A Wave of Youth

Jose Iglesias is not ready to be a full time major league shortstop.

However, I believe that there is an extremely good chance you could see the young defensive phenom in between third baseman Kevin Youkilis and second baseman Dustin Pedroia on April 5 when the Red Sox begin their season at Comerica Park in Detroit.

Let’s begin by taking a closer look at a pair of arguments put forth recently by two prominent writers who each cover the Red Sox. It’s particularly interesting to examine the stark differences in opinion by WEEI’s Alex Speier and the Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo.

In his piece, Speier takes us on Iglesias’ development path through the minor leagues. Essentially, Speier provides sound reasoning concerning Iglesias’ lack of progress at the plate that points to why the young shortstop is not ready for a full time gig in the major leagues, something that we already know. However, Speier, at times, offers evidence that contradicts his larger point, which is that Iglesias is not even part of the conversation for the shortstop position in 2012.

Throughout Iglesias’ injury-riddled journey up the minor league ladder, he has been assigned and promoted to levels that his production or pedigree may not have necessarily warranted. Speier writes that the Red Sox tend to “err on the side of pushing players to face advanced competition at younger ages.” This philosophy serves to explain why Iglesias was thrust into Double-A ball in 2010, instead of cutting his teeth in either high or low A-ball. Following a finger injury and only 284 plate appearances in his first professional season, Iglesias received a promotion to Triple-A Pawtucket in 2011. The strength of Speier’s argument focuses on Iglesias’ well-documented struggles at the plate last season. Again, this is something we know all too well.

It would be futile to attempt to defend Iglesias’ offensive performance in 2011. In 101 games, the then 21 year old posted a .235/.285/.269 stat line. He was that bad. Throughout his piece, Speier uses Rey Ordonez, the former Mets’ shortstop, as a foil to Iglesias. Ordonez, a fellow Cuban, was a defensive wizard who simply did not hit well at any level, including the majors. Bobby Valentine was at the helm of the Mets during much of Ordonez’s career. It’s hard to believe that Valentine didn’t cringe at some of Ordonez’s miserable offensive numbers, but he kept running him out there to play one of the most crucial defensive positions on the diamond. Despite Iglesias’ lackluster season in Triple-A, I still believe that he will mature into a better hitter than Ordonez. It would be difficult not to.

Speier again seems to contradict his thesis by providing evidence that actually supports the idea that Iglesias has a legitimate shot of breaking camp with the big club in 2012. This time, he turns to Ben Crockett, the Director of Player Development for the Red Sox: “In general, we like being able to challenge players and give players a chance to face some adversity and be challenged by situations and learn from them.” Iglesias’ second half production last year certainly was not eye popping, but it was an improvement nonetheless. Most importantly, as Speier points out, the shortstop displayed much better plate discipline, a must-have trait for any Red Sox prospect.

Thus far, the Red Sox have operated aggressively with Iglesias, promoting him when many would argue that he is not ready. I believe there is an excellent chance that this organizational trend continues this season. Cafardo seems to agree.

The Red Sox traded Marco Scutaro, the team’s starting shortstop, to the Rockies. By default, Mike Aviles and the freshly acquired Nick Punto became the two players responsible with filling the vacancy at shortstop. Aviles was using an outfield glove, playing winter ball in Puerto Rico just a couple of months ago. Punto is 34 years old played in 63 games last season. Cafardo believes that the Red Sox front office must have a different plan “because there is no way you trade your starting shortstop without knowing you have a legitimate player to take the position.”

Iglesias may not be the obvious choice, but you would be hard pressed to make a case that a platoon of Aviles and Punto is a cut above the rest. Valentine views Punto as more of a utility player than a viable option to fill the void at shortstop. He has said that he expects Iglesias to push Aviles for playing time. Iglesias has more of a chance than Speier would like us to believe. As far as the comparison of Iglesias to Ordonez that Speier references throughout his piece, Cafardo states that it seems “like déjà vu for Valentine.” Defense is clearly still important.

In 2011, the Red Sox fielded at a clip of .985, good for tenth in Major League Baseball and fourth in the American League. Not bad. The last time they had a stud defensive player at shortstop was 2006. They lead all of baseball in fielding with a percentage of .989. That year, Alex Gonzalez was magnificent with the leather. But let’s dig a little deeper.

According to FanGraphs, in 2006, Gonzalez posted a UZR of 9.7. Excellent. Five seasons later, the recently-dispatched Scutaro had a UZR rating of 0.7. Mediocre at best. Defensively speaking, Gonzalez prevented 9.7 more runs than the average defender in 2006. On the other hand, Scutaro was just slightly over a half of a run better than the average shortstop last season. Gonzalez was a much more valuable defensive player during his 2006 campaign. Quality defense may not be as sexy as a homerun, but it undoubtedly still makes a difference.

The left side of the infield for the 2012 Boston Red Sox is suspect to say the least. Youkilis is healthy, but his style of play and age (32) detract from his ability to play a full season at third base. Over the course of the past two seasons, Youkils has played in an average of 111 games. It is likely that he will need rest throughout the season in order to preserve his health over the long haul. Aviles is the obvious candidate to fill in for Youkilis at third on days when Valentine chooses to sit him down. As of today, the Red Sox want fans to believe that a platoon of Aviles and Punto will be able to shoulder the load at shortstop. I’m not sure that is possible given the needs at other positions on the diamond, specifically third base.

The safe bet is that Iglesias will begin the year at Triple-A, but as I wrote in the final segment of this piece, I believe that Iglesias is a strong spring away from being the Opening Day starting shortstop for the 2012 Boston Red Sox. It is his job to seize the opportunity.