| 15 May 2011
We tweeted this earlier this week but I found it interesting. ESPN Sweet Spot interviewed two of the better shortstops of the 1990's (and now both ESPN analysts) Barry Larkin and Nomar Garciaparra about the players who play the position today. One of the questions was, name a shortstop who might outgrow his position based on offensive production. this is what Barry Larkin said:
"Ian Desmond - I got a chance after I retired in 2005 to go work with the Washington Nationals and I saw this guy as an 18-year old kid just develop. He's put on over two inches and probably 20 pounds of maturation and has unbelievable ability. My question is, he's growing so quickly, is he gonna ever stop?"
Aside from the fact that he completely missed the point of the question, this is very interesting from a guy who 1. knows the position extremely well and 2. has worked within the organization.
I pulled two things from this clip. First, that people inside the industry aside from just those currently in the Washington Nationals front office are blown away by Desmond's tools. Coming form a player that Bill James argued was the greatest shortstop of all time, it's quite a compliment to say he has unbelievable ability. Of course, Larkin's last real close look at Desmond was in 2005 when he was just 19. Has the ability grown? Is it what people thought it would be at a Major League level? So far given how the last two seasons have gone, probably not. Desmond's incredible tools are begging to be turned into production, but at age 25, he is running out of time.
The second thing I pulled from this clip is obviously Larkin's assertion that he may get too big to play short. Again, this was likely him repeating his view of Desmond five years ago, not knowing if his growth would stop. It likely has at the age of 25, but Larkin is right in saying he is a bigger shortstop. However since the Cal Ripken days shortstops have grown tremendously. Off hand, a few shortstops I can think of 6'1" and above are Hanley Ramirez, Derek Jeter, Jose Reyes, and Troy Tulowitzki. That looks to be the cream of the crop to me in today's game.
Desmond's growth would partially explain his prone to the botched play however. A man whose limbs are constantly growing does not have the control over them that one who has stayed the same size for years does. It would be interesting to know exactly when Desmond stopped growing and what the effect on his game has been. If you look at a former MLB star like Dontrelle Willis, he entered the league at about 6'2" and kept growing and growing. Once he hit about 6'7" he couldn't throw strikes anymore. Then of course, it got to his head.
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