Jason Heyward Positions: Rightfielder, Centerfielder and Leftfielder Bats: Left Throws: Left 6-5 , 240lb (196cm, 108kg) Born: August 9, 1989 (Age: 33-206d) in Ridgewood, NJ us More bio, uniform, draft, salary info 1x All-Star 2016 World Series 5x Gold Glove Wilson Overall Def Player 22 22 22 Become a Stathead & surf this site ad-free. Im not going to worry about it.. FanGraphs crowdsourcing puts Heywards predicted contract at eight years and $184 million while Dave Cameron predicted a return to the Cardinals on a nine-year, $195 million contract with an opt-out after four years, making the value of the contract in excess of $200 million. As was the case with the offensive player-comps group, Heyward is more accomplished than almost all of the players on this list. Where does all this leave the J-Hey Kid? Heyward made just one out on an attempted advance in 19 tries. Thats why I want to make sure you understand Im not really concluding anything. If we pretend we know nothing about Heywards defense, we can come up with a set of comps based solely on his hitting, even removing his value on the basepaths. Its impossible for anyone outside of the Braves training room and front office to assess Heywards health. The former Yankees and Rangers first baseman topped out at 97 mph from the left side and struck out the first batter he faced swinging on an offspeed pitch. Jason Heyward LAD OF L Born: 08/09/1989 Age: 33 FanGraphs Player Page Auctions are not allowed at this time On MLB 40-man: NO Acquired: Free Agent (CHC) Dec'22 Positions OF Overall Last 10. Games. But, after falling to a .227/.319/.389 triple-slash and 14 homers in 2011 while bothered by a bum shoulder, Heyward ranks 31st among outfielders (114th overall) in MockDraftCentral.coms latest ADP rankings. Using a similar exercise, I found only 28 players with at least 25 fWAR and bWAR (FanGraphs WAR and Baseball Reference WAR, respectively) since the end of World War II. He clobbered 27 homers when he was 22. Updated: Saturday, March 4, 2023 4:51 PM ET, Park Factors Notes: PitchCom, Jason Heyward, cold weather Dodgers pitchers are hesitant to use the PitchCom device to call their own pitches. Major League and Minor League Baseball data provided by Major League Baseball. The grounders are just about all pulled. All Win Expectancy, Leverage Index, Run Expectancy, and Fans Scouting Report data licenced from TangoTiger.com. Interestingly, although Heyward swung less frequently than in any season since his 2010 debut, he finished with a 10.3% walk rate thats below his career average and set a new personal low for pitches per plate appearance. Jeff made Lookout Landing a thing, but he does not still write there about the Mariners. Anyhow, heres where Heyward has hit baseballs in spring 2016: Of course Im wary of talking about anything based on so little data. I used ten-year figures in this analysis, but moving to an eight- or nine-year contract would not significantly change the values, as the bulk of all production is recorded in the early part of the contract. Keep looking at him, and also keep looking at his numbers, as the season begins and wears on. With such an advanced plate approach and gargantuan numbers in the minors (he slashed .323/.408/.555 while rising from High-A to Triple-A as a teenager in 2009), Heyward reached the show years before most hitters do. The headline raises the red flag right off the bat Im probably making too much of too little. All UZR (ultimate zone rating) calculations are provided courtesy of Mitchel Lichtman. Check out the company Heyward kept among under-21 hitters qualifying for the batting title: If youre keeping score at home, there are 13 Hall of Famers and two future first-ballot Hall of Famers on that list of 22 names. by Handedness, 2007 June Amateur Draft - Round: 1, Pick: 14, Overall: 14, Team: Atlanta Braves. Now, increasingly deprived of opportunities to pull pitches, Heyward in recent years has been going the other way more often, and 2014 saw more than 19% of his plate appearances end with him hitting the ball to the opposite field, a new career high, and a credible explanation for the plunge in distance and home runs. While the $330 million figure is likely the one that jumps out, I would direct your attention to the smallest number: $159 million. Cavan Biggio will play half his games in the outfield. Making Too Much of Too Little Jason Heyward | FanGraphs Baseball The group also has five players at the top who were tremendous successes. How many hitters (much less 21-year-old hitters) could manage a league-average batting line in the majors while injured and watching so many balls put in play gravitate toward gloves? 'Weird cat': Dodgers' Tony Gonsolin reveals hilarious opinion of Noah The names brought up most recently with regard to Heyward are Jacoby Ellsbury, who got seven years and $153 million from the New York Yankees two years ago, and Carl Crawford, who received seven years and $142 million from the Boston Red Sox five years ago. Jason Heyward Minor & Fall Leagues Statistics - Baseball-Reference.com Im a little stubborn in that way. Higgins over one inning. . Jason Heyward - Play Logs - 2022 - Batting | FanGraphs Baseball While hes never going to be a big stolen base threat, hes a quality athlete for a power forward-sized corner outfielder. Currently, Yahoo! And then well see if he wants to stay on the same course. Major League and Minor League Baseball data provided by Major League Baseball. The most important years are likely to be those at the beginning, in which the team hopes to underpay their player. Exceptional Braves Seasons you probably forgot about That should tell you all you need to know about the Blue Jays plans for their fourth outfield spot, and this assignment is something he plans to grab with both hands. by Handedness, 2007 June Amateur Draft - Round: 1, Pick: 14, Overall: 14, Team: Atlanta Braves. With all this hype Im still trying to figure out why the Braves basically gave this guy away?? If he took the same type of offensive step forward as Carlos Beltran and Reggie Smith, he might win an MVP. Jason Heyward CF B/T: L/L 6' 5" 240LBS Age: 33 Draft: 2007 Rd: 1, #14, Atlanta Braves Henry County (GA) HS Player Apps Pitch Highlighter Player Similarity Shifts Swing Take Profile illustrator Zone Swing Profile Player Comparison Transaction History Show Random Video Stats Statcast Standard Splits Game Logs MLB Minors Batting Fielding Visuals The lack of power does prevent easy comparison to most free agent mega-deals. . All Win Expectancy, Leverage Index, Run Expectancy, and Fans Scouting Report data licenced from TangoTiger.com. With an acknowledgment to the variance in sample size, we can compare the pitch locations of his 2014 against his first four big league seasons: As you might have guessed, thats bad news for Heyward, who, like many left-handed hitters, does his best work when hes able to feast on balls down and in. Heyward hasn't shown quite the same level of plate discipline this season, as his rate of swinging at pitches out of the strike zone has increased by about four percentage points (24.2 percent to. Taylor may also appear at third base in Cactus League games. From 2010-2015, his 25 WAR was one of the top 20 marks in the game and in his final two seasons before free agency, his 10. As teams expect to get the best production at the beginning of the contract, they understand that a contract will likely underpay the player in the early years and potentially overpay him as he ages with the surplus from the beginning ideally canceling out the loss at the end. Play-by-play data prior to 2002 was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted Last season was a huge disappointment for the Los Angeles Dodgers, as they were dropped in the NLDS by the rival San Diego Padres. He looked like a pitcher.. Especially because of the accidental report that floated this week about Canario already being back on the field doing baseball work (he's not; still way too early for . Dodgers spring training: Freddie Freeman homers, Miguel Vargas walks FanGraphs' Roster Resource has Adrian Sampson in the fifth spot in the rotation, but he has the ability to function as a long reliever/sixth starter if need be. The group as a whole averaged nearly four wins per season from age 26 through age 30, which would be a very good result for Jason Heyward. Can you imagine what he would have batted if he had been in the Carolina League or the Pac-12 over the past couple of years? Hitters might not want to hear this, but Phillies ace Zack Wheeler just added another pitch to his arsenal. In fact, only teammate Michael Bourn managed more defensive value all around from the outfield. Just to be clear, this isnt a matter of Heyward trading fly balls for line drives; his batted ball distribution, including his GB/FB rate, has stayed remarkably steady over the past three seasons, a period that includes his 2012 campaign in which he bashed a career-high 27 home runs. Heyward does need to keep the ball of the grass and pare down the pop ups to truly tap into his power, but its important to remember that hes still younger than many celebrated rookies and prospects. According to FanGraphs, the 26-year-old was worth 6.0 fWAR (FanGraphs' Wins Above Replacement) in '15the sixth most WAR among outfielders. Heyward went first to third on a single 15 of 32 times according to BIS, and that's not quite Trout-level (62%), but it was 15th-best of 180 qualified players. Jason Heyward - MLB Trade Rumors Jacoby Ellsbury just finished Year Two of his contract. For the first method, we assume the only information we know is age, WAR, and total number of plate appearances. For a big man, he can run a little Heyward went first to third on a single 15 of 32 times according to BIS, and thats not quite Trout-level (62%), but it was 15th-best of 180 qualified players. For my ease, I took five-year averages for both WAR and the cost of a win when calculating the total.