It only took about four months, and the departure of Juan Francisco, for Chris Johnson to get enough at-bats to qualify for the league batting leaders. But now the rest of baseball knows exactly the kind of hitter the Braves have had on their hands this season.
Johnson entered Monday night batting .338 on the season, tops in the National League. He had joined Yadier Molina of the Cardinals in the top spot Saturday night at .332, then out-hit Molina Sunday night, going 3-for-4 to Molina’s 2-for-4 to move into sole possession of the league lead.
Not that he was focusing much on Molina during the Braves weekend sweep of the NL Central’s first-place Cardinals.
“I’m trying not to look at that right now,” Johnson said. “We’ve got two months of baseball left. I start worrying about getting more hits than him, it’s just going to go downhill.”
Johnson has gotten the attention of the last Brave to win a batting title though. Chipper Jones, who won the NL batting title in 2008 by hitting .364 at age 36, took notice when Johnson moved into the league lead, and congratulated Chris Johnson on Twitter.
“Go get you a batting title! Proud of you,” Jones tweeted.
Johnson was the so-called “throw in” in the offseason trade for Justin Upton from Arizona. He was a guy the Braves came out of spring training planning to platoon at third base with Francisco. But not only did Johnson win the job outright, he made the best use of all those at-bats he got against left-handed pitching. The right-handed hitting Johnson actually came to Atlanta batting nearly 30 points higher for his career against right-handers than left. (.283 vs. .255).
“I tried to work on that, getting better at an approach against lefties,” Johnson said. “In my career that’s what usually brought (my average) down. I wasn’t really comfortable facing lefties, but now I enjoy it.”
Johnson, a career .288 hitter, has topped .300 once in his first three full major league seasons when he hit .308 in 94 games with the Astros in 2010 at age 25.
“He gives you a good at-bat every single time out,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “When he was with Houston you only see him six games (a year), so you don’t appreciate it. But now you’ve lived with him since spring training and boy he’s got a really good approach at the plate. He puts the ball in play. He keeps it simple. The bat stays in the strike zone a long time.”
Injury update: Gonzalez had planned to start Reed Johnson in left field Monday night against Rockies left-hander Jorge De La Rosa, but he had to scrap those plans when Johnson's Achilles heel flared up as he ran out a ground ball Sunday night. "It's probably going to be day to day with him, with that Achilles heel," said Gonzalez, who started Joey Terdoslavich in left field instead.
Gonzalez said both B.J. Upton and Jordan Schafer were progressing well as they ramped up their running programs and continued to take batting practice. He thinks both could be ready to head out on a minor league rehabilitation assignment by the middle of this week…
The Braves designated right-hander Kameron Loe for assignment to make room on the roster for left-hander Scott Downs. They also placed Paul Maholm (wrist) on the DL to open a roster spot for Monday’s starter Brandon Beachy.
