Tyler Flowers on playing in an empty stadium
Tyler Flowers came up with the Braves, signed as a draft-and-follow player back in 2006. Two-plus years later, the Braves traded Flowers to the White Sox in the Javier Vazquez trade.
And after seven seasons in Chicago, Flowers came back to Atlanta as a free agent before the 2016 season. He’s spent four years back with his hometown Braves, and he’s been a very dependable player for a team that went from a rebuild to a division champion two straight years.
He’s split time with A.J. Pierzinski, Kurt Suzuki and Brian McCann, and now the Braves have brought in Travis d’Arnaud as the main catcher. At 34, Flowers is now in the last year of his two-year extension, and the Braves know they will need him in this shortened season.
Flowers hit .229 last season with 111 home runs, 34 RBI and a .319 on base percentage.
In his four years back with Atlanta, Flowers has hit .254 with 39 home runs and 154 RBI in 1120 at bats. He’s been more productive offensively in Atlanta than he was in Chicago, and his pitch-framing is considered one of the best of all catchers in the sport.
The Braves will count heavily on Flowers this season. He knows the young pitchers well, and will work well with d’Arnaud to handle the Atlanta pitching staff.
Listen to The Bill Shanks Show weekdays at 3:00 p.m. ET on Middle Georgia’s ESPN. You can listen online at TheSuperStations.com. Follow Bill on Twitter at @billshanks and you can email him at thebillshanksshow@yahoo.com.