Recovered from a nasty battle with stomach flu, Evan Gattis was back in the Braves lineup Tuesday following a two-game absence. The big catcher was excited about playing in the home opener against the Mets.
“Yeah, absolutely,” said Gattis, who homered in his major league debut in a home game against Philadelphia on April 3, 2013. “It’s our third opening day, but this is the one that counts, you know what I mean? It’s good to be back.”
The Braves played their season opener at Milwaukee last week, and also played Washington in the Nationals’ home opener Friday. Gattis hit a home run off Jordan Zimmermann at Washington on Friday, then later that night became violently ill with the same virus that affected Braves pitchers Alex Wood and David Hale during the trip.
Gattis said he lost seven of his 240 pounds in about 24 hours when he couldn’t keep down any food. He was out of the lineup Saturday and Sunday and felt a lot better by Monday, the team’s day off. He had regained some but not all of the weight.
“I’m getting there,” he said. “It feels good to eat food again. I feel good.”
It wasn’t just the home opener that had him pumped up for Tuesday night at Turner Field. Gattis was eager to watch the pregame ceremony to honor Hank Aaron on the 40th anniversary of his 715th home run.
“It’s awesome,” he said of Aaron’s legacy. “I mean, you look around, it’s our address here (Turner Field is located at 755 Hank Aaron Drive), it’s our everything. It’s an honor, just to think about what he’s done. It’s really unbelievable. I’m just honored to be here.”
Aaron finished his career before Gattis or any of the other Braves were born. But after spending a few years in the organization, Gattis has done plenty of research and familiarized himself with Aaron’s accomplishments.
“Seven-hundred fifty-five home runs,” Gattis said. “The real home run champ. And did it without any help. Just consistently 30-plus (homers) a year, every year. It’s unbelievable what he’s done.”
When Gattis was in his first minor league spring training, he saw Aaron one day and made sure to take advantage of the opportunity.
“Minor league camp three years ago, I was late to the field because I had to go shake his hand,” Gattis said. “He’s got meat hooks. But I had to go shake his hand. I just had to come up with something to ask him, so I was like, hey, what never changed for you, from the beginning to the end? And he said, ‘My stance. My stance never really changed. And I always wanted to hit my pitch. A lot of people foul their pitch off or something.’ He told me, ‘Don’t miss your pitch.’”
“Just getting to talk to Hank Aaron. How many people get to do that? Low-A camp, I didn’t even make a team that year (out of spring training). Anybody asked me where I was (that day) I was like, I’m sorry, I had to go meet Hank Aaron.”
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