Tulowitzki is NL's best young shortstop
Posted: Tuesday, March 04, 2008 5:23 PM
Troy Tulowitzki, who turned 23 last October, is less than three years removed from college baseball, and he is going to be a Sports Illustrated cover boy. How good is life for the Rockies’ shortstop (and the health of baseball) when America’s most prestigious sports magazine in its preview edition for the baseball season plans to feature three sparkling young talents: Tulowitzki, Arizona’s Justin Upton and Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun.
But it was Tulo (his only name in Rockies’ land) who played in the World Series last year as a rookie. It was Tulo who was universally credited as the soul of a Colorado team that defied baseball history with the sport’s greatest closing kick, and extended that run into the World Series.
A 22-year-old rookie as the spiritual leader of a National League championship team? I heard it first confirmed last summer. Preparing a blog for this space, I contacted longtime Rockies’ public relations maven Jay Alves, a wise baseball mind. Asking Alves to explain the Rockies’ improvement (remember this was midseason, well before any team could dream of postseason play), he responded with some accurate points about pitching, road play and better defense. Then he added one last kicker -- that kid at shortstop, Alves said, won’t let anyone lose.
What Alves said was powerful praise for someone halfway through his first full season in the major leagues. As September progressed and the Rockies built to what became a miraculous finish, similar thoughts started to creep from the clubhouse. The team was playing for Todd Helton, the veteran who had nearly been traded to Boston, to reach the postseason for the first time in his career. But Colorado’s life came from Tulo.
Rockies general manager Dan O’Dowd talked about Tulo having no fear. Players marveled during the spring at Tulo’s willingness to jumpstart a struggling pitcher on the mound or chastise an outfielder for missing the cutoff man. Catcher Chris Iannetta talked about how Tulo has a good sense of “when he needs to loosen guys up and get the team going.”
All this leadership from such a young player?
Last month I sat next to Tulo at a banquet where he was the honoree. It was a homecoming, Tulo being honored in the Santa Clara Valley, a proud baseball area in California. His family, friends, and coaches were all in attendance. And Tulo thanked all of them.
Several qualities struck me after an evening with this rising star: His gratitude. He thanked every coach who threw him extra batting practice and his high school coaches for molding him as a player. His humility. Despite reading many stories that talk of Tulo as a “natural,” as someone who always stood out on the field, he talked at length about never being a Little League All-Star, never being counted on as a stud on his high school baseball team, having to go to Long Beach State because the local power, Stanford, didn’t seem to have an interest in him. Tulo’s version is one of perseverance, always defying the odds, even as a first-round draft choice in the pros. Embellished? Perhaps, but the story also opens a window into his drive -- the quality everyone with the Rockies mentions about him, a quality that has fueled his meteoric start.
He came to spring training lighter by 10 pounds after admitting to undergoing an evolution in his eating habits. The big frame, compared by many to Cal Ripken, that still enabled him to excel defensively last season now figures to feature improved range. Tulo’s second-place finish in the voting for Rookie of the Year was shameful, inadvertently admitted so by Milwaukee when the Brewers announced that Ryan Braun, who won the award by two points over Tulo, would move from third base to left field.
How much do the Rockies value Tulo? In January they signed him to the largest contract ever given to a player with less than two years of service in the major leagues (six years at $31 million). The team bought out Tulo’s first year of free agency, something they did not do for Matt Holliday.
Physically, he resembles Ripken, but in so many other ways the name Derek Jeter comes up in comparisons with Tulo. Whether the Rockies can retain the talented nucleus around Tulo is very much a long-term question, but in the here and now, the NL’s best young shortstop (and there are many good ones) plays in Denver.
FIVE QUICK HITS:
BONDS AND TAMPA: No surprise this is being talked about. The Rays OFFERED Bonds a contract last winter. But the dollars weren’t significant enough to tear Bonds away from San Francisco. Some look at Bonds’ numbers and project the impact he could have on the Rays’ lineup. No doubt, but also read the daily comments from Scottsdale about the million-pound weight that is out of the Giants’ clubhouse.
ANDRUW JONES, HEAVYWEIGHT: A story in the Atlanta Journal Constitution
mentioned that Jones reported to Dodgers’ camp in Vero Beach at 240 pounds. Wonder how that sat with Joe Torre and in a clubhouse looking to mend last season’s wounds of internal conflict?
PEDRO MARTINEZ READY TO TALK CONTRACT: The Mets, who love Martinez, are first ready to see him pitch, maybe 25-30 times this year, the last one on his current deal.
CREDE BACK: Early returns are positive on Joe Crede’s comeback from back surgery. If healthy by mid-March, don’t be surprised to see him in a San Francisco uniform.
THE DEVIL YOU KNOW: So Cub-bashers, who couldn’t hammer the Tribune Company enough during its ownership of the team, now have new Cubs’ owner Sam Zell to attack. The man is from Chicago yet publicly states his willingness to sell Wrigley Field naming rights. We all get that Zell is all about money. But can’t he just hide it a bit?
