Church happy to join Braves, Cox

Denver — If not for a torn labrum in college, Ryan Church would not have become an outfielder.

And if not for Yunel Escobar’s knee, Church might never have become a Brave.

Because if Church had kept hitting like he did before the concussion he got when he collided with Escobar trying to break up a double play in May 2008, the Mets wouldn’t have thought about trading him, which they did on Friday in the swap for fallen young star Jeff Francoeur.

A chain of events has brought him to this place, and Church doesn’t sound disappointed.

“Now that I’m here, I want to be here,” said Church, who came within a few feet of hitting a grand slam in his Braves debut on Saturday, then got his first RBI and first hit Sunday in the last game before the All-Star break, which he’ll spend with his pregnant wife, Tina, finding a new place.

“Just that first day playing for Bobby, you could tell it was all positive,” said Church, 30, who has two more seasons of arbitration before free agency. “Just the vibe, all the positive reinforcements, it’s great to be around. Makes you feel good. I can already feel it.”

To appreciate where he is today, consider the turn his career took before it even began.

He tore the labrum in his left (pitching) shoulder in 1997, his freshman year at the University of Nevada. The Santa Barbara, Calif., native was a freshman ace before his injury but spent the next two years rehabbing and trying to get it back.

“My senior year came around, and they needed an outfielder,” he said. “So they threw me out there. They knew I was athletic, so that last year I just picked up a bat. And that was it. The rest is history.”

Church hit well enough to become a 14th-round pick by the Cleveland Indians in 2000, and was MVP of the New York-Penn League that year after hitting .298 with 10 homers and 65 RBIs in 73 games.

Three years later, after stalling in Class AA, Church was traded to the Montreal Expos. He blistered Class AAA pitching in 2004 and was called to the majors late that season, the team’s last in Montreal.

He won the opening-day centerfield job at 2005 spring training but strained his groin in the final Grapefruit League game. The rookie ended up hitting .287 with nine homers and 42 RBIs in 102 games around DL stints for a rib-cage strain and a broken toe.

After spending part of 2006 back in the minors, he hit .272 with career highs of 43 doubles, 15 homers and 70 RBIs in 144 games in 2007.

Mets general manager Omar Minaya, who had brought Church to Montreal when Minaya worked for the Expos, traded for him again after that 2007 season.

Church got off to a fast start in 2008, hitting .315 with nine homers, 32 RBIs and a .383 on-base percentage in 43 games before May 20 in Atlanta, when he slid hard and high into Escobar’s knee.

He was treated at Piedmont Hospital for his second concussion in less than three months. The Mets still let him fly to Colorado for their next series, where he pinch-hit on May 22. But post-concussion syndrome began in recurring waves.

He played only 47 games the rest of the season and hit .236 with three homers and 17 RBIs, between stints on the DL for post-concussion effects — three weeks in June, seven weeks in July and August.

“The best thing, what should have been done, was go right on the DL [after the concussion] and just rest,” Church said. “That’s basically what all the doctors said, you just need to rest. I tried to tough it out, and it wouldn’t go away.

“The brain, you can’t mess with that. Especially trying to do what we’re trying to do — hit a 90-plus miles-an-hour fastball. I just didn’t have it. It got to the point where finally I just told them, ‘I’m sick of feeling this way.’ Having headaches, wanting to throw up. My vision being all messed up.”

It wasn’t until the offseason when Church said he felt normal again, after a full month of postseason rest. He said he woke one day and his head was clear, and that is has been ever since.

But just wait till he deals with driving on the Downtown Connector.