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Monday, March 5, 2007
Thorman energizes in big way
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
Lake Buena Vista, Fla. — There are two things Scott Thorman can generally count on in spring training. One is being told that his flight for Richmond leaves in the morning. The other is somebody on the phone complaining about the weather back home.
“They’re getting dumped on right now — a lot of snow and pretty cold,” said Thorman, the Braves’ rookie first baseman by way of Cambridge, Ontario. “So they don’t want to hear about me barbequing in the backyard. If you go to the beach right now, I guarantee it’s all Ontario and Quebec plates in the parking lot.”
This spring will be significantly different for Thorman. When the Braves break camp, he will break tradition and go to Atlanta with them. “I’ve been to three spring trainings, and I know when every single cut day was,” said the 25-year-old, a minor-league lifer until being called up last season.
It is difficult to miss Thorman. He is 6 feet 3, 235 pounds and loud. When the Braves’ team bus had to stop short Sunday during the drive to Vero Beach, it was Thorman who yelled from the back of the bus: “The sandwiches are OK! Keep going!”
Quoth the manager, Bobby Cox, in understatement: “He’s an energizing guy.”
Thorman’s enthusiasm is infectious, his work ethic a reflection of his upbringing in a blue — collar Canadian town. As a youth, Thorman spent many Saturdays accompanying his father on construction jobs. Robert Thorman never had the opportunity to reciprocate when Scott made it to the major leagues last June. He died 13 years ago of skin cancer.
Few realized the significance when Thorman made his major league debut last June. It was Father’s Day. Scott took it as a tribute. “It was a special moment for me and my family,” he said. “My mom and sisters and in-laws were there. It was the best Father’s Day gift I could have had.”
Thorman’s wife, Kelly, is eight months pregnant with the couple’s first child. Deciding on a name wasn’t difficult. Robert Thomas Thorman is due March 25.
“I wish he could be here for the birth of his grandson,” he said. “I hope I can teach my son a lot of the things my dad taught me.”
Thorman was only 12 when his father died. He was a multi-sport athlete — hockey until he was 12; baseball, basketball and track through high school — and often coached by his father. More important, Thorman said, “He taught me life lessons.”
“When you lose a parent,” he continued, “you definitely get a greater appreciation for a lot of things. I’m not going to lie to you. You have to grow up a lot faster than most kids because you have to deal with that. But I guess, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?”
Resilience isn’t an issue. Thorman has worked his way through every level of the minors, from Gulf Coast to Macon to Myrtle Beach to Greenville to Mississippi to Richmond. He is one of three players in camp from the 2000 draft class (the others: Kelly Johnson and Blaine Boyer).
Thorman also missed all of 2001 because of shoulder surgery for a torn labrum and “instability” — the result of separating it three times the year before: sliding headfirst, lifting weights and during rehab. He hit .294 the following year in Macon.
Thorman played 55 games with the Braves last season, but his starting job was cemented when Adam LaRoche was traded to Pittsburgh for reliever Mike Gonzalez. He is hitting .375 this spring. Noteworthy: He had two hits in Vero Beach after updating the medical status of the team sandwiches.
Logic dictates Thorman has seen the last of the minors. His cold winters back home will be by choice, after the season. Maybe he’ll even make it into the Cambridge Sports Hall of Fame one day. (Yes, it exists.)
“I don’t know about that,” Thorman said.
Regardless, he has been strengthened by the journey.
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