Elvis: No More Suspicious Minds

When the Rangers announced that Michael Young would be moving to third base to make way for 20 year old phenom Elvis Andrus, I was slightly skeptical about the decision. It was exciting to know that the Rangers’ top prospect would be the every day shortstop, but it was also slightly unnerving, because he was making the jump from AA all the way to the big leagues. It seemed that he needed at least one more year in the minors not only to perfect his game at shortstop, but also to mature as a ballplayer. The front office had good reason to make the move though, not just because they believed Andrus would help the team this year, but also because they wanted to give the fans something to shout about. Also, I think Jon Daniels was desperate to prove to any doubters that he made a dynamite trade with Atlanta.

After finishing a decent Spring Training, all eyes were on Andrus as he stepped to the plate for the first time on Opening Day. After coming up with a double, Andrus has kept the good times rolling since. Though his average is below 250, Andrus has still hit a homerun, scored 6 runs (tied with kinsler and Cruz for most on the club), and showed off his lightening speed by beating out a pretty conventional ground-ball. But Elvis’ offense is not the foremost part of his game. He’s here for his defense, which, despite a few errors, has been reminiscent Omar Vizquel’s (who just so happens to be one of Andrus’ new mentors). It’s not just that he’s making the difficult plays, it’s that he’s making them with the utmost amount of ease. When a ball is hit up the middle we can expect Andrus to be there waiting for it and when he makes the transition from fielding the ball to throwing it, he does it with great simplicity. We’re not even ten days into the season and Andrus has already shown us what he is capable of doing. Sure, he’ll continue to make some errors, and he’ll probably go through a deep slump a time or two, but he’s already shown us that he is mature enough to not let his struggles bring him down. Plus, he has one of the greatest shortstops in the history of the game to guide him along the way.

We really had no idea how Andrus would react to the pressure of being an every day big league shortstop at such a young age, but based on how he’s played in the first week, I think all suspicions have been laid to rest. Michael Young was a solid shortstop, but he lacked the range that Andrus possesses, and now that he is our shortstop, there will hopefully be no worries at that position for a long, long time.

Two notes of interest: On Monday, there were two extremely unique moments around major league baseball: First of all, Nick Swisher pitched an inning for the Yankees. He mainly threw in the 78 MPH range, but he managed to hold the Rays scoreless. Secondly, Paul Konerko and Jermaine Dye, hitting fifth and sixth in the White Sox’ lineup, each connected for their 300th career HR back to back in the 2nd inning. Remarkable.