ATLANTA -- The locker in the Braves clubhouse previously occupied by Jonny Gomes sat empty hours after the veteran outfielder had been traded to the Royals.
It was business as usual as his former teammates bustled around, going through their normal preparations as the series against the Marlins continued Tuesday. But in a clubhouse that has seen so much movement this year, with 11 players having left via in-season deals, the latest was especially hard for some of them to handle.
"To me, personally, he's been a huge influence so far in my career and to lose a guy like that ... I hate it," said second baseman Jace Peterson. "I'm happy for him. I know he's all about winning and he's probably one of the best teammates you could ever have. For him to go to a team like Kansas City, I guarantee it makes that team 10 times better than what they are now."
The rookie and the 34-year-old had become fast friends. When Peterson -- acquired from the Padres via the Justin Upton deal in December -- arrived at spring training, it was Gomes that took him under his wing.
"Me and him talked and became close and (I) definitely had a relationship with him," said Peterson, 25. "I know we'll continue to have it and stay close together."
There were lessons about how to approach the game and how to conduct yourself on the field as Peterson acclimated to live as an every day second baseman in the majors.
He's certain Gomes' teachings didn't end there.
"I'm sure there's things through the course of the year so far that he's done that three, four, five years down the road, 10 years down the road it will hit us and 'I remember when Jonny first taught us that' or 'Showed us that' or whatever the case may be," he said.
Gomes' minus-0.6 WAR in 228 plate appearances was the lowest of any Braves player with a minimum of 150. But his true worth lied elsewhere.
When he signed in January, he did so being asked to become a presence in the locker room, along with fellow 30-something veterans Nick Markakis and A.J. Pierzynski. The Braves had just dealt Upton and Jason Heyward -- and were weeks away from unloading Craig Kimbrel and Melvin Upton Jr. -- and when the notion of rebuilding was brought up, Gomes took offense to it.
"I don't think I could look at Bobby Cox walking around and be like 'Hey Bobby, we're trying to go .500," Gomes said. "'What do you think about that?' That's not going to work."
Months later, with Atlanta below .500 by double figures, Gomes didn't waver. He was still thinking playoffs, no matter how mathematically improbable they may have seemed.
"I don't know how to take a 'rebuilding at-bat,'" he said Aug. 6. "The playoffs should be in the back of your mind unless they're an 'X' by your name and there' not."
Fredi Gonzalez is hoping it's that mindset that will have the most lasting impact of Gomes' 83 games in a Braves uniform.
"I hope a lot of that stuff rubbed off," Gonzalez said. "I hope the way he played the game, the way he carried himself off and on the field, his work ethic, I hope a lot of that rubbed off on some of our guys, because those are great qualities. Always upbeat."
There were times, Gonzalez admits, that Gomes didn't seem like the smart play. Maybe the opposition had a tough right-hander going -- he's hitting .208 against them this season compared to .240 against lefties -- or maybe it's a matchup that just didn't make sense.
But in Gomes he simply knew what he was going to get.
"We might have been struggling going into that day and it was a day game, a one o'clock game in the middle of the week. It was going to be one of those drag-in games," Gonzalez said. "Guess what? I was going to put him in the lineup because all of a sudden that energy was going to be a little bit more with him in the lineup than him out of it."
Especially in one of his final acts in Atlanta, as he volunteered to pitch an eventful ninth inning of Friday's 15-4 loss to the Yankees, despite never having thrown off a mound in a game. In his life.
Christian Bethancourt picked up on it. The rookie catcher saw in Gomes what it meant to refocus, to compartmentalize and put a bad game behind you. If he struck out three times in a game, Gomes would return the next day as if he'd hit multiple homers.
"We're definitely going to miss him," Bethancourt said. "He's a guy that always kept it positive and always would be around talking to you and motivating you and we're definitely going to miss him.
We told him last night it was a pleasure to play with him, and we as the rookie guys, we learned a few things from him."
Follow Cory McCartney on Twitter @coryjmccartney
