Michael Bourn: Why Did Atlanta Ever Let You Go?

Michael Bourn is back with the Atlanta Braves! I’m beyond fired up to have our prototypical leadoff man back in Braves Country. After two and a half years of ineptitude atop the Atlanta Braves’ batting order, I begin to wonder why Atlanta let him go in the first place.

We believed it had to do with money, how former GM Frank Wren couldn’t afford to keep our All-Star CF and leadoff hitter in Atlanta after the 2012 Season. Atlanta initially acquired Michael Bourn from the Houston Astros heading into the 2011 MLB Trade Deadline prior to The Collapse.

-= Christian Bethancourt: Future With Atlanta Braves? =-

Bourn played terrific defensively in centerfield for the Atlanta Braves, provided much-needed speed on the base paths, and hit well for the team as its table setter in his year and a half of service in Atlanta. Though Michael Bourn earned every penny he made in his free agent deal with the Cleveland Indians, I kept scratching my head why Frank Wren decided to pay Melvin Upton, Jr. all that money in Winter 2013 when he could have just kept Michael Bourn?

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Perhaps it was the perceived power that Upton supposedly had that Wren coveted. If you look at the 2013 roster’s construction, just about every bat in the Atlanta lineup could hit for power. It could also have been that Bourn’s productivity waned after his 2012 appearance in the Mid-Summer Classic while Upton carried the Tampa Bay Rays in the second half offensively.

Either way it was a grave error on Wren’s part. Upton’s contract was the laughing-stock of baseball as Melvin couldn’t reach the Mendoza Line at the plate in his awful two-year stint with the Braves. Atlanta found itself stuck in perpetual mediocrity at the top of the batting order. The one-two punch of Michael Bourn and Martin Prado was all but gone and Atlanta had to rely solely on the long ball to score as nobody got on in the top of the order.

Players like Jason Heyward and Nick Markakis did okay batting leadoff for the Atlanta club the last few years, but Braves Manager Fredi Gonzalez knew all along that they were better served batting fifth in more run producing scenarios. While Jace Peterson has had some success atop the Braves batting order, he hasn’t handled all the junk being thrown at him well as a leadoff man. Four-seam fastballs aren’t grooved down the plate to table setters.

-= Atlanta Braves Trade Johnson for Swisher, Bourn =-

What I’ve missed the most about Michael Bourn’s offensive game is that he knows what he does best: make solid contact to the gaps, get on base, and terrorize infielders with his wheels. Though he did have 10 homer power while with Atlanta in 2011-12, Bourn knows that he’s not a home run hitter (Rafael Furcal, Andrelton Simmons, etc.).

I’m not saying that the Atlanta Braves are getting back their prodigal son or the heir to Rickey Henderson for that matter. I mean Michael Bourn hit around .250 for the Cleveland Indians this season. But I do think that Atlanta’s offense will gel with Bourn back where he belongs, hitting leadoff for the Atlanta Braves.

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