Should Sanchez be playing second?

Freddy Sanchez is helped up by assistant trainer Mike Sandoval after getting injured in a collision with the Phillies' Rod Barajas yesterday in Bradenton, Fla.

Minor injury highlights perils of moving batting champ

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

By Dejan Kovacevic
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

BRADENTON, Fla. -- A gasp, followed by silence, came over the 4,805 at McKechnie Field yesterday.

And that was nothing compared to the reaction in the Pirates' dugout.

As manager Jim Tracy recalled, "You take a deep breath, obviously. A huge one. I had my fingers crossed."

Second baseman Freddy Sanchez, the National League's batting champion, had just been taken out while turning a double play, the victim of a hard but apparently fair slide by the Philadelphia Phillies' Rod Barajas.

Sanchez seemed fine initially, then stumbled, then crumpled to the ground, where he stayed for three minutes before being helped up.

It was only an hour later that the Pirates could exhale, as a hastily ordered MRI revealed no more than a mild sprain of the medial collateral ligament in his right knee. He is listed as day to day and should miss no significant time.

No big deal.

At the same time, the incident magnified what might become a large issue in camp, if it is not already: Should a player that valuable, with Sanchez's history of injury, be getting moved from third base to second?

Management's official stance on whether the move will be made remains noncommittal, but it has escaped no one's attention that Sanchez has worked at second from the first drill of the spring through his first three Grapefruit League games. Just as obvious, Jose Castillo and Jose Bautista, the players dueling for the only infield vacancy, have worked solely at third.



Second baseman Freddy Sanchez falls over the Phillies' Rod Barajas after a collision at second yesterday in Bradenton, Fla. Sanchez, the reigning National League batting champion, was helped off the field with a knee injury and did not return.

Is the team still open-minded?

"Absolutely," Tracy said. "We have a bunch of infielders who can play defense. If you put a glove on their hand, wherever you put them, they're going to do a nice job."

The Pirates are not discussing internal debate about the infield, of course, but be sure they are facing a difficult decision where Sanchez is concerned.

Consider some arguments in favor of a move to second:

Sanchez is slick and sound wherever he plays. As coach Rusty Kuntz put it, "Freddy's a baseball player."

Management was displeased last season with Castillo's 18-error, lapse-prone defense, and an upgrade at second -- from Castillo or anyone -- was identified as an offseason priority.

Bautista's natural position is third, where some see high potential.

Front-line prospect Neil Walker is being converted from catcher to third largely because he would be blocked at the top level by Ronny Paulino. If Sanchez still is at third by the time Walker is ready -- maybe next year -- Walker again would be blocked.

And some arguments for keeping Sanchez at third:

His .981 fielding percentage was the league's best at the position last season.

Castillo can be extraordinary at second and, together with shortstop Jack Wilson, can form the league's best double-play combination.

If Castillo beats out Bautista and generally improves defensively, it makes little sense to have him learn a position that is all new to him.

Above all, though, is the injury issue.

To this day, the Pirates are wary of Sanchez playing a middle infield position because of the right ankle injury that cost him most of two seasons in 2003-04. The range required is greater, as is the risk of collisions such as the one yesterday. And, if that concern is legitimate, it surely would be a higher priority to keep a batting champion healthy than to address defensive needs.

But count Sanchez firmly among those unconcerned.

"That never crosses my mind," he said of the ankle. "You can't be out there in a game thinking about things like guys sliding into my leg. And I'm not. I'm thinking about turning the double play, and that's it. You can't worry about being injured."

Sanchez displayed that trait with his reaction to Barajas' slide.

"I'm a big contact guy, and I don't shy away from it," he said. "It is spring training, I know. But you're still trying to get ready for the season."

Barajas, by the way, felt that Sanchez failed to leap out of his way, a view shared by most observers.

"I didn't come up high, and my spikes weren't up," Barajas said. "I slid the way I've always been taught. Unfortunately, he didn't get out of the way."

Sanchez, like management, is maintaining a flexible stance on where he might play.

"The way I see it, I'm an infielder," he said. "I can play all three positions."

The one facet of all this with any degree of certainty is that Sanchez would fare well at second. He has been outstanding all spring, with the exception of the play yesterday.

"Freddy's going to be just as good at second as he is at third," Wilson said.

Sanchez's goal, should he wind up at second, is a lofty one.

"I don't like being just good at a position. I want to be the best," he said. "I can't say I'm one of the best right now, obviously, because it takes a lot of reps. But I can work to be as good as I can be this year, and that's what I'm planning to do."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Dejan Kovacevic can be reached at dkovacevic@post-gazette.com. )