Talking Chop was the first Braves site to report that baseball's top prospect Jason Heyward was being slowed by an injury in the Arizona Fall League; we reported this on Thursday. The official Braves site has now chimed in to clarify exactly what the injury to Heyward is -- "a posterior leg injury" -- but still no word about how long he will be sidelined. There is an interesting note in that story which I think is worth repeating (my emphasis):
Because Heyward has recorded just 173 at-bats above Class A, there has been reason to wonder whether the Braves would be willing to allow him to start the 2010 season in the Majors. But the Braves have continued to provide reason to believe that they are definitely open to this possibility.
While that is not a concrete statement from the Braves front office, it is a statement from a beat writer who is around the team and team officials every day. That collection of knowledge is usually accurate when considering what decisions the team will make. This is a good indication of who will be our starting right fielder next year -- Jason Heyeward. Let's hope that the injury doesn't slow him too much longer and possibly change the team's plans.
As a side note, here is what the 2010 Bill James Handbook predicts for Heyward at the major league level next season:
| G | AB | H | R | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | SB | AVG | OBP | SLG |
| 146 | 542 | 164 | 86 | 27 | 5 | 17 | 78 | 59 | 64 | 11 | .303 | .371 | .465 |
...I surely hope so...