The Daily News publishes a story on how Derek Jeter worked himself back to being a good defensive shortstop:
Riley immediately discovered “mobility issues,” he says. Because Jeter is right-handed, his left side lacked some flexibility, particularly his left hip and ankle, which can happen to righty baseball players, Riley says. “His left hip was locked up, so whenever he did a crossover step to move in that direction, he’d actually move a little bit forward,” Riley said. “He was taking two steps to get that same spot.”
They worked on breaking Jeter’s “compensation patterns” that weren’t allowing him to move efficiently. Riley re-taught Jeter “movement mechanics.” It took strength, conditioning, agility drills with cones and ladders and reaction drills with tennis balls. Riley, who views his training with Jeter as a 6-to-8-year program, has added chiropractic work, massage and nutrition elements, too.
There are two grass fields beyond the gym at The Athletes Compound and Jeter has spent plenty of time on each in drills such as a resistance sprint drill in which Riley or another trainer holds his belt. When Jeter fails to do a drill properly, he refuses to stop until he’s gotten it right. “You don’t always get that,” Riley says. “He is such a perfectionist.
I’d like to see him do it again to know that it’s real. Just like a hitter, a defender can have a good season just by being a bit lucky. When an improvement is tied to actual work on that very issue, however, I suspect it’s more likely to be real.
How good was he really, last year? I mean, objectively speaking.
@Slideshow Bob: I believe UZR ranked him quite high.
Jeter’s UZR/150 was 8.4 for 2009.
And that 8.4 was the first time he’s had a positive UZR. So it’s not just that it’s a very good fielding number, it’s that the improvement is eye-popping. 2005: -12.6; 2006: -7.2; 2007 -16.7; 2008: -0.7. Those numbers seem to tell us that he improved in two big gulps, first from ’07 to ’08 when he finally achieved average SS status, then the next year when he jumped to big + status.
I understand that the interns that chart BIP for BIS change every year,perhaps thats why we are cautioned to use a 3 year average.
I would be interested in what QC they have. With good defensive metrics now starting to be worth serious money to the players, at least in terms of PR, and being a stat not easily verified by fans day to day, and interns being relatively low paid, well, you can figure out what I am gettng at.
To my eyes, Jeter was a better defender last year. How much of this was knowing he had Teixeira to throw to instead of Giambi is big question. Also, not having Wang on the mound much, and a pitching staff that got a ton of K’s, had to have reduced his workload.
For all the knocks on Giambi’s defense, he was always considered a good receiver. His issues were lateral range, and a phenomenally bad throwing arm.