Simmons’ Improved Bat Will Make Him an All-Star

Atlanta Braves SS Andrelton Simmons has already made his mark on the baseball diamond defensively as the league’s reigning Platinum Glove recipient.  He projects as one the three greatest defensive shortstops of all time with Ozzie Smith and Omar Vizquel.  The Wizard of Oz made it to Cooperstown in 2002 for his glove-work and respectable power as the leader of 1980’s St. Louis Cardinals.  Little O nearly amassed 3,000 hits and formed the best double play tandem with Roberto Alomar since Tinker-Evers-Chance on those great 1990’s Cleveland Indians teams.  If Omar Vizquel doesn’t make it into Cooperstown one day, something is wrong with the BBWAA.  But that’s an argument for another time.

Simba looks so much better at the plate for the Braves this season.  He’s hitting .275 by spraying the ball to all parts of the field and has collected 14 RBI’s already.  Simmons has proven that he has some pop in his bat like Smith did and if he can hit around .270 like Omar, Andrelton can make the National League All-Star team this year.  Offensively he may never find himself on the NL’s leader board of major statistical offensive categories, but if Simba handles the bat respectably he could make the trip to Cincinnati this July.

Outside of Colorado’s Troy Tulowitzki, who’s always hurt, and the aging Jimmy Rollins, who is now with Los Angeles, is there a more well-known shortstop in the National League?  Sure, Milwaukee’s Jean Segura, Washington’s Ian Desmond, and Chicago’s Starlin Castro have all made the National League’s squad.  But none of those infielder’s have Simba’s range or arm defensively.  His glove has put Andrelton Simmons on the Major League’s radar for some time now.  Simba’s improving approach at the plate reminds me of another perennial All-Star defensive wizard, Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina.

Molina comes from a great family of defensive catchers.  His older brothers Bengie and Jose have made solid careers for themselves as capable backup backstops.  The brothers Molina kept saying that their little brother was the best of the trio.  Around the same point as Simmons is into his Major League career, Molina figured it out at the plate.  He is now the face of the St. Louis Cardinals.  Molina hits the ball all over the field and nobody thinks twice about running on him when on base.  I just have a great feeling that Simmons is on a similar trajectory as Yadier.

When Andrelton first got called up to the Big League ball club in 2012, he had only spent roughly a month in AA Mississippi. Braves skipper Fredi Gonzalez knew that he was going to have a work-in-progress offensively with Simmons, but that sensational glove-work of his was just too good to stay in Gulfport for long.  The power surge that came in the World Baseball Classic for Simmons on the Netherlands national team proved problematic as Simba thought he was Tulo at the plate.  Sadly, he was not blessed with the offensive skills of Troy Tulowitzki or Cal Ripken, Jr.  But that doesn’t mean Simmons can’t contribute as a major cog in the Atlanta Braves offense.

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I’m loving what I’m seeing so far out of Simmons in the two-hole behind Nick Markakis and ahead of Freddie Freeman.  Atlanta has not had much production from second in the order since the Martin Prado-Justin Upton trade or even the Omar Infante-Dan Uggla trade.  That’s two or three years of ineptitude coming from the Braves two-hole hitters.

I believe that Braves new hitting coach Kevin Seitzer is working magic for the Braves offensively this year.  Besides Simmons, Cameron Maybin is swing the bat well and appears to have won starting centerfield from Eric Young, Jr.  Kelly Johnson’s homecoming was the perfect medicine for the ten-year veteran.  The Braves offense looks night and day better than 2014’s and if the starters can go deeper into games (Shelby Miller, you were awesome last night!) and if the bullpen can stop handing out walks like they’re Halloween candy, Atlanta could contend for a Wild Card spot.  It’s way too early, but I’m not going to rule the playoffs out of the question just yet.

Mike Foltynewicz makes his second start for the Braves in just a few minutes as he takes on Philadelphia’s Jerome Williams in the series finale.