Kelly Johnson on hitting streak as season ends

Houston — When he watches Kelly Johnson hit these days, Chipper Jones has the feeling he could be seeing serious talent blossom before his eyes.

Johnson, the Braves’ streaky second baseman, is finishing the season on a torrid pace, batting .402 with 18 RBIs during a 22-game hitting streak that’s the longest in the National League this season.

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Joey Ivansco / jivansco@ajc.com

Kelly Johnson gives first base coach Glenn Hubbard a fist bump after getting a hit in Sunday’s final home game of the season.

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“It’s fun to watch, because you’re seeing a guy start to turn the corner, a guy starting to believe he belongs,” Jones said. “It’s good to see him get that confidence, and it’s happening at a good time for him, going into the offseason on a really strong note.

“It could be the thing that propels his career, if he comes into spring training with that same attitude and approach.”

If the Braves had any discussions about exploring an upgrade at second base this winter, they might have shelved those discussions after Johnson’s performance in recent weeks.

After batting only .266 with a .335 on-base percentage and .416 slugging percentage in 111 games through Aug. 14, he has hit .343 with a .388 OBP and .540 slugging mark in his past 36 games.

“I feel the best I’ve ever felt now,” said Johnson, who enters the opener of a season-ending series with the Astros Friday ranked second among National League second basemen in average (.285) and doubles (39), third in extra-base hits (57, including 16 homers) and fifth in RBIs (68).

During the hitting streak, Johnson has 15 extra-base hits including three triples and three home runs, and 10 multi-hit games, including two during this week’s series win at Philadelphia.

“Kelly in the last month has played extremely well,” general manager Frank Wren said Monday in Philadelphia. “I think it’s shown up both offensively and defensively. He’s looked like the player that we’ve seen over the last few years and thought was coming down the pike.”

Johnson said he has been a bit more aggressive. But more than anything, he says he is relaxed and having more fun, rather than worrying about every pitch and every at-bat.

“I’ve just been enjoying it, being a little more loose,” said Johnson, who adjusted his mind-set after an eight-game, 1-for-24 slump in early August. “I got into a funk, and it took me a while to get out of it. I was forcing things. I wanted to forget all that.

“We weren’t winning, but we have a great group of guys who’ve played together a long time, and I wanted to just start enjoying it more.”

Johnson, 26, is in his second season playing second base and his second full season in the majors. The Austin, Texas, native hit .241 with nine homers and 40 RBIs in 87 games as a rookie outfielder in 2005, then missed the 2006 season after ligament-transplant elbow surgery.

He was converted to second in a one-on-one winter crash course with Braves infield coach Glenn Hubbard after the 2006 season, when the team declined to tender a contract to Marcus Giles.

Johnson hit .276 with 10 triples, 16 homers and 68 RBIs last season, and his defense was mostly sound except for some late struggles making backhanded plays. Those plays haven’t presented problems this season, but Johnson has made several errors on routine plays.

He made three errors in the past six games to raise his total to 14, tied with Jeff Kent for most errors among NL second basemen. Nevertheless, Braves manager Bobby Cox said Johnson has played “great” defense in his opinion. “He was great last year,” Cox said. “Nobody’s perfect.”

But it’s his bat that could keep Johnson in a major-league lineup. Take it from the third baseman who’s hitting .365 and poised to win the NL batting title at age 36.

“He can hit .300 in this league,” Jones said, “and he’s going to hit a lot of doubles, a lot of triples, hit 20 home runs if he plays every day. For a second baseman, that’s a rare commodity.

“There’s no doubt he can be one of the elite second basemen in the game, at least offensively speaking. And with that confidence at the plate comes confidence in the field.”

But, as Jones noted, it’s one thing to hit .400 in September for a team long out of playoff contention.

“It’s important that he take that approach early in the season when the games mean something,” he said. “It’s easy to relax right now.”