As this year’s Gold Gloves are being awarded, a lot of baseball bloggers are probably complaining about Derek Jeter taking home the hardware for the second year in a row. However, like many other members of the Mariners’ Blogosphere, I have a different shortstop on my mind. When the Gold Glove winners were announced, I started thinking about Yuniesky Betancourt’s defense and how many times it made my jaw drop last year. Aside from Felix, YuBet was one of the few reasons to watch the M’s in September. However, one of the odd things about Betancourt’s defense was that it didn’t look good from a statistical point of view. Check it out…
Now, hopefully those low rankings are all because of a small sample size. After all, Betancourt only played 53 games at shortstop last season. Let’s just hope it’s noise because I don’t know how much faith I can put into any defensive metric that ranks Betancourt near the bottom. So, to make myself feel better about the 23-year-old Cuban defector, I scoured the Internet, finding praise for Betancourt’s glove. Enjoy…
From Greg Bishop’s “Heartache and happiness for M's Betancourt" in the Seattle Times on September 9th, 2005:
The first thing everybody notices is his defense, the way Betancourt controls ground balls the way a puppet's master controls its strings, the slick and comfortable and easy nature that evokes comparisons to Omar Vizquel, Rey Ordonez and Cesar Izturis — defensive wizards all.
"I've seen a lot of players over the years with great baseball tools and good instincts," said Carlos Garcia, the Mariners' first-base coach. "But this kid is something special. He does things nobody else can do."
Adds Dave Brundage, manager of the Mariners' Class AA club in San Antonio: "I played with Vizquel in 1988. Yuni isn't far behind. They play the game at an easier level. There's no fear."
From Baseball America’s “Daily Dish” on April 20th, 2005:
A professional scout sizes up Mariners shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt, a 23-year-old Cuban defector who signed in January to a $3.65 major league contract and made his pro debut with Double-A San Antonio. Betancourt is off to a .226-1-6 start for the Missions.
"If the bat plays enough for him to be a regular, he could be a star, because he's a stud defender. He has great actions and hands; he can really go get it and has plus range. He played a lot of second base when I saw him (as an amateur playing for Cuba), and he's a lot better now than he was then, even though he was good then. His arm looks like a plus arm. He makes the plays in the hole, and when he needs it, he shows it.
"He made a play with runners at first and third with two outs that showed his savvy. He went to the hole, gloved it, looked up and then got the force at second. He stood up and made sure he had his balance before he made a stupid play. With a lot of young shortstops, that ball is thrown into right field.
"He's an average runner, and it looks like he needs some time to determine how much he'll hit. But if he hits, he's an all-star because of his glove."
Farm director Benny Looper said the Mariners are willing to be patient with Betancourt's offense.
"He's a pretty exciting player," Looper said. "He's going to be more of a doubles-type hitter, he'll hit for some occasional power, but he's just learning the zone, getting good at-bats and getting good pitches to hit."
From Batter's Box "Advance Scout: Mariners, September 19-22"
*Yuniesky Betancourt: A defector -- via boat -- from Cuba ... Hits off his front foot, but can drive breaking pitches up in the zone ... Weak on all pitches down in the zone ... Smooth pivot at second on the DP ... Nice chemistry with Jose Lopez up the middle. For his part, Lopez has confidently predicted a Gold Glove in Betancourt's near future ... It must be said, however, that Yuniesky sometimes puts style ahead of efficiency ... Impressed hitting coach Don Baylor by taking in a video session of his at-bats over the weekend. The glove-obsessed Betancourt had heretofore spent all of his video room time analyzing his defense…
From Brian Meehan in The Oregonian on October 3rd, 2005:
"Everyone in the organization knew Betancourt, the 23-year-old Cuban, could field his position as well as anyone in baseball. Dan Rohn, his manager at Triple A Tacoma, this summer compared Betancourt's fielding instincts to Ozzie Smith."
From Bryan Smith's "Breaking 'Em In (Part 2)" on Baseball Analysts:
"The Cuban signing from the winter was thrown into a tough situation quickly, but gave the Mariners just what they suspected. It did not take long for the Mariner to become a regular on Web Gems, and Seattle fans will gloat about his defense to whoever will listen."
From a chat with Will Lingo on Baseball America:
Q:
Matt D from Seattle asks:
Yuniesky Betancourt really came out of nowhere this year, progressing rapidly through AA and AAA and landing himself a starting job in the majors. His glove looks fantastic, but will he hit enough to stay in the bigs? He did hit .295 with decent pop in AAA (and .275 in AA), if he can keep that up I think Seattle could have something truly special on their hands.
A: Will Lingo: You are right, which is why he's already in the big leagues. I think if he hits .250, most people think he'll still be valuable enough to start in the big leagues. His defense is that good. And most scouts and managers think he'll hit better than that because he already handles the bat pretty well. The best comparisons I heard were Rey Ordonez and Omar Vizquel.
From a piece by Dave Cameron (from USSMariner.com) on Tangotiger's "2005 Scouting Report by the Fans for the Fans":
On June 1st, Mike Morse took over as the Mariners starting shortstop. He held the position down for most of the next two months before his bat cooled off and the team turned to Yuniesky Betancourt, the guy with a questionable stick and a flashy glove. The defensive upgrade of going from Morse to Betancourt, overnight, would be akin to taking your '77 Fiat down to the local dealer and trading it in for a Maserati. Having Morse as your starting shortstop one day and Betancourt the next is the baseball equivalent of a before and after infomercial for the Range-O-Matic 2005.
What makes Betancourt so good in the field? The easy answers would be something like "range, arm strength, footwork, and agility", and they'd all be accurate. YuBet makes plays on balls he has no right even touching. On more than one occasion, he's gotten to a ball where I've commented "man, nice job keeping that on the infield", and then the next thing I know, he's nailing the guy at first base.
Here's the thing, though. Betancourt makes the spectacular plays, the ones that you'll see on highlight shows for years to come, but that's not what makes him great. He routinely makes the play that doesn't look so spectacular but that nobody else alive makes. That ball four steps in the hole? Not only does he cut it off, but he gets there in time to square his body and make the throw without leaping in the air. And he nails the guy every single time.
Yuniesky Betancourt is the Rolls Royce of defensive shortstops. You've seen the rest; now watch the best.