Chipper Jones

Chipper Jones is naturally right-handed. A switch-hitter, he learned to bat from the left side because he loved to emulate the Dodgers lineup as a child, and learned to take swings from the other side of the plate.

Jones has stated in the past that his left-handed swing takes a lot more work to keep steady than his right-handed swing. He has many more moving parts from the left side, and despite having better career numbers as a lefty, his swing is starting to slow and deteriorate.

Yesterday, once again Nationals outfielder Willie Harris made a bigger impact in Mets infamy in making a game-saving catch on Rod Barajas. With two outs in the ninth inning, Barajas was up at the plate with the bases loaded. The Mets catcher would eventually hit the ball into left field where Harris had just came in the inning before.

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.

One of the biggest stories for the Atlanta Braves this spring has been the progression of top prospect Jason Heyward . Heyward's become a batting practice legend, shattering a car window and forcing the grounds crew to put a net up at the Braves' spring training home at Champion Stadium in Walt Disney World Resort. 

There are a number of other issues involving the Braves this season outside of their remarkable rookie.

Through about three weeks of Spring Training games, what have we learned about the Atlanta Braves?

Here are a few things...

Jason Heyward is the man.

Nate McLouth...not so much.

Craig Kimbrel can throw really well.

Jesse Chavez...not so much.

Derek Lowe has a new delivery.

Brian McCann and Troy Glaus' deliveries of balls to the outfield have not.

Joe Thurston and Brooks Conrad are both more than qualified to be the back-up, back-up infielders.

Major League Baseball has a rich history of nicknames, but not all nicknames are created equally. The league is currently flooded with lazy, uninspired nicknames that are, more accurately, abbreviations that hold no real meaning.

Some, for instance A-Rod (Alex Rodriguez) and Arm-Ram (Aramis Ramirez) are better left without meaning. Both monikers are better suited to something you would find in the adult section of the video store. Other nicknames are stretches or just sound ridiculous. Jimmy "J-Roll" Rollins comes to mind.

Unlike football or basketball, baseball’s annual player draft is not designed to change the team that year.

They hold the draft in the middle of the season (June) instead of during the off-season because the teams do not expect any player they draft to have an immediate impact. In fact teams usually have to wait years before they see what type of players their draft picks turn out to be.

This will begin my 2010 MLB preview. I intend to touch every team in the major leagues in installments by division. The lineups I provide will be what I predict will be the most productive for each team for the MAJORITY of the season (e.g., Jason Heyward will be listed as the Braves RF even though he may not begin the season as the starter).

I will also provide the stereotypical letter grade to each team's lineup, rotation, bullpen, and depth/bench. Though it is trite, I think all baseball fans can identify with the letter grade system.

This past season was rough, to say the least, for Chipper Jones.

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.