Evaluating the Justin Upton Trade Very In Depth-ly
January 25, 2013 at 12:19 pm by Franklin Rabon under Atlanta Braves
An hour and a half of Franklin, Ben, Andrew and Mark rambling about life, love and Justin Upton (not that those things are different from one another). Ben says Kim-br-elle.
Opening Music: Buster by moe.
Closing Music: Gimme Some Motivation by Delta Spirit
Loading ...
can’t find the podcast in the podcast store/itunes. is this a problem on my end, or has it not been uploaded?
@john I believe Franklin said it would be up on iTunes in a couple days.
I just listened to it right off the site.
Great stuff you guys are fun to listen to
Great choice of intro song
iTunes scans the podcast host every 24 hours, so it shows up on iTunes within 24 hours of it going up there. Then there’s an occasional delay where it’s on iTunes but not searchable for all yet. But yes, it should be up on iTunes either later today or early tomorrow. That’s just how iTunes works with podcasts and there’s nothing we can really do about it. Sometimes it’s on iTunes wishing an hour, sometimes it’s a little over a day.
Really enjoyed the podcast. Great info and a fun conversation to listen to. Thanks!
Really enjoyed listening to you guys again. I hope this does become more of a regular occurrence.
I actually would like to hear Joe Simpson melt down on air after one too many Francisco/Justin Upton slow trots around the bases (that would also mean many home runs for Francisco/Upton). THAT would make for great TV.
Podcast was great. Looking forward to it being a weekly feature.
I have a theory that cannnot probably be tested but just wanted to throw it out to you guys.
Its my belief that elite hitters (Ted Williams, Stan Musial, Tony Quinn, etc…) must have superior eye sight, better than 20 / 20
Do you know if any organizations have eye tests done on prospects or their regular players?
I do not believe that superior eye sight alone makes them a great hitter but coupled with great hand eye coordination I believe that those things are what produces the very best hitters
Does anyone have thoughts on this topic?
To expand slightly.
When drafting prospects and two good hitting prospects are being considered for the next pick, could eye sight be a determining factor?
@jmart1951 I feel like their eyesight is what would make them great hitters already. Anyways, your comment made me think of this article http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2011-05-12/sports/35263072_1_bryce-harper-contact-lenses-washington-nationals
Andrew,
Thanks for the article reference. Its amazing that Harper did what he did with poor eyesight.
I guess the thing I am trying to get at is sure their are a lot of very good hitters, but do elite hitters have better than 20/20 vision.
Also, and I am ignorant about this. Can an optomologist or optomitrist create lenses that improve someone’s vision that is at 20/20, making them have even better eyesight?
I had 20/20 vision but never in my life did I see the rotation of the ball in the same way Ted Williams descibes it.
His famous story is the one where the second base umpire complimented him on his hard hit double. Williams replies that he hit that ball on the seams. The umpire calls time out and looks at the ball. Sure enough the bat mark (scuff) was on the seams
That is the type of vision that I am wondering about.
many great hitters do have much better than 20/20 vision. Growing up, I had 20/10 vision, and that coupled with being very large for my age was the only reason I was a good baseball player. I was otherwise very unathletic.
Another thing to consider is that there is some variation in frame rate recognition, ie some poeple’s vision isn’t necessarily better, but they are better able to track fast moving objects. That is almost certainly the case of all major league hitters who are even above average.
Somewhat off-topic: I was having a discussion on Fangraphs a little while ago about how baseball superstars of times past (specifically Ruth) would fare in today’s game. There were guys saying that obviously they would be bums, pointing to the enormous advances in world records for running and swimming that demonstrate athletes are just much stronger and faster now than in the 1930s.
My response was: it’s true that Ruth wouldn’t be a great physical specimen today, but baseball is much less dependent on raw strength and speed than almost any other major sport. I didn’t cite specifics, but I think eyesight and ability to track fast-moving objects is one such area where I would be surprised if there had been much improvement in human ability over the past 80 years, simply because these seem to be features more likely determined by good genes, not proper training, diet, or environment.
Franklin,
Thanks, I had never heard of frame rate recognition before. Is there a test that can measure this ability?
Have you ever heard of a major league club using eye exams and / or frame rate recognition as a tool toward rating and selecting their draft picks?
the best frame rate recognition test I know of is being able to make contact with a slider. But no, I dont know of any tests otherwise.
Happy bday Tehran!
This was a fun listen. The “Kim-BRELL” slip and shared chuckle was classic.
I agree 100% that this is a team that a lot of Braves fans seem to be getting really excited about.
Good discussion – I really enjoyed it and I am excited about a weekly podcast during the season.
Kelly Johnson just signed a one year with the Rays, so that’s out the window.
I really enjoyed listening to you guys. I am not sure if Bonifacio is available or what he would cost, but do you guys think he would be a good fit for the Braves, given his versatility and ability to hit leadoff?
I wouldn’t mind bonifacio, though I have no idea what he’d end up costing either.