MATTHEW BROWN: Where’s the 2021 magic?

Published 5:30 pm Friday, July 26, 2024

Opening with another trivia challenge:

In the recently held Major League Baseball Draft, the Cleveland franchise picked No. 1 for the first time ever. The Draft as we know it only goes back to 1965. The question is: Which franchise had the most No. 1 overall picks? (Hint: the number is six; see answer below)

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Oh, what it must be like to comment day after day on the Atlanta Braves’ season. Win a series, lose a series. Go on a four-game winning streak, score more than six runs per game, oh yeah, this is more like 2023. The rest of the National League is in trouble now.

Even if there isn’t a lot of scoring, just know the pitching will keep the game close and then somebody – Eddie Rosario, Sean Murphy, Adam Duvall – will come up with a late clutch game-changing hit. Yes, they might be collectively hitting .150, but when they get a hit, it’s a big one.

Ugh, just when the momentum reaches its peak, back down to the valley it goes. It’s like counting fish with Dr. Seuss.

Now it’s just a matter of sitting back and seeing what Alex the Super GM will pull off before the Trade Deadline. That day earned federal holiday status back in 2021 when the Braves – in a win one, lose one funk – ended up with a total of four new outfielders that led to a season’s peak at the World Series. These four outfielders must not have been valued too highly by their clubs at the time, for Sir Alex was able to get them for a handful of magic beans, the water rights to the Fountain of Youth and the map and keys to Davy Jones’ Locker.

(So what did you find in there? Just a bunch of tambourines and maracas. That’s what he was pretending to play while the others pretended to be drummers and keyboard players. Hey, hey, when it came to their music, I’m a Believer.)

Pop culture reference box checked. And, as a mythological point, Davy Jones’ Locker refers to the oceans as the sailor’s graveyard.

Somehow I feel like we are treating that 2021 Deadline haul like Georgia football fans held on to 1980 memories until 2021. It was three years ago. What kind of deadline deals have the Braves made in the two seasons since? Last year, it was bullpen help, which was no help getting to the World Series. Something may be happening this weekend or early next week, but it’s not all about one GM getting whatever he wants at the snap of a finger.

Maybe this isn’t the right cliche, but it’s not like Alex Anthology of the Esophagus can sneak up on people every summer. The Braves are operating from a different level of play now than three years ago.

And in spite of all the naysaying, it’s not like the Braves are in .470 land. They were in a six-team race for three wild card spots going into a four-game set at New York (no division races in the NL). I’m not going to hand those spots over to the ones who make the most deadline deals. It’s about what happens in the dugouts and between the lines.

When it comes to offseason moves, the Braves do quite well, from Matt Olson to Chris Sale. Even Jarred Kelenic is a decent addition. It’s another cliche, but good health for Michael Harris II, Max Fried or Ozzie Albies in September may be the best late acquisition of 2024.

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Now for the trivia answer: The Pittsburgh Pirates had six No. 1 overall draft selections, No. 6 of course being immediate All-Star pitcher Paul Skenes of LSU in 2023. Skenes was in fact the fourth pitcher of those six selections, some of the others being 2023 Cy Young Award winner for the New York Yankees Gerrit Cole and Kris Benson, a Clemson star in 1996.

The first of the six, infielder Jeff King in 1986, was the only one of the first five to really star for Pittsburgh and help make the Pirates a World Series threat when they lost three straight National League Championship Series (two to the Atlanta Braves) from 1990-92.

What has a No. 1 overall pick done for the franchise who selected him lately? Only Skenes and Baltimore catcher Adley Rutschman are No. 1 picks on the big league roster of their selected team going back several years (Dansby Swanson doesn’t play for Arizona, Bryce Harper doesn’t play for Washington, already mentioned Cole). Stephen Strasburg was a World Series MVP for Washington 10 years after he was drafted, but that was the end of his effectiveness. Carlos Correa moved on from Houston with a ring.

In fact, Houston had three No. 1s in a row (2012-14), and Correa, the first one, was the only one to be a part of their recent success. And, when Pittsburgh got the No. 1 pick of 2023, it broke a four-way tie for the most top selections. Houston’s had five, two from its days in the National League, and so has other NL clubs the New York Mets and San Diego Padres. The Tampa Bay Rays and Seattle Mariners have the most, four each, as American League clubs.

The Braves picked No. 1 twice, getting Bob Horner in 1978 and Chipper Jones – World Series cornerstone – in 1990.

There may be another No. 1 overall Hall of Famer like Jones, Harold Baines and Ken Griffey Jr. someday, and he will be the fifth overall and first since Joe Mauer (2001) of the Minnesota Twins was inducted this year.

Lot of great questions on that topic.

(If at all possible, give pet adoption a try through the Animal Rescue Foundation in Milledgeville. Donations of any kind are also in great need. ARF is a little red building at 711 S. Wilkinson St., and more information is available at animalrescuefoundation.org.)