The Brawn of Braun

I'm a Ryan Braun fan, and it's not hard to see why. He homered tonight for the fourth time in two games--two two-HR games in a row. Ever since he was brought up early last season, that's what he's done: hit the heck out of the ball. Doubles (he was second in the league last year with 13), home runs (his 34 last season put him in fifth place in the NL, and his 43 through the past two seasons is the fastest pace ever), both of these in spite of fewer than 500 ABs last year.

He has his detractors, and with a handful of good reasons.He's a streaky hitter, with the kind of K:BB ratio to support this. In 2007, he racked up 119 strikeouts against only 29 walks, a ratio approaching 4:1, about twice the acceptable level. This year, he's got 31 Ks and just 7 walks, a ratio above 4:1. His selection as last year's Rookie of the Year was tempered by his horrible defense at the hot corner, with 26 errors in only 112 games. This was the big reason why he was shifted to the OF this year, where he has yet to boot a ball.

There are plenty of reasons to like Braun, and to expect him to continue his power-hitting ways. Right now, he bats in front of Prince Fielder, last year's NL home run champ (with 50), so he's going to get some good pitches to hit. He's hit about half his dingers at home, so he should continue to send them over the wall, whether at home or away--even if, heaven forfend, the Brewers trade him or can't give him a good contract when it expires at the end of this year.

Best of all, he's a level-headed and modest guy who doesn't seem to get into trouble on or off the field, and seems no more likely to hit the weight room than, say, Alex Rodriguez. I don't mean Braun's small, I just mean he doesn't look like the muscle-bound sluggers we've become accustomed to in the past ten years. If he continues hitting dingers at this rate, and at his current size, he should no more be subject to steroid rumors than, well, ARod.

It's certainly too early to begin projecting a guy who hasn't even got a full season under his belt, but it's tempting. With 42 homers in his first 150 games, he should reach 700 in 2500 games, or about 15 years, assuming he doesn't lose any time to the DL. And that's assuming he continues his record-breaking pace, which translates to about a 45-HR season every year. 

Which would make him my age before he reaches that threshold. I just hope he's in better shape.