Stephen Drew, Manny Ramirez and Bengie Molina — what do they have in common? Each has been victimized by Carlos Gonzalez’s glove in recent days.
Dexter Fowler’s lack of hitting and subsequent demotion to Colorado Springs set the stage, and Gonzalez has come up big in center field.
He made a diving catch in short right-center to rob Ramirez of a run-scoring hit. He sprinted to the wall in center to steal extra bases from Drew and Molina in recent series against Arizona and San Francisco, respectively. And there have been others too. At the moment, there may not be a better defensive center fielder in the National League.
“He’s as graceful a defensive player as I’ve ever seen,” Rockies manager Jim Tracy said. “Just watch the guy. He never, ever looks like he’s groping to get to a ball. He glides to the ball. . . . It’s just an instinctive thing.”
Gonzalez has played mostly left field in his season-plus with the Rockies, but he started in center for the Oakland A’s before being acquired as part of the Matt Holliday deal after the 2008 season.
“It’s the hardest position to play in the outfield, but I think I’ve proven I can play there,” Gonzalez said. “Every time I’m on the grass with my glove on, I’m trying to rob somebody.
“It’s not just that, though. If somebody hits a ball that could be a triple, I want to hold them to a double. If it’s in the gap, I want to cut it off and hold the guy to one base.”
Footnotes.
Are the Rockies vulnerable to left-handed pitching? They’ve hit six home runs in 492 at-bats vs. lefties, one every 82 at-bats. They’ve hit 47 in 1,303 at-bats vs. right-handers, one every 28 at-bats. . . . According to , Ubaldo Jimenez is the second pitcher in baseball history to reach 10 starts and have fewer earned runs allowed than starts. Jimenez has allowed seven in his 10 starts. Dutch Leonard of the 1914 Boston Red Sox allowed 24 earned runs in 25 starts. His 0.96 ERA is the lowest of the game’s modern era.
