The Best Brave to Wear #22

This one was a fairly tough choice. #22 gives us a long list of guys who were at times great, but their greatness was muted by either a flaw or a lack in longevity. It feels almost like an entire collection of honorable mentions, but there must be a champion, a champion who was the face of the franchise for a few years, a champion who single-handedly killed the career of Carlos Zambrano.

It’s easy to look back at Jason Heyward‘s career with frustration. After all, he never quite met the scouting expectations that were thrust upon him. He did turn out to be a really good ballplayer, just not the ballplayer many fans expected. As a 20-year-old rookie in 2010 (.277/.393/.456), he was an All-Star and finished 2nd in the ROY race and 20th in the MVP vote. He fell victim to the sophomore slump with a terrible 2011 thanks mostly to an injured shoulder, but bounced back in ’12 with the best season of his career, hitting .269/.335/.479 with 27 HR, 21 SB, and the best outfield defense in the game. The elite defense would remain for the rest of his Braves career. In 2013, he was solid, though not stellar, hitting .254/.349/.427 in an injury-shortened season. In 2014, he had his worst offensive season (.271/.351/.384) since ’11, but his defensive prowess still made him one of the better players in the game.

With just one season remaining of team control and the team feeling in need of a rebuild, the Braves traded Heyward to the Cardinals in a deal that acquired Shelby Miller, the pitcher the team would later use to acquire Ender Inciarte and Dansby Swanson. After his year in St. Louis, Heyward signed a massive free agent deal with the Cubs. While he didn’t play well at all for the 2016 Cubs, he did deliver a rain-delay clubhouse speech in Game 7 of the World Series. It might be the most expensive speech ever given, but Cubs fans seem to think it was worth every penny.

Honorable Mentions:

Marcus Giles had one of the best single seasons in Braves history in 2003: .316/.390/.526 with 101 runs, 49 doubles, 21 homers, 14 steals, and plus defense. He was an All-Star that year, and finished 18th in the MVP race (he deserved a much higher finish). He had a couple more good years, including another All-Star campaign in 2005 (.291/.365/.461, 45 doubles, 15 HR), but suffered a complete collapse in 2006-2007 and played his last game at age 29.
Nick Markakis – Perhaps one of the most accurate free agent signings in Braves history, Markakis was handed a league-average contract and performed like a league average player. Critics deride him for his lack of, well, interesting skills, but the Greek God of Warning Track Power does have 115 doubles in 3 seasons, and he reliably stayed in the lineup and got on base.
Jim Tobin averaged 269 innings a year from 1941-1944, making the 1944 All-Star team and thrice receiving MVP votes. But let’s face it, the best thing about Tobin is that he was nicknamed Abba Dabba.
Gene Conley went 14-9, 2.96 in 1954, making the NL All-Star team, and finished 2nd in the ROY race and 23rd in the MVP race. He was an All-Star again in ’55, and a World Champion in ’57.
Adam LaRoche only wore #22 for 242 PA in 2009, but he slashed .325/.401/.557 with 12 HR. Not bad for a stretch run.
Brett Butler very well may have been the pick, had we not traded him for Len Barker. Oof. Butler led the NL in triples in his only full season with the team.
Walt Weiss didn’t post flashy offensive stats, just .257/.354/.329 in his 3 years here, but he was a reliable defender and a well-liked player who the entire city rallied around after his son was stricken with E. coli after a trip to White Water. He also had perhaps the most impressive defensive plays in Braves playoff history when he snagged a sharp grounder up the middle and threw home to complete a force-out in the 10th inning of Game 3 of the 1999 NLDS against Houston. Weiss would return to Atlanta as a bench coach under manager Brian Snitker.