PHOENIX – He had a double and a homer in Friday’s 12-3 win at Dodger Stadium, had two doubles Saturday against the Dodgers, hit the third-longest Braves homer of the season in Tuesday’s 8-3 win against the Diamondbacks and … well, needless to say, things are going quite well for Braves rookie Johan Camargo.
The Braves move him between three infield positions – he made his 21st start at third base Wednesday in a series finale at Arizona – and all Camargo does is keep hitting while playing solid and sometimes sensational defense. Actually, “keeps hitting” might be a bit of an understatement for a 23-year-old switch-hitter who started the season in Triple-A and didn’t get regular playing time with the Braves until his third major-league call-up.
Since he was recalled June 2, Camargo had a .324 average with 20 extra-base hits (two home runs), a .515 slugging percentage and .860 OPS in 136 at-bats over 44 games (34 starts) before Wednesday. Against left-handers he was a stunning 20-for-45 (.444 average with 11 extra-base hits and an .800 slugging percentage and 1.257 OPS) before Wednesday.
This from a guy who hit .267 with four homers and a .683 OPS in 126 games last season at Double-A Mississippi.
How did he blossom as a hitter so quickly and resoundingly?
“From last year to this year, the transformation of his body, No. 1,” Braves hitting coach Kevin Seitzer said. “Getting so much stronger and filling out. And then the adjustments that he made from last year that I saw this spring, shortening up his swing, was incredible. He continued to make adjustments and when he came up from Triple-A -- it’s kind of a delicate place for me because when they’re hitting .300 down there you don’t want to start changing stuff even though I saw a couple of major issues that I thought might expose him up here.”
Camargo hit .311 with a .353 OBP and .853 OPS in 31 games this season at Triple-A, but in his first two stints with the big-league team in mid-April and mid-May, Camargo was 2-for-11 with five strikeouts in eight games, including just one start and six pinch-hit at-bats.
“The first stint he was up, before he went back (to Triple-A), he did OK, but he was missing some pitches, not really giving himself a chance, especially on elevated fastballs,” Seitzer said. “When he went down him and Johnny Mo (Triple-A hitting coach John Moses) worked on flattening out his swing a little bit left-handed because he had a tendency to upper cut and get uphill. And then when he came back it was better, but still he had a tendency to a little drifty-forward and would get uphill (with the swing). So it was like, all right, let’s just see what this kid can do adjustment-wise.
“When we started doing some drills to flatten him out – high tee, soft toss, finishing lower with his swing instead of so high – it started flattening that left-handed swing out. Because I liked his right-hand swing. He has a little tendency to get a little tight, so keeping him loose – last night, that home run that he hit was just the epitome of what we’re looking for right-handed. And then left-handed he’s been able to handle secondary stuff real good because he’s flatter and he’s getting that tension out, staying on the ball longer.”
Camargo’s eight-inning homer off Diamondbacks lefty Andrew Chafin came on a 94-mph fastball and traveled an estimated 437 feet, the third-longest by a Brave this season, longer than any of those hit by sluggers Freddie Freeman, Matt Adams or Matt Kemp. (Brandon Phillips and Tyler Flowers had the only two longer homers by Braves, each measured at 447 feet.)
This wouldn’t have been possible from Camargo when he was a 160-pound prospect a couple of years ago. Between the physical strength and a lot of work in the video room and batting cages, he’s transformed himself as a hitter.
“He’s made unbelievable adjustments offensively,” Seitzer said. “It’s continued to give him a chance against good pitching and he’s shown that he can get on 98-99 (mph fastballs) and he can make adjustments to guys that have real good secondary stuff. I mean, he’s what, 150-160 at-bats in, something like that? (Camargo had 147 at-bats before Wednesday.) He’s doing good. He’s going to hit a bump in the road, we’ll see how he handles that. But so far it’s real good, consistent ABs every time out.”
Camargo has the combination of speed and power that tends to make for high ceilings in young players.
“And there’s going to be more pop coming because this is really the first year that he’s had any sign of man-muscles,” Seitzer said. “He’s going to fill out even more. The kid’s a psychotic hard-worker, too. I mean, he gets more swings every day than anybody and puts in his time. He’s very focused, very driven and very coachable, and those are good qualities.”
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