Funny, isn’t it? More than a few Braves fans are worried that the most decorated Brave of the 21st century will return from surgery and mess everything up.
There was a time when Brian McCann was considered the one indispensable Brave, but that was before McCann got hurt and stopped hitting and, more to the point, before Evan Gattis arrived and started swinging the most potent chunk of wood since Paul Bunyan dropped the axe.
In two weeks, the 26-year-old rookie — old for a rookie, yes, but that’s a key part of the Gattis lore, which is approaching Bunyan-like status — has gone from being a flesh-out-the-roster guy to the cleanup hitter on baseball’s best team. In a month that has seen Justin Upton launch moon shots and Paul Maholm toss moonballs, it’s Gattis who has, pardon the expression, hung the moon.
Gave up baseball. Went to rehab. Worked as a janitor. Sought spiritual enlightenment. Slept in his car. Decided to give the sport another try. Made like Babe Ruth — not to be confused with Babe the blue ox, Bunyan’s faithful companion — in the minors. Went to camp as a non-roster invitee. Made the team, came north and hit four homers in his first eight starts.
“He’s been through a lot,” manager Fredi Gonzalez said Tuesday, understating. “It’s not like he’s 19 years old. This guy’s just going out to play a baseball game.”
Fans have fallen in love with this bordering-on-mythic figure, which is understandable. Forbes magazine, which isn’t known as a chronicler of either love or myth, has dubbed Gattis “the best story of baseball’s early season.” But soon myth will smack into reality. Gattis is mainly a catcher. McCann has been one of baseball’s best catchers. What happens when the latter, who hasn’t yet begun his minor-league rehab tour, rejoins the big-league club next month?
“Not yet,” Gonzalez said, after being asked if he would considered deployment scenarios. “And it might be easy. When Mac gets back, he’s not going to be the Mac of years ago when you could catch him 10 games in a row.”
McCann will need to play himself into shape, but if he plays, Gattis probably sits. His other position is first base, and Freddie Freeman, who’s on the disabled list himself, is an everyday fixture. In interleague games in American League cities, there’s the easy option of letting either McCann or Gattis serve as designated hitter, but there are only 10 of those, none after July 21.
Said Gonzalez: “It will work its way out. Something crazy could happen. When (McCann’s) ready, we’ll figure something out.”
Then this: “There are all kinds of roster considerations. Who do you send down? Do you go with three catchers?”
That’s the part that has some fans a-tremble. Could the great Gattis get shipped to Gwinnett? Fifth outfielder Jordan Schafer is out of options, meaning the Braves can’t demote him without the threat of losing him, and Reed Johnson is needed as a pinch-hitter. Gerald Laird, signed as a backup catcher, might prove superfluous with both McCann and Gattis on the roster, but not having a Plan B (or C) behind a rookie and a post-surgical veteran would be chancy.
But here’s where we say: Deep breath, folks. These matters really do tend to resolve themselves. Remember last season’s six-man rotation? It lasted one turn.
Said Frank Wren, the general manager: “In the end, you figure out ways to get good players in the lineup.”
The guess is that McCann and Gattis will become something of a lefty/righty platoon until McCann finds his footing. Beyond that, who knows? Nobody wants to mess up a great story, nor does anyone want to mismanage what could become a great year.
For the rest of this season, this town should be big enough for both McCann and Gattis. Then the Braves will face an even bigger decision: Do they re-up McCann, who’s 29 and who can become a free agent, or do they hand the position to Gattis and/or Christian Bethancourt, who’s not mythic with the bat but who’s a defender of rare promise?
Given the way Gattis is going, investing in another five years of McCann would seem imprudent. But the sample size on the latest folk hero is infinitesimal — he went 0-for-4 on Tuesday with two strikeouts, not that it mattered; the Braves won 6-3 — and we around here have seen a sizzling start bow to the fullness of time. In the summer of 2005, the rookie Jeff Francoeur was seen as the new face of the franchise. In 2008 he was demoted to the minors. In 2009 he was traded. On Tuesday he was back at Turner Field, batting seventh for the Kansas City Royals.
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