PHILADELPHIA – Jason Heyward and the Braves will face Jon Niese on Friday for the first time since the Mets left-hander 90-mph fastball broke Heyward's jaw on Aug. 21, an injury that required surgery and put him on the disabled list for a month.
Heyward still has two metal plates in his jaw and wears a batting helmet equipped with a protective extension attached to the right ear flap.
But Thursday morning, before a series finale against the Phillies, facing Niese was not on Heyward’s mind. The Braves right fielder and leadoff man was thinking more about getting out of a two-week hitting slump that began in the third game of the season.
Since going 3-for-8 with a homer in the first two games of the season, Heyward is 5-for-51 (.098) in his past 13 games with one double, one homer, three RBIs, nine walks and 15 strikeouts.
Three of his five hits in that span came in one game, and Heyward was 0-for-5 with four strikeouts against Cliff Lee in Wednesday’s 1-0 Braves win.
Heyward was asked how he felt at the plate before Thursday’s game. (He would go 0-for-4 with three grounders to first base and a line-out to right field in the Phillies series finale.)
“Man, I’m feeling better than it looks, that’s the thing,” he said. “It’s just…. Last night was Cliff Lee. He did what he’s very capable of. The night before, I got a knock (hit) the first at-bat, got a couple of walks, whatever, one of them (line drives) at somebody again. Just got to get those to fall in.”
Heyward has continued to play exceptional defense and to run the bases aggressively, as evident by four stolen bases in as many attempts, twice his steals total from last season. But his 17 strikeouts were only one behind team leader B.J. Upton, his .288 on-base percentage was fifth-lowest among NL leadoff men, and Heyward was 1-for-17 with nine strikeouts against lefties.
He has remained upbeat and optimistic, and manager Fredi Gonzalez has continued to pencil him in the lineup in the leadoff spot every game, citing the other ways the strong-armed right fielder has helped the first-place Braves.
“It’s still great to be able to contribute what I have and help the team,” Heyward said. “Whether it’s on defense, be on base for B.J. and Free (Freddie Freeman) and the guys behind me — like the other day, scoring three runs was huge. We’re playing some good teams, man. You don’t want to get complacent, because the minute you do, that’s when it starts to get on you a little bit. Just got to keep going.
“We’ve got a good team. Pitchers are throwing awesome. They’re throwing strikes and making guys put the ball in play, and we’re answering that call on defense.
Heyward also is trying to continue making pitchers work by being selective and not getting desperate. He believes things will turn around soon.
“Hey, you’ve got to keep going, obviously, and stay with it,” he said. “Because if you don’t, if you start trying to do too much, that’s when you take yourself out of it. And that’s the toughest part, when you’re not swinging the bat (well) you’ve got stay with it, still have that feel, still feel good, still look for pitches in your area, in your zone, and go from there.”
As Heyward notes, it’s not the first time he struggled early in a season. A year ago, he hit .142 with a .283 OBP and two homers in 31 games through June 1, interrupted by a stint on the DL for an emergency appendectomy. In 73 games after June 1, he hit .297 with 12 homers and a .376 OBP.
In his five-year major league career, he had a .217 average and .323 OBP in 101 April games, easily his lowest marks in any month. His second-lowest monthy average is in May (.225), and from there it rises sharply to .278 in June, .262 in July, .286 in August and .262 in September.
He’s also glad the manager continues to play him every day. Heyward thinks that’s the best way to break the slump.
“Oh, yeah. Got to (play),” he said. “I mean, there’s no other way. Through repetition. It’s not the first time I’ve started slow. The first time it happened was 2009 in the minors. So it’s not the first time it’s happened. But I’ve learned about myself, and I know you’ve got to keep playing, go out there each day, take it all in stride and go from there. And it will happen. It’s going to happen.”
Gonzalez indicated that Heyward would be in the lineup Friday to face Niese. He’s 9-for-24 with two homers against the lefty, and Heyward doesn’t think it will be any different facing him Friday, back at Citi Field, than it was before the lefty hit him with a fastball there in August.
“No, I’ve got to go play some baseball,” he said. “That’s it.”
