He does not even bother knocking on the wooden frame of his locker stall at spring training. A.J. Pierzynski has made it this far, to the phase of his career when he plays strictly because he loves it. Of course he has been lucky. No need to ask for more.
“Never had any arm problems at all — never had back problems, never had leg problems,” Pierzynski said after an Atlanta Braves practice on Monday. “I’m 39 years old now. I go to my kids’ school, and they’re like, ‘How do you squat?’ I don’t even think about it. It doesn’t hurt. It’s my job. It’s what I do.”
Fans sometimes ask Pierzynski, who batted .300 last season, what he will do next. He has options, but no idea how to respond. He has played professional baseball more than half his life, since he signed as a third-round draft choice of the Minnesota Twins in 1994. Few people have ever squatted more.
Pierzynski has caught 1,872 major league games. If he plays 79 games behind the plate this season — after 107 last year — he will trail only five players on the career list for games caught: Ivan Rodriguez, Carlton Fisk, Bob Boone, Gary Carter and Jason Kendall. Pierzynski has caught more games than 10 Hall of Famers and many other stalwarts, like Ted Simmons, an eight-time All-Star for St. Louis and Milwaukee.
“People focus on a lot of things about Pierzynski,” said Simmons, now a Braves scout. “Nobody focuses on the fact that he’s a pretty smart guy. That’s what impresses me most about him, because out here, there’s no place to hide. If you’re faking it, it’s just a matter of time — and not very long — before you get smoked out as an impostor. Whatever frontal stuff there is with Pierzynski, once you wade through it, I get it now: This guy’s smart. That’s what enables him to stay this long.”
People naturally mention Pierzynski’s reputation without even being asked about it. He forged it long ago: abrasive, confrontational, mischievous. Four years ago, in an anonymous poll of 100 major leaguers by Men’s Journal, 34 named Pierzynski the game’s most hated player. Nobody else got more than 10 votes.
Yet consider him now: an elder statesman, having outlasted almost everyone else who ever strapped on a mask, being asked again by the rebuilding Braves to guide their young pitchers. Last July, when the left-hander Manny Banuelos made his major league debut, he said he was relieved to find Pierzynski’s name on the lineup card. Banuelos shook him off just once in 75 pitches and pitched a shutout into the sixth inning.
“He’ll tell you the truth to your face,” the bullpen coach Eddie Perez, a former Braves catcher, said of Pierzynski. “You do something wrong, and he’ll tell you. He’s one of those guys, you hear a lot of things about him. But all of a sudden you meet him, and he’s very different from what you heard. I’m happy he’s here. Every team needs a guy like that.”
Pierzynski spent the early part of his career with Minnesota and San Francisco before an eight-year run with the Chicago White Sox that began with a championship in 2005 and lasted through 2012. He bounced to Texas, Boston and St. Louis, learning leadership from the Rangers’ Adrian Beltre and applying it as a reserve for the Cardinals. Young players would ask his advice during games, Pierzynski said, and he was thrilled to see the difference he could make.
But when he plays, Pierzynski is the same fiery presence as always. He makes no apologies for his style, and has no regrets.
“Look, still, when I’m on the field, it’s a different ballgame,” he said. “I’ll fight anybody out there; that’s just the way I am. Anyone that knows me off the field, I do not let my kids win. I do not believe in participation trophies. You play to win, and that’s it. There’s no backing down.”
The Braves are an ideal fit for Pierzynski, who grew up in Orlando and lives 15 minutes from the Disney complex. Practice ends in time for him to pick up his two children at school every day. On weekends, his 9-year-old son Austin tags along to the field. Austin leaves his bright green aluminum bat in his father’s locker.
One day when Pierzynski was 8, the starting catcher for his Little League team did not show up. Pierzynski strapped on the gear, crouched behind the plate and found a permanent home. He liked the status that came with carrying so much equipment, back before every child had his own bulky bag. And he loved being so involved in the action.
Pierzynski has never played another position in the majors. He used to take infield grounders during batting practice, just for fun, but decided it was pointless. He studies the game relentlessly, even away from the park.
“My wife will laugh at me,” Pierzynski said. “She’ll say, ‘Why are you watching the Padres and the Mariners after one of our games?’ I just like watching the game. Playing for a long time, you know people on a lot of teams, you watch them and see how they’re doing, you want them to do well. But I don’t know. If there’s a college game on, I’ll watch that. I watch Florida baseball games all the time. She’s like, ‘Why on earth are you watching this game?’ I’m like, ‘Because it’s on.’ ”
Pierzynski has been a postseason analyst for Fox since 2011 — except for 2014, when he played in October for the Cardinals. Last season included his first assignment calling games, for the Kansas City Royals-Houston Astros division series, returning him to Houston, where the White Sox claimed the 2005 title.
Pierzynski had a pivotal hit in Game 3 of that World Series, a two-run double to erase the last lead the Astros would hold. Removed in a double switch in the 14-inning game, Pierzynski watched the go-ahead hit with Chicago’s general manager.
“I was sitting on the couch in the clubhouse having a beer with Kenny Williams when Geoff Blum hit the home run,” he said. “Nowadays, when you tell someone you had a beer, it’s like the end of the world. But I remember Kenny looked at me and was like, ‘If we win this game, it’s over.’ ”
The next night, it was. After the final out of the four-game sweep, Pierzynski leapt into the arms of closer Bobby Jenks, holding his mask high, a moment captured in bronze outside the White Sox’s ballpark.
“It seems like forever ago,” Pierzynski said, but still he plays on.
Broadcasting, managing or coaching can wait. The Braves are not championship contenders this season, but they hired Pierzynski to catch, and that is what he will do. He always does.
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