Heyward arrives in camp, jaws hit floor | Atlanta Braves with David O'Brien

Lake Buena Vista, Fla. – Jason Heyward reported to spring training Monday, then jaws hit the floor. Millionaire athletes reached for words to describe the masher from McDonough, whose already epic physique has become more so.

“He’s an outside linebacker,” pitcher Derek Lowe said of Heyward, who enters spring training with a good shot at winning the right-field job at age 20. “He’s huge.”

“He’s Jevon Kearse – he’s The Freak,” third baseman Chipper Jones said, comparing baseball’s top-rated prospect to the Tennessee Titans defensive end. “I’m telling you, he’s a bigger version of Freddy McGriff.”

Far bigger.

Heyward is 6 feet 5 and 245 pounds, up from 230 last season. The 20-year-old McDonough native insisted he did nothing special this winter to add weight.

“Nothing’s changed, same workouts,” he said. “I’m growing. Twenty years old, growing into that grown-man strength hopefully soon.”

If he’s not there yet, it’s frightening to think what he might be when he gets there.

Most of his added weight appears to have been distributed across his muscular shoulders. Simply put: dude is shredded.