Fleet-Footed Glove Gives Way to Today's Mashers in the Shortstop's Evolution

Apr 01, 12:32 PM

Current Headlines: By Sean Horgan, The Sun News, Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Apr. 1--LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Over the past two decades, no other position in the American sports has changed as much as the shortstop.

Gaze around the major leagues today and, with rare exception, the jack rabbits of yesteryear either are gone or overshadowed by the modern mashers.

That valuable piece of real estate on the left side of the infield used to be a repository of quickness and defense. The priority, first and last, was catching the ball and making the routine plays. On offense, most shortstops in the bygone eras -- granted, there were exceptions to the rule, such as Honus Wagner, Ernie Banks, Gene Stephens and Joe Cronin -- hit at the very top of the order or the very bottom.

They were slap hitters and adept bunters and base runners. They were the children of baseball's little things.

But in today's game, that hallowed place on the diamond no longer stands as the domain of guys named Scooter or Pee Wee.

"It used to be that people put more stock in quickness, speed and defensive ability," said Kurt Kemp, the Atlanta Braves director of player development. "Now they're saying, 'We're willing to take a guy who can stand there and hit 35-40 homers and hit .300. Do that and we'll give up a little defense to gain the offense.'

"That has opened up the position physically to some guys who wouldn't even have been considered 20 years ago."

Throughout baseball today, the search is on for the next generation of offensive-minded shortstops to follow current bashers such as Miguel Tejada, Rafael Furcal, Derek Jeter, Michael Young, and before they shifted positions, Alex Rodriguez and Nomar Garciaparra.

Those shortstops bear little resemblance to the banjo hitters of the past.

They are players who command with the bat first and then with the glove, hitters that now populate the middle of the order and provide an inordinate share of the game's offensive firepower.

That is the nature of the modern game, a game that has embraced the notion that if you can hit, a place will be found for you.

For better or worse, shortstop now exists as an offensive position.

"We now have some really good athletes coming through this system that play that position and they're leading offensive performers on their ball clubs," said Frank Wren, assistant general manager for the Atlanta Braves. "Teams now are looking for that offense from their shortstops."

If you want the prototype of the modern shortstop, look no further than Braves minor leaguer Elvis Andrus, one of the finest prospects in all of baseball and the shortstop this season for the Myrtle Beach Pelicans in the advanced Class A Carolina League.

Andrus is a phenomenally gifted player with the size (6-foot, 185 pounds), athleticism and offensive tools that every organization now covets.

Despite being only 18, he is in his third season of professional baseball and projects to grow even bigger and stronger as he advances toward the major leagues.

"We all think Elvis is going to be that type of guy, as well." Wren said.

But he isn't the only Braves minor league shortstop that fits the new-age prototype.

Even after trading Tony Pena Jr. to the Kansas City Royals and losing Luis Hernandez to the Baltimore Orioles, both of whom were more defensive shortstops, the Braves retain an embarrassment of shortstop riches.

They have Cuban defector Yunel Escobar who will begin the season at Triple-A Richmond.

Escobar, who went backwards last season under manager Jeff Blauser at Double A Mississippi, regained his royal status in the organization by hitting .407 in the Arizona Fall League.

"With [Escobar] you've got offense and strength and a guy who can drive the ball," Wren said.

The sleeper in the Atlanta system is Brent Lillibridge, the shortstop the Braves acquired in the deal that sent Adam LaRoche to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Lillibridge, 23, has more of a classic shortstop build at 5-foot-11, 192 pounds, but he brings with him a varied offensive game.

He did something last season in lower and advanced Class A ball that was unmatched throughout the minors.

Lillibridge hit better than .300 (.305), posted an on-base percentage of .400 and hit double-digit home runs (13) while collecting 50 or more runs batted in (71) and steals (53). His 106 runs scored ranked fifth in all of minor league baseball.

"It used to be that everybody looked to shortstop for defense and speed," said Jose Martinez, the Braves special assistant who has been in the professional game since 1960 as a player, coach and manager.

"Cal Ripken Jr. changed that."

The coming of a new age

You search for the milepost on baseball's timeline for when it all changed and so you ask the question.

You ask it at the batting cage and in the dugout. It doesn't matter where. You ask it and the answer comes back the same.

You ask it of players and coaches, you seek out scouts and player development guys, from this organization and that, and as if programmed, the response comes back the same.

You ask when it changed.

You ask who changed it.

And, almost to a person, they tell you the same thing.

It all changed with Cal Ripken Jr.

Before the position of shortstop evolved, before it morphed from defensive specialist and offensive role player into the full-force thumper of the modern game, there first came the evolution of a young player named Cal Ripken Jr.

"I think that might be overstated at times," Ripken said of his status as the vanguard of the modern shortstop. "But when people say I had a role in that, it makes me feel good."

Ripken holds so many special places in the game. Best known for eclipsing Lou Gehrig's consecutive game streak, he now stands alone with a record that probably will never be broken -- 2,632 consecutive games played.

He will go into the Hall of Fame this summer as a first-ballot selection with Tony Gwynn, mostly because of his unassuming proficiency at playing the game in his 21 seasons with the Baltimore Orioles.

Ripken hit 431 home runs and amassed 3,184 hits.

But in the converging circles that comprise the baseball landscape, Ripken holds a special status in the transformation of the game and the shortstop position.

Think of those Darwinian timelines of the species, the ones that show man crawling out of the ooze, learning to walk up right, moving into the modern age.

Look closely. This one carries a bat, not a club, and he wears No. 8 on his back.

"I was drafted as a pitcher/shortstop and almost everyone wanted me to pitch," Ripken said. "Then Earl Weaver saw me hit."

That ended the pitching debate, but rekindled another.

Where would he play?

He was 6-foot-2, 180 pounds when the Orioles drafted him in the second round in 1978, with a pick they received from the Boston Red Sox for the signing of free agent pitcher Dick Drago.

And he projected to get bigger. Indeed, by the time he reached the big leagues in 1981, he was 6-foot-4 and almost 200 pounds and a tremendous athlete.

"Ripken's the best all-around athlete in camp," Jim Palmer said one spring training, according to The Hardball Times. "I know, because I used to be."

But most baseball people -- including those then with the Orioles -- thought he was too big for shortstop and ultimately would end up playing third.

Still, they played him at short in rookie ball in Bluefield, W.Va.

"In 60 games, I made 32 errors," Ripken said. "I started to think this might not be the right fit."

He went to the Orioles Instructional League that fall. While he hit well (.304), the demands of the position made him look -- and feel -- awkward and out of place.

"I still had problems with consistency and timing," Ripken said.

In his first full season with the Orioles in 1982, when he was the American League Rookie of the Year, Ripken played mostly short.

The next season, the Orioles traded their regular third baseman Doug DeCinces and Weaver moved Ripken to third base.

"When I went to third, it instantly became much easier," Ripken said.

The problem with third was that it didn't provide the same feel for the game as shortstop. Third base is a reactionary position because the ball gets on you so quickly.

"At shortstop, all the information is right in front of you and there's not a play on the field that you're not involved with," Ripken said. "I felt like a spectator a lot of times at third base.

In 1983, Weaver moved Ripken back to shortstop and, whether it was maturity or experience, the light went on.

"It was easier," Ripken said. "I had a better awareness and understanding of positioning."

Taking a page from one of his Oriole predecessors -- the great Mark Belanger -- Ripken concentrated on keeping his feet and making all of the routine plays instead of trying to make the dazzling plays that end up on the highlight reels.

He had to figure out how someone of his size could make the same play as the smaller, quicker shortstops around baseball.

He took different angles to the ball and used his backhand more.

Shortstop, in many ways, is an instinctual position. And Ripken learned to trust his.

"In all the games I watched him play and managed against him, I never once saw him out of position," said former Red Sox manager Joe Morgan. "I don't know how many times I thought we had a hit and I'd look up and there would be the big fella scooping it up."

Ripken also came to understand that his size also could be an advantage at the second base bag while turning the double play.

"My size insulated me," he said. "I didn't mind staying on the bag. They might hit me, but they had to worry about me hitting them, as well."

He returned to third base at the age of 35 and finished his career there.

But the revolution he started at shortstop has carried on behind him.

"The only credit I'll take is that maybe I started to change [the perception of whether bigger players could handle shortstop]," Ripken said. "People have become more open-minded to the possibility that bigger guys have more range.

"I don't think it's going to go back. I don't know if the game will ever go back to the Pee Wees and the Scooters dominating the position."

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Season opener

Who -- New York Mets vs. St. Louis Cardinals

When -- 8 p.m. today

Where -- St. LouisTV -- ESPN2

Contact SEAN HORGAN at 843-444-1767 or at thorgan@thesunnews.com [mailto:thorgan@thesunnews.com].

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