Braves add to intensity with Gomes, Pierzynski, while Johnson learns to channel his
They can be seen as two sides of the same coin, Jonny Gomes and A.J. Pierzynski, the Braves' offseason acquisitions, who are defined by their takes on what it means to play with passion.
Gomes is a survivor -- both of tragedy and his own health -- who refuses to take anything for granted, a style that escapes through hustle and example.
"You have to be accountable for everything you do in between the lines and stand up for yourself and stand up for your teammates," he said.
For Pierzynski, it comes out in the emotions he unashamedly wears on his sleeve. "Love him if he's on your team, hate him if he's not," as one Hall of Famer summarized -- Pierzynski can be an instigator who has been compared to "Leave it to Beaver" instigator Eddie Haskell.
"I'll do whatever it takes to help my team win," Pierzynski told reporters when he signed with the Braves in January. "If you need me to fight the guy, I'll fight the guy."
Teammates for a short time in Boston last season before Pierzynski was designated for assignment, they came together again this winter as Braves.
Gomes, who is coming off a season in which he hit .234/.327/.330 with the Red Sox and A's, agreed to a one-year, $4 million contract. Entering his 13th year, he is expected to be part of a platoon in left field.
He signed three weeks after Pierzynski, an 18-year veteran who hit .251/.288/.337 in Boston and St. Louis last year. Inked to a one-year, $2 million deal, he will enter the season as backup and mentor to Christian Bethancourt.
From a purely black-and-white view, they are painted as extremes, and somewhere in the middle, is Chris Johnson.
"It's something I try to work on every day and make sure that I keep that where it needs to be," said Atlanta's third baseman. "Just trying not to get too emotional and play your heart out."
Last May, Johnson stood at his locker and issued an apology for an incident in the dugout in which he shattered a bat after a strikeout, pieces coming near manager Fredi Gonzalez and catcher Gerald Laird. Johnson was pulled from the game in the second inning.
"I play with a lot of passion every single pitch, every single at-bat," Johnson said then. "I hold with pretty high regard, and then when things don't go well, that's kind of my downfall."
He had already been benched for two games that April because of a tantrum, making this a pattern instead of isolated incidents of a player letting his emotions get the better of him.
In 2013, his first year with the Braves, Johnson found himself in a confrontation with Terry Pendleton after he threw his helmet, which ricocheted and hit the first base coach.
He also played a part in benches-clearing incident in Miami that September after Jose Fernandez's first career home run. The cameras focused in as Johnson needed to be restrained by the Marlins' Placido Polanco and Chad Qualls, the Braves third baseman pointing and jawing in Fernandez's direction.
But on the flip side, that same approach has seen Johnson become the emotional leader of the clubhouse in the years without Chipper Jones or Brian McCann, and he is often the designated representative to deal with the media when things aren't going well.
Entering his third season in a Braves uniform, he's searching for the balance between enthusiasm and losing control.
"It's one of the tougher things, I think, to do," Johnson said of controlling his emotions. "Especially when you're in the big leagues and games are on TV and people see everything."
Last season's issues also came in the midst of a rough time for Johnson. One year removed from finishing second in the National League batting race at .321, his average dipped to .263 in '14 and he struck out a career-high 159 times.
Gonzalez will step in when needed -- as he did with Johnson last season -- but his approach is to largely ask the players to find their own ways of keeping things in check.
"They handle that themselves, because this is not a sport where you're Ray Lewis-ing out of the tunnel," Gonzalez said. "This is a sport where you play with passion, but you have to be under control. I think all of those guys (Gomes, Johnson and Pierzynski) do that real well."
A player's intensity, the Braves manager added, is all relative. Is the reserved Nick Markakis -- another of Atlanta's offseason acquisitions -- any less passionate about the game than a more vocal or more demonstrative player? Was Chipper Jones or Greg Maddux?
"They don't go out there and wear it on their sleeves," Gonzalez said.
But he's also dealt with the likes of new Hall of Famer John Smoltz, of whom ex-teammate Norm Charlton once said, "When he's not pitching, he's the jokester, the clown. But when he's pitching, the happy-go-lucky look is replaced by that cold stare."
Dealing with the multitude of approaches is simply part of the challenge, for Gonzalez or any other manager.
"There's different personalities, different ways to go about being passionate about the game," he said. "That's what makes it fun for the coaches, dealing with 25 different personalities."
The Braves brought in two notably strong ones in Gomes and Pierzynski. Add in Johnson learning to walk what he calls "a fine line" and they will have intensity, at its most visible, in bulk.
Follow Cory McCartney on Twitter @coryjmccartney
