Jonny Gomes was in the visitor’s clubhouse early Saturday morning, in his Braves uniform pants and a gray T-shirt with ‘MERICA across the chest in red, white and blue. He prepared his bats, making sure the tape on the handles was just right. Prepared his chewing tobacco, making sure the honeyed mix he adds to it was just right.
He had already been in the film room, going over Blue Jays relief pitchers.
Gomes is big on preparing. And he’s as cerebral in his approach as any hitter you are likely to come across. Which one might not suspect, if one is prone to stereotype based solely on appearance – his many tattoos, the surfer-dude sneakers and shorts he wears during spring training, the intensity he oozes in the batter’s box, where he obsessively un-straps and re-straps his batting gloves after every pitch, and almost violently tugs at the bill of his helmet.
He looks as if he’s just as inclined to catch the next pitched ball and chew on it as he is to swing at it.
But it’s work he does before he gets to the plate, not just bat speed and considerable strength he retains at age 34, that allows Gomes to remain an effective platoon left fielder – four RBIs including a bases-loaded double in Sunday’s 5-2 win at Toronto — and bench guy whose homer Friday was his 10th as a pinch-hitter, tops among active major leaguers.
Preparation, kids. The grizzled Gomes swears by it.
“As a (lineup regular), you go over the starting pitcher,” Gomes said. “When you’re pinch-hitting, you’ve got to go over the whole bullpen. Most likely I’m going to get the lefty in my role. So I’ve got to have all the lefties covered. And then you’ve got to follow the game, to see what sequence the catcher is calling. Because I always say, when you pinch-hit it’s probably going to be off someone in the bullpen, it’s a new pitcher but the catcher’s going to be the same. He’s going to continue that sequence that he’s had success with. So you can’t just not pay attention during the game. You’ll see sequences throughout the game where he has three or four 3-2 counts and all of them heaters (fastballs). Or is the guy calling a game backwards, and every 2-0 is a changeup?”
Gomes thrives against left-handed pitching. Fredi Gonzalez starts him in left field against lefties, with occasional starts against right-handers to keep sharp. He’s 6-for-23 (.261) with a double, two homers, seven RBIs and a .565 slugging percentage in nine games including six starts.
He’s played more than 1,110 games including 310 starts as a designated hitter, so he assisted Freddie Freeman when the first baseman made his first DH start Sunday at Toronto. Freeman went 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.
“I talked to Jonny and he told me every time (the Braves) are playing defense to stand up and move around,” Freeman said. “Don’t hit in-between (innings), act like you’re playing in the game. So I was always standing up, moving around, acting like I was in the game. It worked out, I stayed focused and stayed in the game, and I was able to perform.”
As much as he’s helped on the field, Gomes has had even more of an impact in the clubhouse, according to teammates. A profound impact, from the day he reported to camp and announced “I’m here to win.” He soon let the rest of the Braves know, in so many words, that he expected them to have a similar attitude and to hustle. Always, always hustle.
That respect-the-game, always-run-it-out expectation even carries over to opponents. When an opposing hitter recently hit a pop-up and carried his bat while jogging halfway to first base, Gomes could be heard – from both dugouts — shouting from left field for the player to run. It amazed Braves teammates, and no one on the opposing team objected.
While the intensity is apparent to any observer, Gomes’ sharp, dry humor is something only a select group are aware of – teammates, friends, or, say, the audience at the recent Braves Leadoff Luncheon, where one-liners from Gomes and veteran A.J. Pierzysnki had the crowd of fans and sponsors, as well as teammates and coaches, laughing out loud.
“He looks like that Neanderthal type, but this guy’s (bleeping) bright,” Gonzalez said. “He knows the game really well. He’s funny, too. Friday (after pinch-hitting for Cameron Maybin) he goes, ‘Does that mean I’m going to center field’? He wants to play center field. He comes around, ‘Hey, I’m going to center?’ He goes, ‘Hey, I’ll be in center field by the All-Star break, don’t worry about it….
“In one of the games in (the opening series at) Miami, they brought in (lefty Mike) Dunn to face (Nick) Markakis, (Jace) Peterson, Freeman. And (Gomes) has a bat and batting gloves, standing right next to me. And he goes, ‘Hey, I’m ready.’ I said, you think I’m going to pinch-hit for Markakis and Freeman? And he goes, ‘Hey, that’s up to you, but I’m ready.’”
Gonzalez laughed as he recalled the incident. “You’ve got to like that. Has his bat, helmet in his hand.”
Freeman said late in spring training that Gomes flat-out changed the clubhouse culture and made the Braves believe they could win. Picked by many pundits to lose 90 games and finish no better than fourth in the National League East, the Braves are 8-4, including 5-1 on the road, entering Tuesday’s series opener against the Mets in New York.
Braves backup Kelly Johnson is a longtime former lineup regular still getting used to a part-time role. In his 10-year career with seven major league teams, he played with plenty of players more accomplished than Gomes, but arguably none who’ve so mastered the art of preparing mentally and maximizing one’s aging physical skills.
“I was just asking him about it yesterday,” Johnson said. “I said I want to get inside your head; we’ve got to talk about pinch-hitting. He’s just really good at doing his homework, watching guys he might face, trying to pick out some tendencies. As the at-bat’s going along, something pops up, something he saw on film, and he’s ready.
“It’s easy when you’re playing every day to just kind of show up and play on ability. Your rhythm and timing kind of stays, you can rely on that,” said Johnson, who hit 16 or more homers six times in a seven-year span. “But as your at-bats become a little more less regular, you’ve got to give yourself a little bit of an edge. He already is as mentally prepared every day as anybody, and that rubs off on all of us. But in terms of his pinch-hit at-bats, he does his homework.”
Braves pinch-hitters lead the NL with a .385 average (5-for-13), after ranking 14th with a .179 average in 2014. Of the Braves’ five pinch hits, four were by Gomes (2-for-3) or the rookie he’s taken under his wing, Peterson (2-for-2).
