This entire baseball season as an Atlanta Braves fan has
been dedicated to the farewell tour of future hall of fame third baseman and
Braves legend Chipper Jones, who is going to be sorely missed following his
retirement.
However, while watching Sunday night’s game between the
Braves and the San Francisco Giants, which Chipper did not start in, but did
receive a pinch hit farewell appearance late in the game I was struck by the
realization that even though Chipper is going to be missed that the Braves
still have a very, very bright future.
This realization came to me late in the game when the Braves
young sluggers right fielder Jason Heyward and first baseman Freddie Freeman
connected on back-to-back home runs off of Giants reliever Clay Hensley.
As long as the Braves can keep all of their young talent
together for years to come (including perennial all star catcher Brian McCann
and their very talented pitching staff) this Braves team shouldn’t miss a beat
heading into the future without Chipper Jones (as hard as that may be to
fathom). I’m very grateful that these young guys like Heyward and Freeman have
now had a few seasons under Jones’ tutelage to teach them the right way to play
the game: the Chipper Jones way.
I honestly can’t think of too many teams with a young duo as
talented as or more talented than the Braves have with Heyward and Freeman. The
Angels with Mike Trout (possibly just the third player to ever win rookie of
the year and MVP in the same season this year) and Mark Trumbo are the only
other team that I can think of.
I’ve had a blast watching Chipper play the game ever since I
became a fan of his, the Braves and baseball in general in Jones’ rookie season
of 1995. I look forward to developing this kind of relationship with Heyward
and Freeman going into the future. If these two kids play up to their potential
we might be watching two more future hall of famers in the making.
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