FanPost

The downsizing of Ryan Braun




Now don't go off all crazy just because you read the headline. Headlines create interest. Are you interested? Good.

Braun has long been known for having one of the heavier and longer bats in the league. It is time he downsize...just like your parents downsized after you went away to college (and you had no bedroom to come home to when your live in girlfriend decided you shouldn't live in anymore and your name wasn't on the lease.)

And I don't mean that Braun is fat and needs to lose weight. He isn't fat and frankly there is a history of very successful fat baseball players -- Babe Ruth, CC Sabathia, Prince Fielder, Jesus Aguilar, Wily Peralta. Ok, maybe not Peralta. Anyways fat doesn't necessarily equal failure or in the case of Wily -- success.

And this isn't about downsizing the team and dropping Braun. There is this little thing called a contract that makes this marriage much harder to get out of than a... well than a marriage.

What I mean is Braun needs to get a smaller bat. He seems slow at the plate. He is fouling pitches into the first base side stands that he used to knock over the right field wall and he is hitting balls to outfielders that used to be over their heads.

I don't have a subscription to those fancy stat sites but I bet if I did, I would be able to quote some great stats showing that the exit speed for balls Braun hits is down and, if they chart it, his bat speed is down.

This doesn't necessarily mean that Braun's career in major league baseball is over. It just means that as an aging player he needs to make an adjustment. One adjustment a lot of players make as they "mature" is they switch to a little lighter bat.

Maybe Braun has already made this adjustment and we don't know about it. If he hasn't, he should. If he has than I am worried that this is the Braun of the future. He looks slow and he isn't getting the bat speed to drive the outside pitch. He may be injured; but isn't he always injured? That isn't going to change. What can change is the weight and length of his bat.