PHILADELPHIA – He spent the previous two days watching teammates play baseball. So a rainout just about the last thing that Braves third baseman Chris Johnson wanted Tuesday, when he was back in the lineup.
As soon as the postponement was announced late Tuesday afternoon, Johnson headed to the indoor batting cage adjacent to the vistor’s clubhouse at Citizens Bank Park. Some work to do, some energy to be burned off.
Johnson was out of the lineup Sunday and Monday after having his second four-strikeout game in a three-day span Saturday. Hitting coach Greg Walker said he wanted Johnson to “get the fight back between him and the pitcher” instead of fighting himself.
When Johnson was asked Tuesday if he’d been working on things the past couple of days or mostly taken it easy to clear his head, he smiled.
“I don’t know if I ever take it easy,” he said. “I worked on some stuff, yeah. I worked on my bat (swing) path. I worked on keeping it simple. I’ve been a little too aggressive, a little too anxious. And I think Skip (manager Fredi Gonzalez) saw that and wanted to give me a couple of days. And now I’m good, hopefully.”
Johnson finished second in the NL batting race with a .331 average in 2013, when he spent much of the season batting in the bottom half of the order, including 29 starts in the eighth position and 20 in the seventh spot. His .336 average with runners in scoring position also ranked among the league leaders in 2013.
The Braves moved him to the cleanup spot this spring, figuring his high-contact rate would offset the fact that he’s not the prototypical big power hitter for the fourth position. But so far Johnson has hit .244 with one homer, three RBIs, one walk and 14 strikeouts, and with runners in scoring position he’s 1-for-10 with five strikeouts.
Johnson was back in the seventh spot in the lineup Tuesday before the game was rained out. However, he didn’t think hitting fourth and the pressure that can go with that had caused his recent struggles.
“I think I would’ve been doing the same thing even if I was hitting lower,” he said. “I know that because I don’t put much stock in where I’m hitting. I think it’s just me pressing and trying to do too much. I need to get back to my good approach.”
