Atlanta

This is a difficult storyline to write about unless you are fine with blowing things way out of proportion.

The fact that a major league rookie hammered a three-run home run on the first swing of his career is, in and of itself, an impressive feat.

Now add a stiff mixture of the following: an incredible amount of hype that has surrounded said rookie since the beginning of spring training, followed by unbelievable expectations from peers, fans, the media, etc., and finally throw in some comparisons to Ken Griffey Jr., Hank Aaron, and Willie Mays to taste.

Mr. Clutch has returned.

Never one to shy away from a big game situation, Chipper Jones delivered again—proving why he’s still one of baseball’s most feared hitters.

With the Braves trailing the Cubs 2-1 in the bottom of the eighth, Jones smashed a 3-1 fastball from John Grabow over the left-center wall, propelling Atlanta to a come-from-behind 3-2 win.

All spring, the talk has been about how the Atlanta Braves want Bobby Cox's last season in the dugout to be a big one, hopefully leading to a World Series.

Monday's game against the Chicago Cubs showed they mean business.

The Braves smashed a few offensive Opening Day records en route to a 16-5 pummeling of the Cubbies, who some expect to contend for the NL Central, or at least the Wild Card.

Inside the numbers:

Bobby Cox may want to rethink his retirement.

Never shy about elevating top prospects, throughout the years Cox has overseen the arrival of a number of impact players at Turner Field.

Javier Vazquez struck out 239 batters in 2010, second in the National League. Vazquez actually struck out more batters than the number of grounders he forced, 237.

Javier was the definition of a big-time strikeout pitcher last year, and this takes a lot of pressure off a defense.

The man replacing him in the rotation this year, Tim Hudson, is a notorious ground ball pitcher. Hudson has had four seasons in which he forced 400 or more ground balls, and his season high for strikeouts with the Braves is 141.

If there is one member of the 2010 rookie class that seems destined for stardom, it's Atlanta Braves rookie right fielder, Jason Heyward. In fact, stardom may be setting the bar too low for the ultra-talented 20-year-old Georgian.

Heyward will be given every opportunity to become the every day starter for the Braves this spring. The team made their intentions known when they traded former hometown hero, Jeff Francoeur in July, and let Garret Anderson depart in free agency this winter.

A rather subtle move occurred this week concerning the Atlanta Braves' future.

The move in question is the signing of 18 year old prospect Edward Salcedo of the Dominican Republic.

Salcedo, by trade is a shortstop and is touted as being one of the better international prospects in the game. When one watches this video , one can see Salcedo possesses a fluid and level swing capable of power.

I recently received quite a bit of flack for one of the five points in my last article on what the Braves need to happen in order for them to win the East.

So, in the spirit of discussion, and defending myself, I have decided to elaborate on my point on what Bobby Cox needs to do to get his Braves over the hump.

In June of '09 I wrote a story recapping Tommy Hanson's major league debut in Atlanta. In that article I talked about the Hansonmania that had taken Atlanta by storm in a losing effort.

In 2010, still days away from the first exhibition game of spring training, Heyward-Hype has made Hansonmania look like my seventh birthday party—the one when the clown didn't even show up.