Alex Rodriguez: A Cautionary Tale For Hanley Ramirez Playing First Base
BOSTON (CBS) -- On Tuesday afternoon, Red Sox fans and media breathed an incredulous sigh of relief upon learning that finally, at long last, Hanley Ramirez was getting in some work at first base.
The three-time All-Star (2008-10)/former shortstop, of course, made the switch to left field when signing with the Red Sox last offseason. He is in the midst of one of the worst offensive seasons of his career, and he also happens to be authoring what is perhaps the worst defensive season of all time in left field.
That may be overstating things a bit ... but also ... it might not.
According to Fangraphs, he has a -31.1 UZR/150 and he has a -19 Defensive Runs Saved. By comparison, Alejandro De Aza (who in this case serves as "average outfielder") has a 0.5 UZR/150 and -1 DRS. Jackie Bradley Jr. (who in this case serves as "outstanding outfielder") has an 11.8 UZR/150 but somehow a -1 DRS. (Last year, Bradley saved 14 runs.) Mookie Betts, who is wildly athletic and has a much larger sample size in 2015 than Bradley, has a 5.4 UZR/150 and he's saved 10 runs. That's 29 runs better than Ramirez, for anyone who struggles with basic math.
But metrics are just one thing. One only needs a working eyeball and at least semi-functional vision to know that Ramirez is as bad as it gets out in left field. If an Australian tourist who's never before followed Major League Baseball were to see Ramirez in the outfield, that tourist would never in a million years believe you if you told him that Ramirez formerly played the most demanding defensive position in the game. That Australian tourist could also probably play a better left field than Hanley.
"So I just stand here and catch the ball? Seems easy, mate."
The defensive mess known as Hanley reared its ugly head yet again on Tuesday night, as a simple base hit into left was bungled by Ramirez, thereby allowing the go-ahead run to score in the seventh inning. The White Sox would win 5-4.
It's been difficult to keep track of how often this has happened to Ramirez this year, so obviously the sight of seeing him finally accept that he may need to switch positions was a welcome one for many. Here's the image of the student studying his craft.
However, if anybody believes a move to first base will solve the problem of Ramirez being a defensive liability, then they're taking ill-advised leaps of unfounded faith.
For the uninitiated, first base is very difficult. Just because your Little League manager stuck your husky friend at first base back in fifth grade doesn't mean it's an easy position to play in the majors. The work of some of the best defensive first basemen is a true sight to behold, and one only needs to watch about five innings of a Yankees game to see Mark Teixeira turn a third baseman's throwing error into an out. The same was true for years with Kevin Youkilis and Adrian Gonzalez playing the position in Boston. The value of such deftness with a first baseman's mitt is hard to overstate.
But in evaluating Ramirez's prospects at the position, it's better to look at a different Yankees first baseman -- er, well, a one-time, every-so-briefly Yankees first baseman who goes by the name of Alex Rodriguez.
Like Hanley, A-Rod used to be a shortstop. Unlike Hanley, A-Rod used to be an excellent shortstop. And like Hanley, A-Rod made a mid-career switch to third base, and he was pretty darn good there as well, even as he unnaturally added bulk to his frame.
Alex, of course, did not play in 2014, thanks to that whole "bulking up" thing. But he was dead set on playing in 2015, and manager Joe Girardi wasn't quite sure how to best utilize the man who would turn 40 at midseason. So, Girardi figured he'd put A-Rod at first base. If he could play shortstop and third base at the major league level for 20 years, then he could surely handle the least demanding position of all, right?
Wrong. So, so, so wrong.
Alex Rodriguez played first base on April 11 against the Boston Red Sox ... and he looked like an absolute goof. He looked like a man who had never before worn a baseball glove, let alone seen a white sphere fly toward his body. He had no idea how to catch the baseball. It was fascinating.
If you had somehow gotten A-Rod to play for your company softball team during his "hiatus" in 2014 and you asked him to play first base, you would have had to sub him out for Jessica in accounting, because he would have cost your team outs. It was that bad.
Rather than catching throws like a normal person, A-Rod came to start using his bare hand to coax the ball into the mitt, as if he was fielding a ground ball.
It was wild. His footwork was also a mess, at one point coming off the bag and costing the Yankees a key out.
This was not good.
Nor was this.
Clearly, having more than 10,000 innings of experience at shortstop and more than 10,000 innings of experience at third base did not help Alex Rodriguez in his quest to be able to competently play first base. After that fateful April 11 start, A-Rod would play just two-thirds of an inning at first base. Girardi had seen quite enough. Alex was, officially, a designated hitter.
The moral of the story is that just because somebody's played difficult positions in the infield -- and in A-Rod's case, won two Gold Gloves at shortstop -- does not mean he can easily play first base like a professional. And with Hanley, certainly he has shown that left-side-of-the-infield skills did not transfer to the outfield.
Of course, Ramirez at age 31 is in a much different place in his career than A-Rod coming off a year away from baseball at age 39, so perhaps Hanley will be able to adjust a bit better. In this lost Red Sox season, it's at least worth experimenting.
But to think that Hanley can take his defensive trainwreck from left field over to first base and suddenly become serviceable would require a level of optimism that really shouldn't exist amid the current state of the Boston Red Sox.
Read more from Michael Hurley by clicking here. You can email him or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.
