Tucson – The Rockies aren’t so much a team as a Rudyard Kipling poem. Everything centers around the word “If.”
The uncertainty extends, perhaps cruelly, to one of their most dependable young players. Among the most pressing questions hanging over Hi Corbett Field on Monday involved Luis Gonzalez: 2B or not 2B? Can he shed his utility role and be an everyday second baseman?
“All of my focus is on one position,” Gonzalez said. “I think that it will make me better.”
Though the Rockies have endured difficult back-to-back seasons, Gonzalez has been a welcome blip on the EKG. He has proven as reliable as any of their young players. Each of the past two years, as a super utility player, he has batted .292. He has a combined 21 home runs and 84 RBIs in 726 at-bats in those two seasons.
To understand the commitment to Gonzalez as a full-time second baseman, simply do the math.
If Gonzalez reaches 550 at-bats, he projects to hit 16 home runs and drive in 64 runs, intriguing numbers for a team desperate for more punch. Only seven second basemen hit more than 16 home runs a year ago and just eight reached the aforementioned RBI threshold.
“We knew he could play defense at a lot of positions, but we think he has a chance to be a very good offensive second baseman,” Rockies general manager Dan O’Dowd said of Gonzalez, who is expected to hit seventh. “By that I mean, I think he has a chance to be above the league average.”
Some members of the organization lobbied hard last spring for Gonzalez to start ahead of Aaron Miles. Manager Clint Hurdle preferred to spin Gonzalez – he started 95 times, including six in the outfield and 89 scattered among every infield position – and felt he didn’t have a leadoff alternative to Miles.
By August, Miles’ offensive struggles were hard to ignore, shoving Gonzalez into the starting lineup. San Francisco Giants first baseman Mark Sweeney wondered what took so long. He had long been impressed by the 26-year-old’s maturity.
“For a young guy to come in and play the way he did all over the place, I don’t think people understand how difficult that is,” said Sweeney, with the Rockies during Gonzalez’s rookie year in 2004. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he hit 20 home runs. He’s that good.”
There are plenty of examples in baseball in which utility players get worse with more playing time. Their slight deficiencies can be gradually exposed. No one seems to be buying the argument that Gonzalez should remain typecast, however.
“One of the biggest challenges will be durability,” said infielder instructor Mike Gallego, who spent his career as a starter and utilityman. “But at the same time, it will have that consistent feeling offensively. It’s different leaving the ballpark and knowing you are going to be in the lineup instead of hoping.”
Gonzalez prepped for his task by playing winter ball in Venezuela. He logged more innings at second base than usual, and declined an opportunity to participate in the World Baseball Classic in March to secure his starting spot with the Rockies.
It’s odd that perhaps his biggest improvement by becoming a regular figures to come on defense. Gonzalez believes familiarity with one position will improve his angles on groundballs and strengthen his communication with shortstop Clint Barmes on turning double plays.
Talking about Gonzalez, Barmes said, “if he catches it, you’re out.”
Gonzalez has not committed an error in his past 99 games at second base, a stretch that includes 82 starts. That leaves him 24 games shy of Ryan Sandberg’s record established in 1990.
“I just remember him making a lot of diving plays,” first baseman Todd Helton said. “And he has one of the sweetest right- handed swings in baseball. I think he’s only going to get better as an everyday player.”
Staff writer Troy E. Renck can be reached at 303-820-5447 or trenck@denverpost.com.
