My Braves Not-All-Star Team

When the NL and AL All-Star teams were released, all anyone wrote about was who got snubbed and who should've made the team...well this is not that type of article.  In this post, I'm going to address what I call my "Braves Not-All-Star Team" which is composed of players that I felt had high expectations leading into the season and who haven't produced or have just flat out stunk.  Without any further buildup, I present you the 2012 Braves Not-All-Stars.

Starting Pitcher- Jair Jurrjens- Not only was Jurrjens an All-Star after the first half last season, but there was a strong argument that he should've started the game for the NL team over Roy Halladay.  He tailed off signifcantly during the second half of the season with his knee causing him way too many problems velocity-wise and locating pitches.  He followed up last year with an abysmal spring training and took that into the season which earned him a demotion to AAA-Gwinnett.  There's no doubt the talent is still there somewhere, but the Braves need the 2011 first half Jair Jurrjens back and in a bad way.  With all the knee injuries, you wonder if that's possible...?

Relief Pitcher- Jonny Venters- Hitters all around the league quickly learned of Jonny last year as he dazzled and wowed them with his bag of tricks consisting of sinkers and sliders that moved more than Richard Simmons after twelve cups of coffee.  This year Jonny has all but been figured out.  There are glimpses of greatness that are vastly overshadowed by hanging sliders and sinkers that don't sink.  Venters has already given up 41 hits (6 HR) through the first half of this season, when he only gave up 53 hits all of last year with three times fewer homeruns (2).

Second Basemen- Dan Uggla- While I've not examined the rest of the NL's second basemen, I find it hard to believe that Dan Uggla was one of the best through the first half of this season.  He's hitting a paltry .229, and I don't want to hear, "Well his OBP is pretty good, and he's walking more."  Yes, I'll agree with you that he's walking more, 54BB so far compared to 62 all of last season, but he's also striking out 33% of the time which is up from 26% last season.  The fans voted him in, and I'll support him but come on fans, really?

Catcher- Brian McCann- Brian has struggled at the plate this year with his hitting and power.  The strikeout-to-walk numbers look decent, but he's just not been able to figure out the shift that most teams put on him.  He's in the basement with Dan, sporting a sizzling .225/.294/.379 (BA/OBP/SLG) split...and that's not a misprint.  Brian McCann has a .225 batting average and is slugging .379.  These numbers are wildly crazy considering Brian's won 6 silver sluggers and sports a career split of .282/.354/.478.

Braves Pinch Hitting- The Braves have managed to get 16 hits in 101 at-bats, with a total of 6, that's right 6, walks thus far this season.  There's really nothing else to say than that is absolutely horrible; oh and that it ranks 27th in baseball


There are some honorable mentions in Randall Delgado, Mike Minor, and Livan Hernandez (RIP), but the five chosen Not-All-Stars take the cake above the rest of the team.  Hopefully, the Braves can find a way to play consistent, good baseball and right the ship.  There's still an entire half of the season left to play, and I have no doubts that Brian and Dan will find ways to get hits and get on base more.  The pitching though is what concerns me most...welcome to the team Ben Sheets...hopefully you traveled into the future from 2006 because we're going to need you.