The Never-Ending Education of a Major League Shortstop New York Times, March 12, 2000 By BUSTER OLNEY |
TAMPA, Fla., March 10 -- The baseball season began for Derek Jeter inside Zuidema Gymnasium, fielding ground balls that skidded across the hardwood floor, taking batting practice against the pitching machine at Kalamazoo Central High School.
Winter's cold lingers in Michigan and Jeter played 20 to 30 games in the spring, more in summer leagues, but not nearly as many as youngsters from the South or the West Coast or the countries of Latin America -- where most of his professional peers began playing baseball. In spite of the experience lost to the Midwest climate, he has established himself as one of the game's finest players, and others feel that with additional experience he will inevitably improve even more.
"Before his career is over, he's going to be recognized as one of the best who ever played the game -- I really believe that," said Tim Raines, who has played 21 seasons in the big leagues. "You're talking about a guy who batted .349. It's hard to believe he can get better, but I really believe he can."
Raines and others who have watched Jeter, the Yankees shortstop, play daily in recent years believe there are very specific adjustments he can make to his hitting, his fielding, his base running.
Jeter is an aggressive hitter, sometimes with an elementary approach: he makes up his mind about swinging before a pitch is thrown.
"Regardless of where it is," Raines said.
The aggressiveness has served him well. If the pitcher is intent on getting ahead in the count and his offering is something Jeter can handle, then Jeter can do great damage. But if the pitch is badly out of the strike zone, or if it is a breaking ball that is moving away from the strike zone, and Jeter does not recognize either, he can be fooled badly.
"When you're going good, when you're in a groove, it's easy to lay off of it," Jeter said. "It's not often during the season that you're that zoned in. You tend to get yourself out. You say to yourself, 'O.K., I'm going to jump on the first pitch,' and you end up swinging at a bad pitch."
Jeter, 25, is such a good hitter that even when fooled, he is capable of hitting a pitch just above his shoes or off the outside corner and dumping a single into right field. But he is also apt to swing at a bad pitch and ground out to second base. To Raines, Jeter should aspire to more than the groundout or the soft single so early in the count.
Raines believes that what Jeter will eventually do is to look for one particular type of pitch in one particular part of the strike zone early in the count, and look to drive it. And if he does not get that one pitch, then he should let it pass, whether it's a ball or a strike.
"Look for location and do damage," Raines said, in summation. "The difference between he and Nomar Garciaparra" -- the Boston shortstop -- "is that Garciaparra goes to the plate looking for a pitch in a certain area and he takes advantage of it. Jeter will make contact, but he won't do the type of damage he could."
The patient approach Raines advocates may be dangerous for a hitter who does not do well when he is behind in the count, someone who is overmatched when he has two strikes against him. But Jeter ranks among the better hitters in baseball when he is behind in the count. According to numbers compiled by Stats Inc., he hit .314 last year in that situation, compared with the American League composite average of .216. He has the ability to support a patient approach.
And Jeter's aptitude would also allow him to be more patient. He is not susceptible to the same pattern of pitching once he falls behind in the count, as many hitters are. A pitcher cannot get ahead in the count and then retire him by merely throwing breaking balls, or by jamming him with inside fastballs.
"You go into a series against the Yankees with a plan to pitch to Jeter," Detroit catcher Brad Ausmus said, "and you might get him out in that first game pitching to that hole you think you've seen. But by the last game of the series, that hole isn't there anymore because he will make the adjustments."
Jeter frets about his high number of strikeouts, his former teammate Luis Sojo said -- "He'll say, 'Dang, I've got to be leading the league.' " But Raines, the hitting coach Chris Chambliss and Manager Joe Torre do not want him to sacrifice his aggressiveness at the plate merely to decrease his strikeout total. He is undoubtedly improving as a hitter, his average increasing from .314 in his rookie year to .349 last year, his slugging percentage rising 122 points in that time. Chambliss sees him checking his swing more often, recognizing bad pitches more readily.
Willie Randolph, the Yankees' infield coach, believes Jeter is a good shortstop. He remembers the staff meetings when Jeter was on the verge of breaking into the major leagues, and the doubts others expressed about how long it would take for Jeter to develop consistency.
But Jeter has committed only 23 errors over the last two seasons and he has made dramatic progress on fielding balls to his backhand side and charging balls hit in front of him.
"That's one thing that I haven't seen in baseball in all my years," said Sojo, mentioning Jeter's ability to field a ball hit in front of him and throw to first on the run. "This guy is so tall, but he charges the ball with two hands and throws the guy out. Two hands -- you don't know how hard that is, and he does it so easy."
Randolph thinks that Jeter could anticipate better on defense, understand better where a hitter is most likely to hit the ball. "And that comes with time, and in knowing the hitters," Randolph said.
Jeter has made a spectacular play in the shortstop hole several times, fielding the ball to his backhand side, then leaping and throwing and cutting down the runner at first. Randolph calls it the Y. A. Tittle play, in honor of the former Giants quarterback, and most of the time, Randolph and Sojo believe Jeter will be better off just planting his right foot, setting his body and throwing, rather than going airborne.
"He's got a great arm," Sojo said. "I'd say to him: 'C'mon, you've got to use your arm. Throw the ball.' When he jumps on that play in the hole and the guy going to first is a good runner, you're not going to get him."
When Jeter joined the Yankees, his fundamentals were ingrained so deeply in his defense that he often tried to reach everything with two hands, including balls hit to his right, and he would reach awkwardly. Randolph does not want him to stop moving his feet and try to reach everything with one hand, but he does think Jeter can trust his hands more than he does, and be a little more fluid, like a Roberto Alomar.
Jeter had just 19 stolen bases last season, sometimes refraining from running in order to keep the first-base hole open -- the first baseman had to hold Jeter -- for the left-handed-hitting Paul O'Neill. Torre would like to see Jeter run more.
"He could steal 40, 50 bases, I think," Torre said. "But he plays so much, and that wears you out. In that regard, I'm not going to push him to do that, but I certainly want him to not be afraid to make a mistake on the bases. That's one area he's not really as comfortable and confident as I think he should be."
Jeter said: "Base stealing is often the same as defense -- you've got to get into a groove, and once you get into a groove, it's a lot easier. One year in the minors, I got into a groove early on and I kept going and going and going."
If Jeter amassed another 15 seasons at his current rate of success, he would approach 4,000 hits and 2,000 runs scored. But there is room for improvement.