PHILADELPHIA – Wednesday was National Fried Chicken Day, and you can be assured that Erick Aybar was not celebrating by eating chicken wings, fried or otherwise.
“No, no, I don’t eat chicken anymore,” he said. “I stopped eating it after that day.”
He also stopped slumping. But more on that in a moment.
That day, for those who don’t remember, was May 19 in Pittsburgh, where Aybar got a chicken bone lodged in his throat in a frightening incident. He was eating chicken wings for lunch, and the bone got stuck far down his throat that Aybar couldn’t reach it and had to be rushed to a doctor.
He was sedated so the doctor could perform a removal procedure, but by then the bone dislodged itself and no longer posed a threat. Aybar missed that night’s game due to the earlier sedation.
The veteran shortstop returned to the lineup the next day, and, well, played as if he had a new lease on life.
After batting just .174 with a .207 OBP, and .205 slugging percentage in 132 at-bats over 38 games through May 18 — the worst six-week stretch of his career — Aybar hit .295 with a .376 OBP, .398 slugging percentage in 88 at-bats over his past 27 games before Wednesday’s series finale at Philadelphia.
Aybar, 32, has played so well the Braves have heard recently from some teams with trade interest for a guy who looked like one of most untradeable players in baseball for the first six weeks of the season.
Coincidence or not, the clear line of demarcation was The Chicken Bone Incident in Pittsburgh.
Aybar was 4-for-32 (.125) with one walk and seven strikeouts in his last 11 games before the bone got stuck in his throat. He missed one game, then had a hit and a walk in his first post-bone game May 20, then a sac fly and a walk the next day, then three hits in his next two games….
He hasn’t slowed down since that bone got lodged and, mercifully, dislodged.
The guy who had only four extra-base hits and four walks with 27 strikeouts in 38 games before the Chicken Bone Incident, had seven extra-base hits, eight walks and 16 strikeouts 27 games since.
Even a subsequent stint on the 15-day disabled list for a foot contusion didn’t slow Aybar. Since returning from the DL on June 12, he had a .306 average (22-for-72) with six doubles, a homer, eight RBIs and an .815 OPS in his past 21 games before Wednesday.
He’s also played solid and sometimes even spectacular defense, after struggling mightily on that side of the ball in the first month of the season.
“He’s swinging that bat,” Snitker said. “He’s playing really good. He made some plays over there at Fort Bragg (Sunday against the Marlins) that were really nice plays. He’s playing better since I’ve been here, probably more indicative of the player he is. Because he’s been a really good player for a long time.”
It’s worth noting, Snitker took over as interim manager May 17 in Pittsburgh after Fredi Gonzalez was fired. Two days later in that long and eventful four-game series at Pittsburgh, Snitker sat in the dugout before batting practice, patiently explaining to reporters all that he knew about the condition of Aybar after the shortstop had left the clubhouse just an hour or two earlier with a chicken bone in his throat.
Those were strange times.
Aybar’s abrupt turnaround and sustained offensive production post-bone incident has been just another turn in a season that’s been anything but boring, despite the Braves’ 28-56 record entering Wednesday.
“It’s good to see,” Snitker said of Aybar’s improvement, “because we need him out there.”
The Braves also need Aybar to keep it up if they hope to trade him before the Aug. 1 non-waiver deadline. Aybar has an $8.5 million salary and will be a free agent after the season.
