Look at Braves roster reveals a number of interesting facts

The Atlanta Braves began their regular season schedule last Thursday when they played the New York Mets in Flushing, N.Y. They’ll play their first home game tomorrow (Friday) night when they take on the Milwaukee Brewers in Atlanta.

The Braves announced their active, 25-man roster just prior to opening day, and it includes more than a few familiar names. Looking at the Braves roster makes me feel old. Back when I was a kid, I put major league players on a pedestal, and, being grown-up adults, they always seemed old to me. Now that I’m 36, I’m older than most of the players on the Braves team with only one exception, 37-year-old pitcher Livan Hernandez.

The average age of this year’s team is just under 28 years old. The youngest players are 22-year-olds Jason Heyward, Tyler Pastornicky and Freddie Freeman. They were all born between August and December in 1989, that is, when I was in junior high school.

At 37, Hernandez is the oldest player on the team, but he’s still younger than the oldest player on the team last year, Billy Wagner, who was a 39-year-old left-handed pitcher and a geezer compared to most players in the big leagues today.

(If you want to feel even older, consider that Sunday marked the 38th anniversary of the day that Atlanta’s Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s home run record, hitting his 715th career home run in a game against the Dodgers at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.)

A quick survey of the Braves roster reveals a number of interesting facts about this year’s team. The majority of the team, 14 players, are right-handed batters and right-handed throwers. Five players are left-handed batters and right-handed throwers. Four players are left-handed batters and left-handed throwers.

Pitcher Mike Minor is the only player on the team, who bats right-handed and throws left-handed. Pitcher Kris Medlen is the only player on the listed as a switch hitter, and he throws right-handed.

Six-foot-six, right-handed pitcher Tommy Hanson is the tallest player on the roster, and 5-foot-9 Jose Constanza is the shortest player on the team.

Hernandez is not only the oldest player on the team, but he’s also one of the heaviest. He and infielder Juan Francisco tip the scales at 245 pounds each. Heyward is a close second, weighing in a 240 pounds.

In addition to being the shortest man on the team, Constanza, who plays out in the outfield, is also the lightest, weighing only 150 pounds. The next heaviest player on the team is outfielder Michael Bourn, who weighs 180 pounds.

Those of you who enjoy listening to the Braves on the radio will have ample opportunity to do so again this year. The Braves have the largest radio affiliate network of any major league team, and more than a few of the stations that carry Braves games are in southwest Alabama.

Those stations include WKNU-FM 106.3 in Brewton, WHEP-FM 92.5 in Foley and WJDB-FM 95.5 in Thomasville. Two AM stations out of Montgomery also carry the Braves – WMSP-AM 740 and WNZZ-AM 950.