AJ Pierzynski Is On Fire!

When Braves Country found out about the AJ Pierzynski signing after Manager Fredi Gonzalez’s trip to HoneyBaked Ham, we did not envision the 38-year old catcher having this much of an offensive impact for the Atlanta Braves.  In 11 games played for the Braves this season, Pierzynski is hitting .439 with 3 HRs and 12RBIs.  This is our backup catcher we’re talking about!  Turn that 4 into a 1 and you’ve got basically Gerald Laird season totals.

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AJ came to the Braves to help mentor Christian Bethancourt on what it takes to become a successful Major League catcher.  While Bethancourt’s howitzer of an arm got him to the Big Leagues, his offensive game remains a work in progress.

After a few spot starts for the veteran backstop, it became clear that AJ’s bat still had life in it.  The two-time AL All-Star is a career .282 hitter, mostly notably for the Twins and the White Sox.  He was a major part of the 2005 World Series Champion Chicago White Sox team and his outspoken personality is certainly welcomed by an Atlanta front office trying to shake its clubhouse of complacency.

In each game Pierzynski has played for the Atlanta Braves, he has recorded at least one hit.  His 4-4, 4 RBI game in last night’s gut-wrenching defeat to the Washington Nationals should keep him in the starting lineup for the foreseeable future.  While AJ continues to spray pitchers’ offerings to all parts of the field, his protegé Bethancourt collects cobwebs next to Carlos Tosca on the Braves bench.

Could you chalk up his blistering 2015 start to being predominantly a career American Leaguer?  There is some merit to that argument as most NL pitchers haven’t faced him all that often.  But this guy has played in the League since 1998.  There’s seventeen plus years worth of scouting reports on how to attack this guy in the batter’s box.  The truth is that AJ Pierzynski will always be able to hit at the Major League level, with his lowest season average being .251 last year.  Atlanta is lucky to have a seasoned veteran of AJ’s caliber on their 25-man roster.