be a major factor in the National League East