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Sandy - Raleigh's picture

Which this year isn't far removed from being an Ms fan -- great pitching, no offense.  I could do name replacements on half my Ms articles, and they'd read just as well for the Bravos.
That said - here's the thing about Langerhans.  He's *STREAKY*.  What my eye saw when watching him was the skid-row version of Andruw Jones.  For two weeks, he'll look like he's "got it", and make you happy to bask in the glow of a "real" major league hitter tearing up the league.  Then, for a month, he'll look like he's a kid getting his first look at major league pitching, and he's just as obviously in over his head beyond belief.  At 22-25, that's not unusual, and even to be expected.  At 28, it means you're relegated to the role of #4 OF for the worst team in baseball, (the Nats - not the Ms).
The tough part about a player like this is ACCEPTING the slumps.  Psychologically, if a kid knows that every time he slumps, he's heading to the bench, he just adds pressure, presses, and extends the slumps.  So, when slumping, you give some days off - you slip him down in the order, perhaps -- but you don't take his job away.  That just makes his worst problem worse. 
The reason I noted Langerhans could be a 2nd tier version of Branyan is because when he came up with the Braves, Atlanta had a LOT of young OF talent.  In 2005, the Braves had Francoeur, and Kelly Johnson (who played OF at the time), along with Andruw.  They also had guys like Prado and Matt Diaz coming up, too.  They didn't Langerhans a really good shot at full-time play, because they didn't have to -- (and they had other guys that were generally liked a bit more than him).  They were hoping for a lefty who could dominate righty pitching.  Instead, for his career, Ryan hits .704 against righties and .792 against lefties.  THIS is why I was saying he could be another Branyan.  He's carried a reverse split - but has so little time, (barely 1,000 PAs in 4 legitimate seasons), that nothing is certain.
 

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