ARLINGTON, Texas – Chris Johnson had three homers in two games at Wrigley Field in the last two games before the All-Star break, and the Braves third baseman believes it might've been to the detriment of his season.
He had another homer in the third game after the break, but in 47 games since then, Johnson was batting just .222 with six doubles, two homers, a .263 on-base percentage, .290 slugging percentage and 54 strikeouts in 176 at-bats.
Johnson wasn’t in the lineup Sunday for the second day in a row against the Rangers, only the second time all season he was benched for consecutive games and the first since April 13-14.
“I got in that little homer streak, and I think I started to try to force those homers when I came back from the All-Star break,” Johnson said before Sunday’s series finale against Texas. “And especially for me, when I try to force things like that, to hit balls out of the ballpark, then my swing gets out of whack.
“I think I just found myself in a little bit of a funk, and at a bad time, too. So I’m trying to work on it, and hopefully tomorrow I’ll be back in there and hopefully help this team get into the playoffs.”
Johnson said he had been “flying off” balls and spinning in his swing, and has worked with assistant hitting coach Scott Fletcher in the batting cage during the road trip in an effort to correct the flaws.
He was 9-for-20 with a double, four homers and 10 RBIs in that five-game period that bookended the All-Star break. Johnson had only eight extra-base hits and 10 RBIs in 47 games since, including one homer in 161 at-bats over his past 43 games before Sunday.
In his past 17 games, he was 8-for-55 (.145) with no extra-base hits, one RBI, 19 strikeouts and grounded into four double plays.
Braves manager Gonzalez started Phil Gosselin at third base in both weekend games against a pair of Rangers right-handed. He used Johnson to pinch-hit against left-hander Neal Cotts in the ninth inning Saturday, and Johnson flied out deep to the left-field corner.
“We felt like he wasn’t doing some stuff right (recent),” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez. “So he went into the cage and worked on some stuff. And I thought he had a really good at-bat against a left-hander (Saturday). He wears out left-handed pitching, so it was a great opportunity to pop him in there, and for a quick second there – I didn’t know if the ball was going to leave the ballpark, but I thought maybe off the wall.”
Johnson had .261 overall average before Sunday with nine homers, a .290 OBP and .357 slugging percentage in 142 games. Most of his statistics are down considerably from a career-best 2013 season, when he led the National League batting race for part of the year and ended up with a .321 average, 12 homers, .358 OBP and .457 slugging percentage.
The dropoff has resulted from the dramatic drop in his performance against right-handers. His .406 average (41-for-101) against would’ve led the NL entering Sunday, if he wasn’t a few plate appearances shy of the minimum required. Johnson had a .445 OBP and .564 slugging percentage against lefties.
But against right-handers, he had produced a .228/.253/.309 line in 443 at-bats before Sunday, after batting .299/.329/.453 against righties in 2013.
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