A.J. Pierzynski has had a career-resurgent type of season at age 38, climbing up the career hitting lists for catchers and being mentioned by teammates and Braves officials as the frontrunner for the team’s MVP award.’
But neither personal accomplishments nor the wisdom that comes with nearly two decades of major league experience have made it any easier for him to accept the mind-numbing amount of losses the Braves have piled up over the past two months.
“No, it sucks,” Pierzynski said over the weekend in Washington, midway through the Nationals’ four-game sweep of the Braves. “It sucks, I don’t care who you are. I want to go out there and win. I’ve never been on a team that’s lost this many games in this short amount of time, and it sucks. There’s no other way to put it.
“I want to win every game and I go out there and try to give everything I can when I’m out there, to try to win. And when I’m not playing I try to help these guys as much as I can on the bench. But everyone, including myself, we’ve just got to look in the mirror and try to figure out what you can do on that day, in that inning, on that pitch, that at-bat, to try to help this team win a game. And go from there.”
Pierzynski has done his job, and then some. He and the Braves didn’t expect him to become their primary catcher when he signed a one-year, $2 million free-agent contract on Christmas Eve.
Coming off a career-worst season in which he hit .251 with 18 extra-base hits (five home runs), 37 RBIs and a .625 on-base-plus-slugging percentage (OPS) in 102 games (362 plate appearances) for Boston and St. Louis, the Braves signed Pierzynski to be a backup and mentor to rookie catcher Christian Bethancourt, who they hoped would seize the opportunity and show he was ready to be the regular starter.
But Bethancourt underwhelmed while Pierzynski excelled during spring training and in the first month of the season, and Pierzysnki began getting a majority of playing time. Bethancourt was eventually optioned to Triple-A, where he spent about 10 weeks before returning in late August.
Pierzynski entered Monday night’s series opener against the Phillies – his 90th start in the Braves’ 138th game – batting .294 with 29 extra-base hits (seven homers), 44 RBIs and a .755 OPS. That was 12 points above his career average and 11 points higher than his career OPS.
He hit .331 with 14 RBIs and a .375 OBP in his past 31 games before Monday, and his fifth-inning single Sunday at Washington moved Pierzynski past Hall of Famer Bill Dickey into 10th place on the career hits list for catchers with 1,970. Next on the list is Johnny Bench (2,048).
“What a great career this guy’s had, and he’s not even done yet,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said of Pierzynski. “I know we’ve used him, and probably used him too much at times. He’s been special, he’s been good for us, and hopefully he can break more milestones before the season ends.”
The Braves have discussed the possibility of trying to re-sign Pierzysnki, and the catcher has indicated he’d like to come back for a second season. He could pass Bench on the hits list next season.
“Well, hopefully we’ll get a chance to witness it, because he’s been good,” Gonzalez said.
It’s been quite a change from last winter, when some in the front office and coaching staff were a bit leery about signing Pierzynski because of his reputation for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time – to opponents and to teammates. In the first weeks of spring training he drew praise from some of those same people, pleasantly surprised by how well he worked with the team’s pitchers and the effort he made to be a leader and an integral part of the team.
He’s kept that up all season and been anything but the disruptive force that some feared he might be. But what he’s not been able to do is carry an offense that’s outmanned or transform a pitching staff that is woefully inexperienced after injuries and trades eliminated almost every proven pitcher from the staff.
After posting a .500 record (42-42) through July 7, the Braves were 12-41 since then, including 2-26 on the road before Monday, when they took 12-game losing streak into their series with the Phillies. They had an 8.14 ERA, .213 batting average and 28 runs during the skid, their longest single-season losing streak since 1977.
“No, never seen anything like this,” Pierzynski said, when someone asked Sunday if he’d ever experienced this level of losing. “Just keep battling, come tomorrow and try to win.”
