Enjoying the Rookie

It's Friday, and we all need a little break from politics, me especially, if only to remind myself that there are other things to write about, some of which are actually enjoyable.

One of those, of course, is the American Pastime, the participation and spectator sport known as baseball.  Now, I'm no longer a participant (I organized a company team back when I was a 50-year-old VP with a Federal contractor, and played shortstop until I realized that I was, in fact, 50 and, while I could still hit, my hamstrings were 100 years old combined; the rest of the team was all well under 40).  But I sure watch the game, every single day.

I am an unabashed fan of the Boston Red Sox, most remarkable because I grew up far away from New England, and remember being a fan of the team at age three -- despite their not being anywhere near the local team. In fact, I did see the great Ted Williams play in a game as part of a family trip while he was still an active major-league player.

Last week the Red Sox brought up to the majors a just-turned-22-year-old young man from Cincinnati by the name of Andrew Benintendi.  His first week has been one of those experiences that remind us how many different things can happen in baseball, and why they attract us over and over to the sport.

Unlike the NFL and, I suppose, the NBA (if anyone still actually watches professional basketball), baseball players don't get drafted and start playing for the major-league team immediately, or at least at the start of the next season.  There is no minor-league process in those sports.  Baseball players, by contrast, are drafted, then start at the lowest tiers of the minors and have to work their way up.

Perhaps after 3-4 seasons in the minors, the best players rise up to the AA, then the AAA level and then the majors.  It's that hard to learn to hit good pitching (or, conversely, to pitch past good hitting).

Andrew Benintendi was a collegiate outfielder out of the University of Arkansas, who was drafted #7 in the first round by Boston just last summer, and is thus only now in his first full professional season in baseball.

We can note that he was only #7, as opposed to being the top pick, because other teams either feared he would not sign an affordable contract or more likely, they looked at him and passed.  You see, Benintendi really reminds you of the guy who played "Rudy" in the movie of the same name.  Same sort of non-smile smile, same square face, and definitely the same handicap.

This player, whom six teams let go by first, is only 5'10" tall.  And that means only two things.  A lot of those old-time scout types would devalue his capability.  And a lot of people would root like Hades for him.  I'm one of the latter.

Benintendi shot through the minor league levels at a crazy rate.  As I described in this piece, the statistic "OPS" is a good evaluation point for a hitter.  An OPS of .900 is a real hitting All-Star at any level; an .800 OPS is an excellent hitter.  Benintendi's OPSs at each minor-league level were .972, .948, 1.011 (!), .976, and finally .872 in 63 games at AA Portland, Maine.  Essentially, he showed almost immediately, at every level, that he was simply too good of a hitter for that level.

And I think I mentioned he is only 5'10", right?

So finally, the Red Sox, with a need for a left-fielder right there in Boston, simply ignored the AAA level and promoted him directly to the Red Sox, something they had not done with a player in a number of years.

Here is "Rudy", this little guy for whom the uniform is always going to look too big.  After a couple of outs in his first two at-bats, the kid takes a low outside pitch to the opposite field for his first big-league hit.  We refer to an "advanced approach" when we talk about a younger player who really knows the strike zone and how to hit where the ball is pitched.  This hit was an off-the-charts advanced approach for a 22-year-old.

Benintendi had two hits in that game, and in his next three starts he had three hits each in two of those games.  He has had 20 at-bats in the majors now, with nine hits and a .950 OPS, pretty much the same territory as he had hit throughout the minors.

I'm a really little guy.  I wasn't necessarily the one picked last for teams; my brother taught me to hit at a very young age so I could at least play the game.  But as long as I played baseball, I encountered the lowest of expectations because of my size.

I am rooting for a long and productive career for Andrew Benintendi.  That's not because he has encountered any written-about adversity that he has had to overcome that would be itself a story, but because I watch "Rudy" every few years to remind myself that it's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog that matters.

He has learned and practiced hard the science of hitting, and I admire hard work, long study and the diligence to keep at the skill that you know has to be applied, when God didn't give you one of those built-for-baseball statures.

Good for him.  I can't wait for his next at bat.  I hope you will root for him, too.

Copyright 2016 by Robert Sutton
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