Bobby Cox on Jason Heyward: ‘Don’t expect miracles now’
Posted by GameSetMatch on April 6th, 2010
The first thing Bobby Cox said to me after the game was, “Don’t expect miracles now.”
And part of me felt like saying, “You mean we shouldn’t expect Jason Heyward to hit 162 homers and drive in 648 runs this season? Why not? He’s on pace to do it.” But the bigger part of me said (grudgingly), “Yeah, you’re right.”
We waited long to see what the new guy could do, and with his first swing he gave us reason to believe. But baseball, as we know, is a game of failure. The best hitters make outs seven times in 10, et cetera. And Heyward, who’s the best-looking rookie any of us has ever beheld, is nonetheless a rookie.
He won’t hit 162 home runs in 2010. He might not hit 25. (He had only 29 homers in the minors.) We — and I plead guiltier than anyone — spent yesterday falling all over ourselves to gush, but in the cold light of Tuesday morning we — and I’m talking to myself here, too — have to remember: The guy’s 20; he hasn’t yet figured out everything.
Although it must be said that the least surprised person at Turner Field on Monday was … Jason Heyward. Someone asked if he’d ever dreamed of hitting a home run as a Brave, and he almost laughed off the question. “If I played here in my home town, I’d hope I’d hit a home run in 81 games,” he said.
Click here to read the full article – By Mark Bradley of Atlanta Journal Constitution
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