The AP wonders if the day of the purely defensive shortstop is over:
Today’s shortstops are being asked to play a different game. They totaled 493 home runs last season, easily surpassing the next highest mark of 423 from 2002 – right in the heart of the Steroid Era.
It’s not a top-heavy group. Fifteen shortstops hit at least 15 homers last year, more than doubling the previous high of seven in 2002. Eleven of those players are 27 or younger, led by Colorado’s Trevor Story (24) and Oakland’s Marcus Semien (26) with 27 homers each. The pack behind them included rookies Corey Seager (22) of the Dodgers and Aledmys Diaz (26) of the Cardinals. Xander Bogaerts (Red Sox) didn’t turn 24 until October. Russell (Cubs) and Francisco Lindor (Indians) turned 23 in the offseason. Correa (Astros) is only 22.
Point is, the power is on at the 6-spot, and there’s juice enough to keep it running for years.
The problem is that shortstop is a young man’s position. A shortstop who hits can be moved to other defensive positions as he loses a step at the important defensive position. So many of these players won’t be at short when they turn 30.
The story does argue that better defensive positioning means shortstops need less range, but we’ll see about that as batters start adjusting to shifts. If there is an advantage to be gained on either side of the ball, eventually players will find it.
Glove men won’t disappear. They might get less expensive, and teams will exploit that market inefficiency by building up power at other positions. Think of Dave Concepcion with the Big Red Machine.
from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2nuGNL7
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