We hear it all of the time. It doesn’t just occur with baseball players, but athletes in every sport. When they first arrive to their respective league, the fans and media want to judge them right away. While it’s no secret that Pedro Alvarez and Garrett Jones can both hit the long ball with the best of them – Jones’ mammoth shot into the river on Sunday can attest to that – we don’t necessarily think of them as being the best fielders in the world.
When talking with Tim Williams from Pirates Prospects on my radio show last month, he said the two things that you need to do when evaluating players are look at the stats and look at them with your eye. Forget the numbers (I haven’t looked them up), both Alvarez and Jones passed the eye test this year at their respective defensive positions.
“We have Pedro in our cross hairs. Those three drop-steps and cover balls; they’re spectacular plays. Pedro works everyday and wants to play third base,” Pirates Manager Clint Hurdle said. “He hears the noise, but he wants to play third base. As long as Pedro continues to show me effort, energy, attitude and desire to play third base, that’s where he’s going to play. He can be more than an adequate defender.”
When mentioning Jones, it’s always brought up that he should be in the American League as a perfect designated hitter. Jones said through hard work and dedication, he hopes to change people’s minds.
“That’s something we pride ourselves with and work hard at to be good,” Jones said. “Nick Leyva gets us out there whether it’s picks, choppers, hard-hit balls, backhand or in the hole making plays; we just get out reps in. We work hard at it before the game.”
As far as the labels go, Hurdle stood up for his players right away. Hurdle said that first off, you have to question if the labels are fair. Secondly, Hurdle said what the media or fans say about a guy don’t really matter.
“No. 1 are the labels fair and No. 2 who are giving you the labels? Truth be told, when I played, a bunch of guys or girls writing stuff, I didn’t really care what you thought,” Hurdle said. “Within our industry though, you know if you can play defense or not. That’s what really matters.”
Jones said when he hears or sees people casting the negative label on his skills, he uses it as motivation.
“You see that you don’t want to be labeled at anything in a negative way. For me, when I see that, it just makes me want to work that much harder and prove I’m a good defender,” Jones said. “I like to work hard and prove people wrong. I just want to be better each year coming into the season with my entire game. It takes a lot of practice and a lot of reps before games and in spring training, as well as the offseason. Me and Pedro have both made strides with hard work.”
While Hurdle may turn to Gaby Sanchez in late game situations, he said he has the utmost confidence in both Jones’ and Alvarez’s defensive abilities and are proud of the way they have worked to improve them.
“Jones has had to work very hard at becoming better. That’s what you look for. Pedro has had to work very hard and that’s what you look for. Changes actually can happen,” Hurdle said. “I think that’s the big part of people not becoming self-fulfilling prophets. They think that they aren’t a good defender so they will come out and get their at bats and will be pulled by the seventh inning. Both of those guys want more than that.”
Photo Credits: Associated Press
