AJC > Sports > Braves > Blog > Archives > 2008 > February > 08
Friday, February 8, 2008
K.J. gets overlooked, but shouldn’t
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Well I didn’t plan to crank out another blog before the weekend, but for some reason there were more than 800 posts on the last one after a coupl days. Humm, seems to be a lot of interest in some cat going by the screen name U Kno Who.
Seriously, it was a good couple of days with our special blog guest, and hopefully we can get Chipper and other Braves to stop by during the coming weeks while we’re sequestered at Dark Star, and perhaps even during the season. In the meantime, we’ll keep plugging away with the nice, motley cast we’ve assembled.
So I’m just gonna give you a quick blog here today, providing a clean slate on which to post on through the weekend. We’ll start daily blogs middle of next week from that familiar ‘burb just outside Orlandopolis, where the only thing sunnier than dispositions of well-trained Disney employees is the sun itself.
Are you folks excited about spring training? Have these past couple of days helped push the needle a bit?
Frankly, I wasn’t quite ready to focus on spring training a couple of weeks ago, but now I’m getting in the mindset. Ready for some 6:30 a.m. wakeup calls, foggy early morning drives to the ballpark, music and cigars filling the rental car, and sun shining on the dew of a freshly mowed ballfield.
K.J. ready for more: With the moves made this offseason — Tom Glavine’s return, Yunel Escobar replacing Edgar Renteria at short, Mark Kotsay replacing Andruw Jones in center — and contract discussions regarding Mark Teixeira and Jeff Francoeur, it’s been easy to overlook 2B Kelly Johnson.
But I’ve got a feeling that’s going to change soon. As many of you already understand, this is another Texan (nod to Hoss) who can flat-out hit. And until his late-season difficulties with backhanded plays, Johnson played steady defense at second base in his first season at the position after moving from the outfield.
Do most folks realize how good his offensive numbers were? Think about it — K.J. missed the 2006 season for elbow surgery and had little more than a half-season of big league experience before batting .276 with 26 doubles, 10 triples, 16 homers, 68 RBIs (while hitting mostly 1st, 7th, 8th or 9th) and a .375 OBP.
As a leadoff man, he had 29 extra-base hits (six triples, nine homers), 40 RBIs and a .372 OBP in 306, which ranked among the leadoff OBP leaders in the NL.
Now Johnson said he’s stronger after doing more weightlifting than he was able to do a year ago, when he was in the last stages of recovery from elbow surgery and worked all winter on second-base defense with coach Glenn Hubbard.
“I’m feeling really good,” he told me on the phone recently. “No pain in the arm. Just being able to have a little bit of a rest helped. I went full-bore on defense from the beginning last winter because I had to. This year I was able to rest until November, and then get strong. I’ve doubled my strength this year.
“Couldn’t have asked for a better offseason as far as getting ready. I’m just a little more mentally refreshed. I couldn’t lift many weights last year, couldn’t go up with my arm. I had to do reps with lighter weight.”
In the 2008 Bill James Handbook, the statistical guru projects Johnson to rack up offensive totals in 2008 that compare favorably to Yankees star Derek Jeter.
James projects Johnson will hit .282 with 30 doubles, eight triples, 19 homers, 76 RBIs, a .384 OBP, .473 slugging and .857 OPS.
James projects Jeter will hit .312 with 35 doubles, two triples, 15 homers, 76 RBIs, .385 OBP, .443 slugging and .828 OPS.
Some fans (and others) assumed after Johnson was dropped from the leadoff spot last summer, and after he was moved from full-time to platoon duties with Escobar, the Braves must not be too high on the converted outfielder. Not so.
Every time a Braves official was asked about Johnson, the reply was positive. The Braves said they were quite pleased with his performance, but some folks didn’t seem to believe it, probably because of the moves mentioned above.
Johnson believes he’ll improve defensively now that he’s comfortable at second.
“I was scared out of my mind last year,” he said. “I heard guys saying ‘Oh, Kelly can be the second baseman.’ But in my mind I’m thinking, ‘I’ve never played second base before.’ It was like a tryout. And then I didn’t get any action the first couple weeks in games, like, one ball hit to me.
“I was like, ‘Oh [sh—], oh [sh—]. It was ridiculous.’ This year I should be more at ease, a little more free up in the head. I’m ready to go.”
Ok, before I forget … You folks in the northeast Atlanta area who aren’t working this afternoon should stop by Ella Guru CD store in the Toco Hill Shopping Center, where I’m gonna be manning my buddy Don’s store a few hours.
He’s flying back to Austin, Texas, for a reunion concert by a band he used to manage years and years ago, and I felt bad that he was going to have to shut down the store today because he couldn’t find any former employee who wasn’t busy and could man the register in the early afternoon.
So I offered my services for a few hours today, since I’m supposed to be off. Ink-stained wretch to record-store nerd. Love it.
I’ll be keeping up with the blog on my laptop while I fulfill what once seemed a dream job for me — working in a record store (I didn’t understand you weren’t going to get rich working in such a store. Or anything close to rich).
For an afternoon, I can spin tunes and sell some CDs, provided folks stop in between noon and 3:30, when my man got some relief coming in.
And since Don’s a big baseball fan and all, he’s even offering a 20-percent spring-training/Braves-MIB discount on used CDs for one week starting today. Just mention the code DOB to the person behind the register. No kidding.
See ya at the record store. Or in Orlando. Or on the blog. All good.
Oh, and if you haven’t heard the new North Mississippi All-Stars CD, it’s quite greasy and rockin’ — and very good. Some mighty fine releases the past few weeks, including albums by Bob Mould, Drive-By Truckers, Whigs, Selmanaires, Anna Kramer and the Lost Cause, and Sheryl Crow (yes, I’ll admit I like it, and not just because she’s, well, mighty fine).
”OUT HERE IN THE MIDDLE” by James McMurtry
They broke into your car last night, took the stereo
Now you say you don’t know why you even live there anymore
The garage man didn’t see a thing, so you guess it was an inside job
You made a reservation, a table for three
They said you’d have to wait, somebody must have bribed the maitre’d
Boss got mad and he blamed it all on you
Food was bad and the deal fell through
Well out here in the middle you can park it on the street
Step up to the counter, you nearly always get a seat
Nobody steals. Nobody cheats.
Wish you were here, my love
Wish you were here
We got tractor pulls and Red Man chew
Corporate relo refugees that need love, too
We ain’t seen Elvis in a year or two
We got justification for weath and greed
amber waves of grain and bathtub speed
We even got Starbacks — what else you need?
Out here in the middle, where the center’s on the right
And the ghost of William Jennings Bryan preaches every night
To save the lonely souls in the dashboard lights
Wish you were here, my love
Wish you were here
Out here in the middle, where the buffalo roam
We’re putting up towers for your cell phones
And we screen all applicants with a fine-tooth comb
Wish you were here, my love
Wish you were here
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