At the 65-game point last season with the Tigers, backup catcher Gerald Laird had played 28 games and had a .273 average and a .321 on-base percentage in 85 plate appearances.
The Braves reached the 65-game point Tuesday, and Laird had a .271 average and a .364 OBP in 18 games and 57 plate appearances, including only eight plate appearances in the team’s past 21 games.
“It’s a little different because I didn’t sign here thinking this was going to happen,” said Laird, who signed a two-year, $3 million free-agent contract in November. “I signed here (for) two years to be the backup, and obviously that’s not what’s going on.”
The emergence of rookie slugger Evan Gattis meant a significant decline in Laird’s planned playing time while Brian McCann was on the disabled list recovering from shoulder surgery. Soon after McCann’s return from the DL in early May, Laird, 33, was reduced to third-catcher status.
Braves catchers led the National League in home runs (14), RBIs (43) and slugging percentage (.472) before Wednesday, and Gattis and McCann had all but one of the homers and all but six of the RBIs. They had 184 at-bats at catcher before Wednesday, while Laird had 47 (he also had a hit in his only pinch-hit appearance).
“I mean, honestly, I want to win, and Gatty and Mac are doing a great job,” Laird said. “But for the most part, it’s tough not getting in there and contributing, especially when you do get in there and you’re having success. But it is what it is. With that (contract for) two years, there’s really not any place I can go. But it does get frustrating because I’m sitting on 48 at-bats, and it’s almost the middle of June.”
He understands the situation and how much it changed after he signed. The Braves could never have expected in November, when Gattis was just starting his breakout winter-ball season in Venezuela, that a 26-year-old non-roster player with no minor league experience above Double-A would have such an overwhelming spring training that it would force team officials to reassess plans.
Ultimately, they reconfigured their roster to keep three catchers after McCann returned, and Laird eventually was reduced to his current role, as a safety net that allows the Braves to play Gattis in left field or pinch-hit with Gattis or McCann.
“With three catchers, it’s tough to keep everybody content and happy,” said Gonzalez, who nonetheless likes the flexibility it gives him. “Three catchers works. It’s a better team with three catchers, strategically.”
Laird conceded that it can be a challenge to stay sharp with so little playing time and so few at-bats. He has hit .389 (7-for-18) with runners on base and 5-for-9 with runners in scoring position. Laird has made the most of limited chances, but those chances have become even more infrequent.
It’s a different scenario for Laird than 2012, when he filled in so well in a couple of stints for injured Tigers catcher Alex Avila that his role grew in September, and Laird caught two games in each of the three postseason series.
He hasn’t complained about his current role and said something only when asked about it by a reporter. If he were going to be a free agent after the season, he said it would be more difficult to accept.
While Laird is signed through 2014, McCann is eligible for free agency after this season. The Braves haven’t indicated their intentions with McCann, but many believe the six-time All-Star will sign with an American League team for a contract similar to the five-year, $75 million deal that Yadier Molina got with St. Louis.
An AL team could keep McCann’s bat in the lineup with some games as designated hitter and eventually move him to the DH role later in the contract if age and the demands of catching take a toll. If that happens, the Braves could make Gattis their regular catcher in 2014 and Laird his backup.
B.J. moves up: After moving from the eighth spot in the batting order to seventh Tuesday, center fielder B.J. Upton was bumped up to sixth in Wednesday's series finale against the Padres.
The center fielder was 8-for-31 (.258) with a double, two homers, eight walks and a .410 on-base percentage in 10 June games before Wednesday, after going 8-for-55 (.127) with one extra-base hits, six walks and 27 strikeouts in his previous 18 games.
“You see some of the swings are getting better and better,” Gonzalez said, explaining the move. “Also, to kind of move him up into a situation where it might free him up a little bit in base running.”
The eighth hitter in a lineup often is reluctant to run and risk making the last out of an inning with the pitcher batting.
Upton has only three stolen bases in six attempts in his first season with the Braves, after stealing more than 30 in each of the past five seasons with Tampa Bay, including 31 in 37 attempts in 2012.
Etc.: Justin Upton's eighth-inning homer was his 10th at Petco Park, tying Adam LaRoche for the most by a visiting player at the San Diego ballpark. … The Braves were swept by the Padres, the first time this season they were swept by an NL team in a three-game series. The Tigers swept the Braves in three games April 26-28 in Detroit. … The series loss was the first for the Braves since dropping two of three vs. Arizona on May 13-15.
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