DENVER – Slugger Evan Gattis is in the midst of a career-best hitting surge since making adjustments in his stance and approach, but it’s his work behind the plate that has impressed another former catcher, Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez.
“He’s really worked hard to make himself a solid catcher,” Gonzalez said. “To me, talking to him, he takes more pride in that than hitting 450-foot home runs. And you can see the improvement from April to May to June.”
Gattis had three hits including a long home run in the Braves’ 13-10 against the Rockies late Tuesday, his fifth homer in an 11-game hitting streak in which he’s batted .395 (17-for-43) with three doubles, 13 RBIs and an .814 slugging percentage.
Braves hitting coach Greg Walker, who has relished seeing Gattis make recent adjustments and get significant and immediate results.
Gattis had his average up to .280 overall with 13 homers – tops among major league catchers – and 31 RBIs in 48 games before Wednesday. He recently made some changes designed to get him standing up a little straighter and eliminate some “side-to-side” movement in his swing, as he puts it.
“Not only mechanically, physically being tall at the plate, but approach-wise,” Walker said of the adjustments. “The other day against a lefty he hit a changeup, he hit two sliders. And that’s kind of been his weakness, off-speed stuff. But with his new approach – and I don’t want to talk about it much – his thought process has made him cover more off-speed pitches.
“We don’t want to lose his strength – hitting heaters is his strength – but he’s been fun to watch lately. That’s scary when he starts covering those pitches.”
He’s been able to get to get to more pitches on the outer half of the plate and lay off more off-speed pitches and high fastballs, the stuff that pitchers had been using to strike him out ever since the scouting reports started to show the holes in his swing.
Now Gattis has his average up significantly without sacrificing any of his raw power. His home-run rate of one homer every 12.9 at-bats before Wednesday would’ved ranked second in the National League behind Colorado’s Troy Tulowitzki (1/12.5) if Gattis weren’t shy of the minimum at-bats to qualify.
Florida’s Giancarlo Stanton has 17 homers in 240 at-bats, or one every 14.1 at-bats.
Gattis lined a home run about 15 rows up into the left-field seats at Coors Field on Tuesday, a ball that left the park at a frightening speed.
“He’s a joke,” said Braves third baseman Chris Johnson, who meant that as a compliment. “He’s good, man. He’s awesome. He’s so strong. His approach is getting better and better, and when he swings at strikes the ball rarely stays in the ballpark, no matter where we’re at.”
Gonzalez, himself a former minor league catcher, noted how little experience Gattis has catching professionally at any level. “I think right now he’s closing in on maybe the most games he’s ever caught (in one season),” said Gonzalez, who was accurate.
The most games Gattis caught in a single season was 52 at low Class-A Rome in 2011, his full season of pro ball. His start Wednesday night at Colorado was the 43rd this season at catcher for Gattis, who also entered two other games at the position.
As a rookie in 2013, he played more games in the outfield (48) than at catcher (42), and also played four games at first base.
When Brian McCann left as a free agent after the 2013 season, Gattis became the Braves’ primary catcher. Gonzalez said during spring training that he planned to start him in about 100-110 games at catcher, mindful of the arthroscopic knee surgery Gattis had in October (his second surgery on the same knee) and the demands of catching during the hot Atlanta summer.
So far Gattis’ knee has held up well and he’s on pace to start 110 games at catcher.
“He’s a big boy, a big body,” Gonzalez said of the 250-pound Texan, “and you see the difference when you give him a day off. That next day he’s a different guy behind the plate. He moves around more. You can see the rest does him good. And I think we’ll keep it up.”
Gonzalez has used him to pinch-hit but not play any other positions this season, also part of the plan he laid out during spring training when he said he wanted to rest Gattis on days he was not catching, rather than play him out of position again in the outfield or at first base.
