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Ground control
Tigers' infield Cruz-ing along
Posted: Monday March 05, 2001 6:25 PM
Throughout spring training, CNNSI.com will feature regular dispatches from
Sports Illustrated staffers assigned to scout camps in the Grapefruit and Cactus
leagues.
By Mark Bechtel, Sports Illustrated
TEAM: Detroit
Tigers
SITE: Lakeland,
Fla.
WEATHER: 85 and
sunny
PLAYER I SAW WHOM I REALLY LIKED: Deivi Cruz. Watching players
take infield practice might not sound like fun, but there are a handful of guys
I would pay to watch chase grounders, and Cruz, the Tigers' shortstop, is one of
them. (Don't laugh. I would pay top dollar to watch Omar Vizquel play
catch. Actually, calling it "catch" is doing it an injustice. It's
more of a display of prestidigitation. He does this thing where he pins the ball
against the back of his glove instead of catching it in the webbing. I tried it
once and I still haven't regained full command of my fingers)
Cruz's hands are as soft as the ice cream sandwiches they sell at Joker Marchant
Stadium -- after they've been sitting in the sun for five minutes. He looks a
little pudgy, but once he starts moving, he just glides. He gets the ball from
his glove to his throwing hand so fast that if you blink you'll miss it. And
he's not a bad hitter, either. Granted, he has less patience than a
four-year-old who has just chased a plate of cookies with a two-liter bottle of
Coke on Christmas Eve. He walked only 13 times last year. But it's not as if
he's a free swinger. He only struck out 43 times, meaning that he put the ball
in play in 90.9 percent of his 615 plate appearances. (By contrast, Jim
Thome of the Indians struck out 171 times and walked 118 times, meaning he
only put the ball into play 57.7 percent of the time.) Cruz drove in two runs
against Cleveland on Saturday, which was no fluke. He had 82 RBIs from the eight
hole last year -- nine more than Derek Jeter notched from the top of the
Yankees'
lineup.
AROUND THE
HORN
Just because baseball players make millions doesn't mean they don't
need a little extra pocket money. Manager Phil Garner tried to spice up a
relatively mundane infield pop-up drill by offering a crisp $50 bill to whoever
caught the next ball. (The pop-ups were being "hit" by a pitching
machine aimed at the sky.) As the fateful ball went up, the Tigers congregated
on the pitchers mound, looking like fans on Waveland Avenue waiting for a
Sammy Sosa homer to alight. When the ball clanged off a couple mitts and
fell to the ground, a smiling Garner pointed to every player and told them they
were going to get fined for not calling the
ball.
With one season in spacious Comerica Park under their belts, the
Tigers understand the importance of being able to play small ball. Last spring,
they had seven stolen bases in 30 Grapefruit League games. Giomar "Che
Hey" Guevara's steal of second in the fourth on Saturday tied that mark
in just the third game of Detroit's 2001 spring
season.
The Tigers did not get to see former teammate Juan Gonzalez,
who sulked his way through a subpar season with Detroit last year and
spurned the team's efforts to sign him to a long-term deal. He was given the day
off and didn't make the trip to Lakeland Saturday with the Indians. No Tigers
seemed too torn up about
it.
Best sign seen in Lakeland: The marquee at Ryan's Steak House, which
touted "Chuck the Mystic Clown, Tue 6-8." Don't they mean
"mystical"? And if not, what's a mystic clown, and what does he have
to do with steaks?
Sports Illustrated staff writer Mark Bechtel will check in periodically with
reports from his tour of spring camps.
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