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The spring training article merry-go-round stops today on the young guys. First, this piece on presumed starting shortstop Zack Cozart:
“I’ve been going hard at it for three weeks, taking ground balls, running. Everything feels good,” Cozart said on Thursday, a day before the rest of the position players report for camp.
The Reds have questions about the left side of the infield. Cozart tore a ligament in his non-throwing elbow while trying to make a tag and had reconstructive surgery in August. He also had his right ankle cleaned out.
Third baseman Scott Rolen is coming off surgery on his left shoulder last August. He and Cozart are expected to start if they have no lingering health problems.
Also, enjoy this nugget from our beloved manager Dusty Baker:
Baker will give him a chance to bat second in the order, the place he hit during his brief stay last year. “It’s an important spot,” Baker said. “Age is a small part of the factor, ability, aptitude, unselfishness. That’s where the most unselfish player, the smartest player bats. You have to take pitches that could put you in the hole.”
Read the entire article. Also, read this profile of young Devin Mesoraco:
Mesoraco said that the biggest hurdle he’ll face this season is proving his worth to the team.
“I can’t go in there trying to do too much, I’ve just got to play to my abilities,” he said. “Just learning the pitching staff we have, learning some of the other pitchers in the league to figure out their tendencies, the way they approach an at-bat.”
His teammates have been an invaluable part of his growth and preparation as he assimilates himself into the big leagues. He has plenty of praise for catching mentor Ryan Hanigan.
“He’s a very smart, very sharp guy that it’ll be a joy for me to learn from,” Mesoraco said. “He’s worked with pitchers that have been around for four or five years, so he knows every situation and he is very approachable for me to talk to. He’s always there to help.”
When do the games start???
Not soon enough.
If that is Baker’s criteria, then why has Hannigan not seen the most time at #2?
@rightsaidred: Maybe he doesn’t think Ryan is very smart.
Of course, catchers batting second is the equivilent of hitting lefty/lefty in the middle of the order. See: ripping hole in time/space and communisim ruling comments.
@rightsaidred: Dusty failed to point out the other important criterion, as TC mentioned the other day: 2-hole is trademarked by the starting SS.
Dusty loves speed at the top, otherwise hanigan/rolen would be nearly ideal(assuming rolen is healthy and not pressing) my ideal order looks like this:
With hanigan:
Phillips
Hanigan
Votto
Bruce
Rolen
Stubbs
Cozart
Heisey
Or with mesoraco:
Phillips
Rolen
Votto
Bruce
Mesoraco
Stubbs
Cozart
Heisey
I’m very concerned that the Reds haven’t adequately addressed SS this offseason. I think it would be difficult for any team to win a division starting two rookies, especially when those two rookies are at such important positions defensively.
@David: Agree 100%. I think several of us have expressed this concern over the winter.
@Matt WI: Bingo!
What Dusty meant to say —
“It’s an important spot,” Baker said. “Age is a small part of the factor, the older the better in my book. If he is the starting shortstop then that is where the player bats. You have to take pitches that could put you in the hole and you should be pretty old – did I mention that?”
@David: Valdez is this years Cabrerra (hopefully). With Cozart, that is adequate.
@David: I think those concerned with SS are looking at the position in a vacuum and overthinking it. There are like 3 teams in the NL that are 100% fine with their SS situation: Rockies, Marlins, and the Phillies. Everyone else has the “future” stars like Castro, Dee Gordon, Desmond; or the old guys like Furcal and Alex Gonzales. The position is super weak across the board. Cozart won’t be spectacular but he’s not going to be a major drain on the defense like some of the higher profile rookies either.
I think part of the reason you don’t want Hanigan in the 2-hole is that he doesn’t run too well and he hits a lot of ground balls. He has a career 1.65 GB/FB ratio (1.60 last year). Unless you hit and run with him a lot, he’s probably going to hit into a lot more than his fair share of DPs.
As a former catcher, I’ll tell you that your legs get more tired as the game goes on, especially on a hot day. I know on days like that I used to slow down by the 6th/7th inning. I don’t think you’d want such a DP possibility hitting in front of Votto.
Just my opinion.
Which is why I used to call Joe Torre, Joe DP Torre. The man had an amazing ability to hit into double plays.
Most managers like speed/baserunning ability at the top of the order.
I’ve been making these points about Hanigan for awhile. Good to hear it from a former catcher.
Ryan Braun won his appeal. The Brewers have returned to Major League Baseball, and the Reds and Cards just got a bit worse.
@CP: I feel there are more quality players at the SS position than many believe, 14 across baseball for sure. Can’t name them all right now, already did that about a month ago. There are so many superstar first basemen that the SS star doesn’t shine as brightly as it used to.
@secondguessingfanbase: There is a lot of average-to-slightly above average SSs out there. The overall quality has gone up all around MLB because there are so few Ryan Theriot/Edgar Renteria-type guys left out there and teams like the Braves and Dodgers and Reds have shifted over to young guys. However, there is basically 2 or 3 elite guys (all in the NL) and then a massive drop off.
I think the case could be made that Cozart will be the best overall SS in the NL Central this year and the 4th or 5th best in the NL, behind Tuluwitzki, Reyes/Hanley, Rollins, and maybe Stephen Drew. Of course this all depends on Starlin Castro…he could potentially leap frog everyone and become the 3rd best SS in baseball. There are probably 7 or 8 guys in the AL who are replacement value to slight upgrades to Cozart. But they’re kind of irrelevant because the Reds don’t play them often/at all.
Cozart is at least in the same tier as Drew, Bonifacio, Furcal, and Gonzales. There is some value in certainty and you know what you’re gonna get with veterans. But front offices tend to overvalue certainty because they’re so risk-adverse. We’d all rather have Starlin Castro but Cozart is actually a decent fit for this team and their needs. I still feel that us fans (and seemingly Dusty Baker) are overestimating his upside but if he can hit .255/.330/.420, he is extremely valuable and a massive upgrade over the last 4 years.
I agree as to the POTENTIAL of Cozart, however we are still talking about a small sample size, in part due to history of injury. Average production over 140 games isn’t my main concern; it’s the 140 game part.
I wish part of Baker’s stated thinking about the #2 hitter was that an important quality is *getting on base* in front of Joey Votto.
The old argument that the #2 hitter has to be able to take pitches drives me crazy. Brandon Phillips, our presumed leadoff hitter, stole 14 bases last year and was thrown out 9 times.
The last thing I want to see is Phillips stealing bases, but even if he tries to steal 25 times, that’s a pretty small percentage of the #2 hitter’s AB.
The #2 hitter will come up to bat with no one on base way more than half the time. In those AB, the singular quality that matters is getting on base.
What’s more important, taking a pitch in 25/600 AB or being able to get on base in 600/600 AB?
@preach: I don’t think that’s quite fair. TJ is unlikely to effect him like it might a pitcher and he’s had good health in the minors. I don’t see anything about his profile to make me think he won’t play plenty.
Cozart’s arm wasn’t that strong before. There’s a distinct possibility that his arm could have a tiny bit more zip than pre-procedure.
@Jason Linden: What’s the unfair part? He’s got great potential, or we’ve only seen a small sample size, or he has had an injury history in his time with the big club? Even if he’s healthy and he tanks he won’t reach 140 games, unless Dusty just keeps running him out there every day. I suppose that’s not beyond him. He is still a question mark in every aspect of the term and I agree with others that we need a solid backup option. I do have the Dusty fear of veteran presence, but in this case I think we should take that chance.
Putting together the possibility of injury alongside underacheivment, I don’t think my statement is unfair. Scary, perhaps, but not unfair.
Nope, it was his non-throwing arm that he hurt.
@preach: There are different kinds of injury history. Something like TJ is unlikely to appear again, so claiming that his injury history is likely to keep him out of the lineup is unfair. If he had an injury of leg injuries like Griffey had, for instance, I would totally agree with you. But I don’t see anything about his injury history as it stands right now that’s likely to keep him from playing as much as Dusty lets him.
Now how much Dusty does let him play is another matter entirely.
Not to mention, TJ surgery typically does not affect arm strength.
Whoops, sorry for that.
Yeah, didn’t Torre hit into four double-plays in one game? I remember him being quoted afterward that he had to give a lot of the credit to Felix Millan for getting on base in front of him all game long.
@rightsaidred: The reason Dusty doesn’t bat Hanigan in the 2-hole has nothing to do with his speed or intelligence. It’s b/c he doesn’t play everyday and Dusty prefers cosistency at the top of his lineups. That is cosistency in the sense of the same guys penciled in every day.