Adam Laroche

Last year Adam Laroche overcame some criticism for failing to hustle, and ended up having a fine year. He smacked 32 home runs and drove in 90 runs for the Braves. He was the Braves' third best hitter last year, behind McCann and Chipper (when he was healthy). So how does he stack up against other 1B of the league? Well, we're going to go ahead and exclude Ryan Howard, Albert Pujols, and Lance Berkman, who are three of the better hitters in the Majors. We will compare Laroche to Carlos Delgado of the Mutts, Nick Johnson of the Nats, Prince Fielder of the Brewers, Adrian Gonzalez of the Padres, and Todd Helton of the Rockies.



As you can see, of the "Second-tier" 1b in the NL, Laroche was probably the second best. If he can continue his progression, he might be able to knock on the door with the Berkmans, Pujols', and Howards of the world. This would be fantastic for the Braves.

One thing that I would like to see Laroche improve upon is his OBP. If he can draw more walks and raise his OBP to around the level of Johnson, he will become a truly elite hitter.