Boston Braves
Overview
The Braves were just bad, bad, bad last year. As of July 1, they were 22-54, on pace to be the worst team of all time. A 24-27 record in July and August saved them from that distinction (held by the 1925 Indians with 107 losses) but, as if to prove that no, they were not actually an improved club, they lost 19 of their last 25.
As one would expect from a team that basically just threw out whatever they could sign, the Braves finished dead last in the National League in both pitching and hitting. In a season characterized by a big drop-off in league offense, the Braves' pitching looked like it was stuck in 1932, yielding a 4.78 ERA, allowing 865 runs, and allowing an incredible 701 men to reach base on balls. The offense was every bit as inept, although the approximately 13 Braves fans left in Boston can take solace in the 69 home runs hit by their men, good for 5th in the league.
The Braves' state of affairs is such that they've tapped Alfonso Durango to manage the squad next year. Durango has no managerial experience at any level but was revered for his ability to handle pitchers during his 4-year playing career with Cincinnati, which concluded in 1918. He's kicked around the free minors since then, where it is said he's picked up a big back of tricks which he hopes to bring to the majors.
Pitching
The lone bright spot in the Braves' pitching staff was 3rd year player
Lamont Hall, who went 8-22 with Detroit and the St. Louis Cardinals in 1931, a season in which he was obviously put into pressure situations too early. Last year he showed that he can keep the ball in the lower half of the strike zone as well as anyone in the league. His groundball ratio of 64% was 8th best in all of baseball.
After him, it was not pretty. Boston tried 16 pitchers last year, a number perhaps skewed low by the fact that they made the curious decision to stick with a 3-headed bullpen of
Bartolo Martinez,
Steve Petrie, and
Willis Morin throughout much of the season despite their age and relative ineffectiveness. The fact is, the Braves simply did not have anybody in the minors they could trust with the ball after the 7th inning.
They really didn't have much they could rely on in the rotation after Hall either. The next 4 men after Hall in games started were a combined 22-60. The lowest ERA of any of them belonged to Dorian Wright with a 4.30, which itself was more than half a run over the league average of 3.70. It's not a good situation and it's hard to see how it's going to get any better.
Code:
Player Age W L Pct G GS SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA
Lamont Hall 22 15 9 0.625 27 27 0 194 173 74 6 111 70 3.43
*Alex Mossman 26 7 14 0.333 25 25 0 180.2 239 97 8 81 82 4.83
Dave Crosby 27 6 14 0.300 24 24 0 179 215 90 10 75 66 4.53
Hank Sheppard 30 5 19 0.208 35 21 0 177.1 237 128 11 102 64 6.50
Dorian Wright 22 4 13 0.235 18 18 0 138 158 66 7 59 65 4.30
Bill Salyer 29 4 4 0.500 12 12 0 80.1 97 35 4 29 19 3.92
*Bartolo Martínez 30 2 9 0.182 52 0 8 76.1 103 40 4 46 27 4.72
Matt Snyder 38 4 1 0.800 8 8 0 59.1 46 15 4 15 12 2.28
*Jim Jacobs 32 2 6 0.250 15 9 0 59 64 35 0 43 15 5.34
Steve Petrie 37 0 0 0.000 34 0 3 54.2 60 24 1 32 14 3.95
Clyde Cornett 26 1 6 0.143 15 6 0 52.2 64 44 3 55 15 7.52
Willis Morin 36 2 2 0.500 34 0 6 50.1 64 24 2 12 14 4.29
Rubén López 20 1 0 1.000 16 0 0 28.2 36 22 3 17 9 6.91
Matt Boley 22 0 3 0.000 4 4 0 17.1 35 19 2 14 10 9.87
Tim Collins 32 0 1 0.000 12 0 0 17.1 22 13 1 9 2 6.75
Iestyn Truelove 31 0 0 0.000 1 0 0 1.1 3 0 0 1 1 0.00
Team Totals 28.8 53 101 0.344 332 154 17 1366.1 1616 726 66 701 485 4.78
Catchers
As bad as they were last year, the Braves really shouldn't have expected much better from
Brad Brown and
Neal James than what they got last year.
Neal James had started in '31 and '32 but although he possesses a gun for an arm, the Braves were dissatisfied with his performance at the plate. So they tried
Brad Brown instead. Brown doesn't have nearly the defensive ability as James but was expected to give a little more on the offensive end. He just didn't do it. At the same time, James' hitting got even worse and one can't imagine the Braves wanting to trot out a guy with a .239 slugging average either.
Code:
Pos Player Age G GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG
C Brad Brown 26 123 96 358 30 77 17 1 4 35 0 0 24 57 0.215 0.263 0.302
C Neal James 28 68 53 155 12 34 3 0 0 6 0 0 12 6 0.219 0.278 0.239
Infield
Bill Norman didn't take over the full-time first base job until June (following a trade of Norm Burnett) but he still ended up the most valuable hitter on the Braves team. 11 of his 17 homeruns came in the second half of the season. The future really looks bright for this kid, whether it's in Boston or somewhere else. The role of pinch-hitter is going to be fought out in spring training; right now it looks to be between
Gerald Anderson and
Walter Carlson, who was added to the team in a naked publicity stunt at the end of the year. Carlson, just 2 hits away from 3000, got them, but after 12 Braves at-bats decided that perhaps his career wasn't quite over after all. It had certainly looked that way after he failed to break .200 with the Athletics.
Corey Parry looked like he had some potential in '32 but completely stunk in '33. Problem was, nobody the Braves tried to replace him with hit either and as such he has as good a shot as anybody to start 1934 as the Boston Braves' second baseman.
Gary Kirkland looks like his primary competition.
Sam Prendergast didn't start because he was really that good so much as the Braves just didn't want to deal with another position controversy. Prendergast didn't embarrass himself in the field and was adequate at the plate in his rookie year. He's still very young and so could turn into a major league player.
Bob Rose's Rookie of the Year award was more a sign of a weak rookie class than of any real greatness on the part of the Braves shortstop. His 38 errors were the 2nd most in the National League (behind the 47 by Cubs shortstop Fred Harris) and he really didn't show a lot with the stick to make up for that. His 8 home runs were second on the team, so there is always that. The Braves insist that they're satisfied with his progression but a move off of shortstop seems likely and his bat at this point is really not strong enough to carry him anywhere but short.
Code:
Pos Player Age G GS AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO AVG OBP SLG
1B *Bill Norman 22 126 107 430 71 124 27 3 17 57 1 0 48 56 0.288 0.368 0.484
1B Norm Burnett 24 72 63 235 32 70 12 3 6 24 0 0 29 20 0.298 0.377 0.451
1B Gerald Anderson 28 66 9 79 12 20 4 0 2 9 0 0 13 5 0.253 0.359 0.380
1B Walter Carlson 38 3 3 12 0 4 0 1 0 3 1 0 0 2 0.333 0.333 0.500
2B Corey Parry 28 86 78 320 36 67 13 2 4 23 6 2 19 39 0.209 0.253 0.300
2B Jack Ambrose 26 29 27 114 8 18 4 0 0 6 1 2 10 2 0.158 0.226 0.193
2B Victor Lankford 24 25 24 101 8 22 4 0 3 12 2 1 3 8 0.218 0.255 0.347
2B Steve Jordan 28 18 8 33 0 7 3 0 0 3 0 1 0 4 0.212 0.206 0.303
3B Sam Prendergast 22 104 101 445 49 113 20 4 1 39 3 4 21 56 0.254 0.288 0.324
3B Gary Kirkland 33 63 61 250 20 61 7 2 2 30 4 4 7 23 0.244 0.266 0.312
SS Bob Rose 23 123 117 427 42 105 26 4 8 49 0 1 29 32 0.246 0.293 0.382
SS Warner Craver 35 39 32 114 12 26 3 1 0 17 2 2 18 17 0.228 0.333 0.272
SS *Henry Adams 24 11 8 29 4 8 3 0 1 3 2 0 3 3 0.276 0.333 0.483
SS Colin Richards 26 11 6 19 3 3 1 0 0 1 0 0 2 2 0.158 0.238 0.211
Outfield
Bill Lowry was one of just two Braves, along with Bill Norman, to qualify for the batting title. He was pretty far off from winning it, of course. The 25 year old seriously regressed from a promising 1932 (.310, 14 homers, 61 RBI). He's not a terribly good fielder, so he probably won't be able to continue for very long with this sort of production. Then again, this is the Braves.
What kept
Pat Prentiss on the bench for so long? Sometimes perception is greater than reality. We say this because, despite a fantastic 1930 season with the Red Sox that saw him hit .371 with 42 doubles, he's been pigeonholed as a backup outfielder and pinch-hitter. As the season progressed, the Braves realized there is no good reason to leave him on the bench - he's actually a pretty decent outfielder - and got him in the lineup more and more. He still finished with just 25 at-bats against left-handed pitching, but that will probably change in 1934.
The Braves are very high on
Kenneth Kennedy, although his production last year didn't really match expectations. He looked great in August, as he hit .277 and slugged .406 with 20 RBIs, but then wrapped up the season with a dismal .218 performance in September. If he's not worthy of the task,
David Conder is still available. Conder hit .314 in '32, but it was an empty .314, and when he hit .217 in May, the floundering Braves began to look elsewhere.
Code:
LF *Scott Molloy 27 95 61 261 31 68 7 2 5 35 11 5 23 18 0.261 0.323 0.360
LF #Leo Gerhart 23 29 29 107 15 28 5 3 1 12 1 2 10 4 0.262 0.325 0.393
CF *Dave Conder 24 96 88 363 33 97 19 7 6 41 3 3 20 44 0.267 0.303 0.408
CF Kenneth Kennedy 22 82 82 301 41 76 12 5 2 45 7 1 52 25 0.252 0.359 0.346
CF *Pat Prentiss 27 104 39 210 31 64 12 1 3 23 0 0 17 12 0.305 0.352 0.414
CF Gayle Boisvert 32 12 4 20 6 7 0 1 0 2 0 0 2 3 0.350 0.409 0.450
RF *Bill Lowry 25 141 136 548 76 149 35 5 4 58 11 7 43 43 0.272 0.322 0.376
- #Tommy Howard 29 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 0.000 0.000
Team Totals 27.6 1859 1386 5347 593 1317 248 45 69 567 55 35 410 534 0.246 0.300 0.348