Sunday, May 20, 2007
Sports

Just the two of us

Kelly Johnson and Scott Thorman, up close and personal  

Kelly Johnson (top) and Scott Thorman CREDIT: Getty Images

By Adam Krohn

Professional baseball careers are like regular careers—only sped up. Just look at Kelly Johnson and Scott Thorman. They cut their teeth in pro ball together (both were drafted out of high school in 2000), climbed the ranks of the farm system as teammates, and now find themselves playing critical roles in the Braves’ drive to regain their division title.

Talk about pressure.

Johnson and Thorman were key pieces to the Braves 2007 plan. Could they make the adjustment of playing in the starting lineup and learning new positions? Would the demands be too much?

“The thing is, there’s a lot of talk about the situation,” Thorman tells The Sunday Paper. “But, in reality, we’ve got such a deep lineup that it really takes a lot of pressure off of us because we’ve got such a strong lineup all the way through.”

He’s right. A healthy Chipper Jones, a solid starting rotation, a lights-out bullpen—let’s just say they ease things a bit.

But Thorman’s also being humble. Because he and Johnson have delivered. Big time.

Rehab and a new position

Last year was supposed to be Johnson’s breakout season, as he was slated to lead off and start leftfield. But an elbow injury that required surgery shelved him for the ’06 campaign. He spent the entire year rehabbing and helplessly watching his team surrender its division title run to the Mets, one game at a time.

And yet, as much time as he spent off the diamond, Johnson feels like he never missed a beat.

“To be honest with you, looking back, it feels like this year is that year,” he says. “It didn’t feel like I missed a whole season, but I watched a lot of games from my couch or from to the bench and it was very frustrating because I wanted to help the team win.”

In order to help his team win this year, he was given a three-fold challenge. First, fully recover from the season-ending elbow surgery. Second, learn second base (he last played the infield six years ago as a shortstop). Third, and perhaps most importantly, bat lead-off. All tall orders—but judging by his play to this point, it’s as if he took a pen to this list and wrote, “check, check and check.”

He’s got one of the best on-base percentages in the National League, committed only two errors (good for a .989 fielding percentage), and has shown no signs of fatigue following his elbow surgery. As far as learning the new position, he says he’s comfortable, but that “It could be—not even this year or the next—it could be 2009 before I feel really good out there.” Of course, he could be a gold-glover by then. In any event, his play thus far has warranted All-Star consideration.

Filling LaRoche’s shoes

As for Thorman, almost all of his big-league experience was in the outfield, so he’s a natural first basemen and was groomed as such in the minors. As a result, his move to the infield was a lot easier than Johnson’s. But he had other challenges that more than made up for that: He was asked to take over for the departed Adam LaRoche, who had a career year last season, belting 32 home runs and 92 RBI.

Thorman has met those expectations. So far, he has enjoyed a game-winning home run (in the season-opening series against Philadelphia) and, more recently, the first multi-home run game of his career, all with zero errors.

But there’s a catch: Under Bobby Cox, first base has been a dual-player position for the purpose of a right-handed/left-handed platoon in order to combat pitching match-ups. That means whenever a left-handed pitcher takes the mound, Thorman, who bats left-handed, takes a seat.

His attitude toward this limited role? No problem.

“I’m just happy to be in Atlanta, as far as that goes,” Thorman says. “Bobby’s the best. He puts you in and lets you play your game and he’ll do what he thinks is best for the team. Ultimately it’s about winning baseball games. That’s all that matters.” SP