While there’s been some upward trajectory in that number, it hasn’t been a smooth climb. “He has a great arm, he has great feet, but he has to concentrate on keeping them moving.”Įverett is the one who is approximately average height for a shortstop at an even 6’ listing. “His biggest challenge is going to be his feet and keeping them moving properly,” Everett said. He recognizes another must for a big guy in addition to being low enough-that quick first step. Former Astros shortstop Adam Everett, on a short list of the best defensive players of the 2000s, is the club’s roving infield coordinator and has taken to mentoring Correa at the position. The Astros organization is paying plenty of attention to Correa’s defense in his full-season debut at low Class A Quad Cities. (Bogaerts said he has put on about three inches and considerable weight since he signed as an international amateur as well.) He was 17 when he was drafted, and after doing what 17-year-olds are known to do, now stands a very true and solidly built 6’ 4”. “In our case, the guys that we’re talking about are all good athletes, and Xander’s a good athlete, and I think he’s going to be a big-league shortstop.”Īs for Correa, the Astros are still planning for a career at shortstop. “There’s a lot that does go into it, and that’s why there is a concern about that longer body.
“When I look at range, I look at not only the ability to go get the ball, but also the ability to contort your body and get your feet down and get the ball in the air quickly and accurately,” Butterfield said. Bogaerts has gotten plenty of that talk, and Butterfield understands but dismisses it.
It’s been speculated for almost anyone of considerable height who plays shortstop, because although the last generation or so has proven that the position can be played from significantly above six feet, there are still disadvantages to doing so. Before the ink had even dried on the pick, general manager Jeff Luhnow acknowledged the possibility that Correa might be ticketed for third base. He may not stand alone for long.Ĭarlos Correa was probably closer to a true 6’ 3” when the Astros picked him no. Not just as the patriarch of this lineage, but at a 6’ 4” official listing, the Hall-of-Famer is the tallest player ever to be a regular at shortstop. Ripken is a standard-bearer in more than one way. I love the fact that we have bigger athletic guys who can play the middle of your defense and take away hits and be consistent defensively as well as offensively.” “I love the fact that the game has evolved like that. “And the game became a little bit more offensive so there wasn’t as big a concern for guys who were 6’ 3”, 6’ 4” as long as they could play good enough defense and swing the bats. “I think that Cal Ripken was the start of bigger shortstops, then came A-Rod, then came Jeter,” Butterfield said.
So how did we get here? Former minor league middle infielder and current Red Sox infield guru and third base coach Brian Butterfield traces the lineage back to the 1980s. And the 6’ 2” list includes Andrelton Simmons, the consensus pick as the best defensive shortstop in the league. Of the 18 qualified players this season who have played a majority of their games at shortstop-a group that doesn’t count Bogaerts, Machado, or the 6’ 3” Troy Tulowitzki and Derek Jeter-a third are listed at 6’ 2” or taller, led by 6’ 3” Ian Desmond. He is part of a growing list-in the more literal sense of growing-of taller players manning that position. “Maybe for some taller guys it’s difficult, but I have no problem at all.”īogaerts, to a lesser extent than Manny Machado in Baltimore, is partially biding his time at third base for now, and is still ticketed for the shortstop position. “Make sure you’re always low and in a good position to field the ball because shorter guys are low to the ground,” Bogaerts said. The superb Red Sox prospect and rookie big leaguer is listed at 6’ 3”, claims 6’ 2”, and realizes that when he’s at the position, he has to act like he’s 5’ 9”. That’s Xander Bogaerts’ key to being a tall shortstop. If your Creator or your chromosomes or whatever combination of the two you deem responsible for such things didn’t make you short enough to play shortstop, then you just have to get that short yourself.