Braun-cocky or confident?

[RU Rah Rah]

If this is the team's biggest problem over the remainder of the season, I will be soooooooooo happy.

[UWRyan428]

An SC grad sitting down a gent from The U, and lecturing him about being cocky? Sounds like the pot calling the kettle black.

[shelmark]

I also notice Braun likes to keep himself neat. He has Nomaresque movements after each pitch. He even adjusts his equipment as he is running. Obviously likes to look good. How many great ones aren't a little bit cocky. Not saying he is great or will be, but he has the mannerisms.

[valpocrewsader]

Definitely seems cocky ... like it won't be too long before he turns into one of those guys I'd dislike if he were on another team. Hope it doesn't rub off on our more humble young guys.

 

He probably won't be one of my favorite Brewers, but I obviously hope he helps us win a ton of games.

[jason21nl]

I just wanted to see where everyone stood on it. I do like it, and like it was mentioned earlier, with Prince batting behind him, they have to pitch to him. and nobody in their right mind is going to drill prince. as long as he doesn't pose as long as man ram, i'm cool with it.

[1992casey]

As long as Ryan isn't distributing autographed photos to the veteran players, I think we'll be fine.

[tomwopat]

In the context of a professional athlete, I don't know if there's a difference between cockyness and confidence. Given the electricity of the crowd, I can't fault him with getting sucked into the moment a little. It's a rookie mistake.

 

That being said, I can understand, but disagree with Kruk's issue with it. The real issue is respect--I don't think it was an overly long look, and he didn't glare at the pitcher or the opposing team. And even if he did, it's hard to call him out on that when he's facing a team with a pitcher who regularly beats his chest and yells into the opposing dugout when he gets a key strikeout.

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

I seem to recall Torii Hunter flipping his bat after he hit a homerun to center a couple weeks ago at Miller Park. Braun can't do this because he's a rookie? Give me a break.

[brewmann04]

i did not like the bat flip after the Hr and hopefully that will be addressed by either his teammates or his coach.

[trwi7]

I agree Tuesday. Kruk is making a big deal out of nothing here. It's a rivalry game, he was excited, he didn't show up the other team it was really stupid to even bring it up.

 

Zambrano does crap that's 50x worse when he's pitching but you never hear the bozos at ESPN say anything about that.

[AJ Love]

I like everything about Braun: his talent, his attitude, his confidence. The kid is one of my new favorite players. There has been nothing about his actions that I have found distasteful, although occasionally I wince in empathy for the hurt he puts on baseballs.

[davemakovec]

Somebody called into WSSP after the game last night to point this out and mentioned that Prince kind of glared at him on his way back into the dugout. I was standing behind the left-field bleachers when he hit it and I saw that swing and just said "oh stuff*" because he absolutely destroyed that ball. If he wants to take a moment to admire a monster like that, it's fine by me.

 

If that was the case, I'm glad that Prince is there, though, and looks like he's ready to put the rookie in his place if he goes too far. I think Prince is going to be the one keeping everybody in line more than Jenkins. He just seems like he runs the clubhouse. I think in a few years idiot sportswriters are going to talk about "the Prince gene" like what's-his-stupid-face (Stark, I think) was talking about "the Jeter gene."

 

Anyway, I love these kids. They're awesome.

 

*not really, but what I said can't be repeated here.

[mikevan1818]

I was watching the game last night on WGN and to me it seemed like Lilly went out of his way to watch Braun round the bases to make sure he wasn't being cocky. Does Ryan already have that reputation after only 3 big league round trippers?

 

I will throw a disclaimer on this - i got really sick last night while watching the game...so maybe I imagined Lilly doing this, but I seem to remember thinking to myself that he watched him a little more than usual.

[Badger OKC]

I watched the replay at mlb.com. I don't have any problem with what I saw. Maybe those whose saw it live got different replays that showed him looking too long at the results of the swing.

 

I would find it surprising for anyone not to look or pause at a shot like that in a heated rivalry. Then we would have threads about how much Braun doesn't care or that he has no passion. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[brewmann04]

But i agree kruk did make too big a deal.

[MadScientist]

Does the fact that the HR was close to the line make a difference? Was there a reason for Braun to watch it a little to make sure it didn't hook foul? The bat flip is another matter.

[brettac1]

If that was the case, I'm glad that Prince is there, though, and looks like he's ready to put the rookie in his place if he goes too far.

 

He has done the same thing plenty of times, though. He gets that high finish and stares at it and sets the bat down, too, which is pretty much his version of a "bat flip".

[BCZF]

Wow, I didn't even notice any showboating, from all of the discussion you'd think he took a long Bonds-ian stare at the thing flying out, but what Braun did was nothing..

 

Kruk, by the way, is an idiot. I guess bailing out on a RJ inside pitch and making youself look like a dope in the process is "proper baseball etiquette".. Pul-leeze..

[SeriesFinale]

Does the fact that the HR was close to the line make a difference?

 

Yeah, that's all I got from last night's. If anything, it was home run #2 that had the stare-n-flip.

[mikevan1818]

Nevermind, I'm dumb.

[BrewCrewForever]

I think Braun is a bit cocky, but very confident. And I don't have a single problem with it. Unless he starts totally staring the ball down and doing a Bonds like swagger into his HR trot. But I don't think he will do that. I think almost every guy who hits a HR stares at it to some extent before the start running. I agree with what someone said earlier that when your working out with a guy like A-Rod since the age of 19 and you have as much ability as Braun your going to have some cockiness. And that is okay by me, if he wants to be a little cocky on the field cause hes good fine, its if he starts acting like he's all that to reporters and such and saying hes the greatest and calling people out and such. Braun does nothing like that.

 

I love Braun.

[Invader3K]

If Braun was a Yankee, ESPN would be proclaiming him the second coming of Dimaggio already (or is that third, behind Jeter?). It's just because he's a Brewer and they're supposed to just be happy to score against the Cubs every once in a while.

 

I don't get why baseball players are expected to be humble all the time, but everyone loves to see a basketball or football star showboat. It's a stupid double standard. No, I don't want to see guys shouting and acting like idiots on the field, but I don't think a two second stare at a long ball should be enough to offend a pitcher making hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars a year.

[splitterpfj]

I think Ryan Braun is a very confident young man, and why shouldn't he be? The talent is obvious, his position in the draft, and subsequent signing bonus spoke volumes, and now his team has plugged him right into the 3-spot in the batting order.

 

I think he's earned it.

[Hammer]

Like was said earlier...why not take a look at where it is going when you absolutely SMOKE one. I have had the opportunity to hit a couple of those and yeah, it may tick off the pitcher, but isn't that a good thing usually?

 

Cockiness and coinfidence are NEEDED in the majors if you want to survive...

[crewcrazy]

While he did flip the bat after watching the one he hit last night, it looked to me like he put his head down and started jogging a little quicker than someone would jog around the bases for a HR usually would.