The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gomes glad to reunite with Upton
New outfielder saw best of Braves’ center fielder when they were on Rays.
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLA. — Jonny Gomes and Melvin Upton Jr. were teammates for all or parts of six seasons in the Tampa Bay Rays organization and now have adjoining lockers in the Braves clubhouse at ESPN Wide World of Sports.
It’s the same stadium where the two were Southern League All-Stars for Double-A Orlando in 2003. Melvin went by B.J. in baseball back then (and did until this week).
“You play this game long enough, things are going to start circling around — we’re teammates again, but different uniforms,” Gomes said after reporting to spring training with his new team Wednesday. He smiled and added, “It’s actually funny, we used to call him Melvin to get under his skin. So I was thinking if he goes to his birth name, maybe I’ll go by one of my nicknames, and we’ll just do a complete swap like that.”
Gomes and Upton were teammates at the major league level for all or parts of four seasons, including 2008, when Upton had seven home runs in the first 10 postseason games to help the Rays win a division series against the White Sox and American League Championship Series over the Red Sox.
The previous year, Upton had his finest regular season, setting career bests in average (.300), home runs (24), RBIs (82), on-base percentage (.386) and slugging percentage (.508) at age 22. All of those remain career highs.
“Last time we were teammates they were handing out a bunch of trophies, back in 2008,” Gomes said. “The guy had a heck of a postseason run. Heck of a year. So that’s how I remember B.J. as a teammate. Obviously things haven’t really gone that way the past couple of years, but transition is tough. I’ve seen a lot of guys struggle with transition.
“We’re just going to (get below) the surface. I want him on my team. I’m happy to be here. B. J.’s the center fielder. He’s had a bad couple of years, but you can’t hide that talent. I’m excited to be next to him now (in the clubhouse) and next to him in the outfield.”
Bulging roster for first workout: The Braves have about a dozen more players in camp than usual, and about half of approximately 65 who’ll participate in the first full-squad workout today are new to the organization. That should make for an even busier first day for manager Fredi Gonzalez and his coaches.
“It’s going to be fun,” Gonzalez said Wednesday after the fifth day of pitchers-and-catchers workouts. “All those fields back there are going to be like an ant farm. Guys are going to be going everywhere. It’s going to be chaos, but it’s going to be controlled chaos. It’s going to be fun, it really is. I’m looking forward to it.
“It’s a night, for me, of un- rest, sleeplessness, like the first day of school. (Before you) address your team, give them the message you want, go over some other stuff.”
If the forecast for the Orlando area holds up, thunderstorms today could force the Braves to move workouts into the limited space in the covered batting cages beyond left field. There’s not enough room there for 65 players to conduct their regularly scheduled workout, but the Braves will make do if they have to.
Besides, they still have just over six weeks of spring training ahead before breaking camp and heading to Miami to open the regular season April 6.
There are about a dozen more in camp than usual because the Braves quickly signed some free agents to major league contracts or minor league deals with spring-training invitations. Some they wouldn’t have signed if the Braves had known for sure they’d get many of the others who signed later.
“I like to have a camp with about 52, 55 guys,” said John Hart, Braves president of baseball operations. “But we looked at it thoroughly before the winter, before a lot of the moves we made, we said we really need some protection and some support. So we jumped out on some guys in October or early November that we gave major league invites because we just didn’t have a lot of protection at the time.
“So I think therefore we have a little bit more of an expanded camp, and that’s OK. We’re OK with that.”