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Super Shortstops Just Hitting Their Peak

Espn.com, January 17, 2000

By Bob Klapisch

It's said that baseball, like life, measures time in cycles. If the '60s were the golden era for pitchers -- Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Juan Marichal, Bob Gibson, Tom Seaver, among others -- then the '90s will be remembered as the era of the super-charged, thickly-muscled power hitter.

If Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa can break Roger Maris' 61 home runs in back-to-back seasons ... well, it's like Carlton Fisk said the other day at his Hall of Fame press conference, "Something's going on here. I can't explain it."

This theory might work: hitters are bigger and stronger, generate more bat speed and are less intimidated by pitchers than at any time in the game's history. Add the smaller ballpark and the miniature strike zones, and the '90s belonged to the hitters.

But we aren't complaining, not since the 500-foot home run helped America fall in love with baseball again after the 1994-95 labor dispute. But what's next? Big Mac and Sosa are both in their 30s, and without any other record-breaking home-run hitters on the horizon, the new millennium may represent the beginning of a new era. With Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Nomar Garciaparra all at the doorstep of their athletic primes, is there any doubt this decade will deliver us the best shortstops baseball has ever known?

"I don't think I've ever seen three guys, all at the same position, who were so good at the same time," Joe Torre said one day last September. "You hear so much being made about the home runs and all, but these guys are the future -- three all-around great athletes."

We won't even start the engines of the Great Debate, even though we know the catalyst: who's the best? Of course, choosing is like making a selection between right and right and right. There is no wrong answer.

But baseball people general agree that A-Rod is the most dangerous power-hitter of the three, having crushed 143 home runs in his first four full seasons with the Mariners. Rodriguez might not have McGwire's muscles, but as Andy Pettitte says, "Make a mistake to him, and he'll hurt you. A-Rod has a very aggressive swing."

That might account for his lower average than Garciaparra and Jeter. In fact, Rodriguez has yet to come close to his stunning .358 mark in 1996, and finished 1999 at .285, the lowest mark in his young career. But Rodriguez nevertheless drove in more runs (111) than either Garciaparra or Jeter, despite having fewer at-bats (502, to Jeter's 627 and Garciaparra's 532).

Yankee people don't really care about Jeter's biceps or his home run total. Torre is more interested in Jeter's on-base percentage (.438) and his hits (219, the most in the big leagues). What makes Jeter so unique at the plate, scouts say, is his ability to drive the inside-corner fastball the other way.

In other words, Jeter has a bizarre habit of drawing in his hands as he's fighting off inner-half heat, yet is quick enough to generate the bat speed to actually drive the ball. During the World Series, Braves manager Bobby Cox said, "That's what drives pitchers crazy about Jeter, is that you can't really find too many holes in his swing. You think you can inside on him, but you can't, really."

In Garciaparra, however, we may have found the purest hitter of the trio. He's virtually impossible to strike out, having fanned only 39 times in 532 at-bats last year. That ratio -- 1 in every 13 at-bats -- is far better than Jeter (1 every 5.4) or Rodriguez' (1 every 4.6). And don't forget, Garciaparra carries a greater offensive burden than his peers, having been asked to replace Mo Vaughn at Fenway. Jeter, of course, has Bernie Williams and Paul O'Neill for help. And A-Rod has Ken Griffey Jr. and Edgar Martinez.

So who's the best of the three?

Does this question really have an answer?