Jason Heyward May Have Delivered, but Are Expectations Realistic?

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.

You come up with quite a concoction.

Honestly, how could Jason Heyward actually perform with this kind of hype surrounding him? How do you think you would perform with all of that pressure? I know I would fail miserably.

Especially since this is his rookie season.

But there he was Monday afternoon with two on and one out, staring at Carlos Zambrano, standing in the left-handed batter's box with his shades covering his eyes, and not a worry line or wrinkle on the face.

Zambrano, who had already given up three runs, was looking for any possible way he could get out of the first inning.

He fell behind Heyward on two pitches that were high and just out of the strike zone; Heyward’s apparent weakness is high, inside fastballs, as he has a tendency to stride towards the plate, thus reducing his power on such pitches.

Funny, how at 20 years old, he knows what type of pitch he should lay off. His plate discipline is one of those things that he uses to separate himself from other young hitters.

Still, all these expectations, all these comparisons, all this hype over his ability to pound the tar out of the ball—it’s enough to turn anyone’s head.

There’s no way this kid can be the next Ken Griffey Jr., Hank Aaron, or Willie Mays.

But that’s what they’re saying. That’s what everyone is saying.

I had no choice; really, I had to watch the game.

I had things to do: I had to get the kid ready to go to the gym, I had to straighten the house, take a shower, and make dinner plans.

But I sat and just watched the game.

Because I was waiting for Jason Heyward.

After all of the monumental spring training buildup about his potential, knowing that he is a Georgia product, that the organization thinks enough of him to have Hank Aaron throw out the ceremonial first pitch to him prior to the game, and that the excitement of being Braves fans is not just pure coincidence, I finally had to admit to myself...

I was interested enough to see if this kid was the real deal.

So I sat and I watched.

Zambrano was backed into a corner and threw a pitch over the plate.

Heyward just hammered it into the right field stands.

I shook my head. Screenwriters can’t script better stories than this; if they do, no one will believe them.

So, apparently, the legend of Heyward begins, and it’s all thanks to that home run on the first swing of his career.

I will stop there.

Because I can’t stand how the national media beats these performances into such a pulp that it makes Quentin Tarantino movies look juvenile.

Jason Heyward is talented, and I will not argue that. I will never argue against the talent of any athlete; I never made it out of high school baseball, so who am I to criticize?

Heyward is exciting and talented. He is receiving such a positive response from Braves fans (20,000 more fans showed up at the first weeknight game of the year than they did in the same game last year) that you have to admit, it is exciting.

However, talk to anyone who has covered the game over the last 10 to 15 years, and they will tell you they have seen players who have simply oozed similar types of talent, but just could not put it all together.

Whether it was due to injury, fear, a simple failure to understand pitch selection, an inability to read breaking balls, or even to mix pitches successfully, the list could go on and on. Baseball is a difficult game to succeed in.

A few well-known names are good sources of information for this point:

·   Mark Prior fell apart due to injury and has yet to come back after his promising 2003 season.

·   Alex Gordon has dealt with consistent injury and inconsistent play for years. He has never hit over .260 or driven in more than 60 runs in a year.

·   Austin Kearns simply never figured out major league pitching.

·   Delmon Young was supposed to be the next great slugger, and although he has found some success in Minnesota, 44 at-bats per home run and a career on-base percentage of .322 are not what anyone expected from a hitter so multi-talented.

The parity of baseball is this: There are players who will succeed and those who will fail, those who will surprise, and those who will storm into the league after nearly a decade in the minors.

Let’s just be careful not to expect the world of Jason Heyward, or even Stephen Strasburg, just yet.

Regardless of what they make (if someone threw millions of dollars at you, what would you do?), these young and powerful athletes still need to grow, they need to learn, they need to be given a shot at discovering their own games and not conforming to what we all expect.

...performances

In one of the more impressive at-bats seen...

To read the entire column, go to the Baseball Glutton’s website,  Two On One Out . Feel free to leave a comment.

Joshua Worn publishes “The Most Interesting...” column every Monday and Friday on his website, Two On One Out. If you would like to follow his bi-weekly collection, you can subscribe through the website or by e-mailing him at thebaseballglutton@comcast.net.

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