In Defense of Lack of Defense

There are lots of people that write about the Mets minor leaguers, but, living in the Savannah area has it's distinct advantages.

Many of the Latin kids come through the Sand Gnats due to the Hispanic-friendly city of Savannah, Georgia. Housing is cheap, there's plenty of bodegas and Latin restaurants, and the organization goes out of its way to make their Latin guest feel at home.

I've had the pleasure and entertainment of sometimes watching the Mets coaches try and teach the kids to get in front of a ground ball before they attempt to catch it. I've had long talks about this, both with some coaches as well as players, and the average fans just don't realize what every major league team is dealing with at this point in a Latin prospect's career.

First of all, they come stateside as young as 16. The oldest will be 19.

Secondly, before DSL ball, all they played were in local leagues throughout their home country, that lack both the talent and facilities. Most of the players on these teams are 14-15 years old, while the fields define the term "sand lot". There is very little grass on any of these fields and the dirt between home plate and the position they are playing is filled with rocks, glass, and other junk.

Equipment was even in worse shape and many kids can teach you to make a mitt from a half-gallon milk carton in less than twenty seconds.

Latin kids learn early that any ball being hit towards them will probably go in another direction before the ball gets to them, so most of their self-taught defensive skills are based on stabbing at the ball, rather than scooping it up.

I especially enjoyed Tim Tuefel's humerous frustration when he was in Savannah. Tuff prided himself on his infield defensive skills as a player, and simply bristled at the lack of skills some of the kids had in the field. First, they had to be taught what not to do anymore, followed by the correct way. I've watched so many come stateside, be one of the league leaders in errors for their position, and, by year two or three, fianlly start putting down some decent skills.

Remember... Derek Jeter set the league record for the most errors when he was in A ball.

All of us are guilty of writing off certain players as lousy in the field. We've done that with Jenfy Marte for two years now and it's now Aderlin Rodriquez's turn to take the heat.

These are kids still learning the game. Everyone of them can't eventually play either first base or right field, and, trust me, playing right field in Citi Field might be the hardest position out there.

I'm especially excited that A-Rod will most probably play 2011 in Savannah. I will watch his progess closely and report it daily, if necessary.