Learning the outfield while sheltered in place
Infielder Dubón tapped sources for lessons during pandemic
Mauricio Dubón rejoined the Giants at summer camp and brashly told his mates that he wants to win a Gold Glove in center field. His outfield coach, Antoan Richardson, declared that Dubón is a better outfielder now than he was in March.
How is that possible for someone who has totaled 44 professional innings in the outfield, all in the 2016 Arizona Fall League?
Who had to borrow a teammate’s outfield glove to play center in spring training when he misplaced the only one he had?
Who spent all but a few weeks of the hiatus holed up in a Miami apartment complex?
In the midst of a pandemic that hit South Florida hard, Dubón was not chancing trips to local parks to chase flyballs. He mostly worked out at home and had to buy PVC pipe from an Ace Hardware and netting from Amazon to fashion a small batting cage on the balcony of his highrise apartment.
Yet, here is Richardson, speaking about Dubón: “In the short time we’ve been on the field in summer camp, I’ve told him this: The improvement I’ve seen from spring training till now is positive, and I’m optimistic he can play the outfield if we need him to.”
The Giants want last year’s tradedeadline acquisition from Milwaukee to become a superutility player, gliding seamlessly from second base to his native position at short to the outfield. Sure enough, when Dubón started his first intrasquad game
Saturday, he was in center. He had no flyballs hit his way in his three innings.
In the months after Major League Baseball padlocked spring training, Dubón — who turns 26 next Sunday — used his phone, laptop and mind to try to become a better outfielder, because he could not use his legs, speed or instincts to get reps.
Dubón “emptied his Rolodex,” as Richardson quaintly put it, and called every majorleague center fielder he knew to pick their brains. It was an impressive lineup, too.
It included Jackie Bradley Jr. of the Red Sox, Dubón’s original team; 10year bigleaguer Alejandro De Aza, a sometimes workout partner; Brewers minorleague outfield and baserunning coordinator Quintin Berry, who was Dubón’s minorleague teammate; and Adam Jones, who is playing in Japan after 14 majorleague seasons and was referred to Dubón by Berry and Giants outfielder Joey Rickard.
Dubón said he drained every ounce of advice he could from these and other players on the ins and outs of playing the outfield. Jones was especially helpful because he is a converted shortstop, too.
The wisdom that Dubón sought and received was more mental than physical.
“I know how to catch flyballs,” Dubón told The Chronicle in an interview Friday. “For me, it’s how can I forget about being a shortstop and be a center fielder when I’m playing center? I was thinking I’m just going to play center field like I play shortstop, and that’s not true.
“I’ve got to be a center fielder. I had to forget everything I knew and start at level one.”
In an interview from Milwaukee, where he is the Brewers’ minorleague outfield and baserunning coordinator, Berry said he gained “huge respect” for Dubón for reaching out to him and the others.
“It speaks volumes about who he is,” said Berry, a center fielder on the 2012 Tigers team that was swept by the Giants in the World Series.
Berry told Dubón to slow the game down because he has more time to react in the outfield, to fight the instinct to move from side to side as infielders do when a ball is hit and instead break deeper, because an outfielder can always adjust by coming back to the plate.
“It was just understanding what the outfield is really about,” Berry said. “It’s controlling chaos for him and not allowing things to get out of hand. Singles are singles, doubles are doubles, and don’t play them into anything extra.
“Infielders can try to make spectacular plays because they have somebody behind them. It’s different in the outfield.”
The advice he received is second nature to outfielders, just as playing the infield is for Dubón: Make sure to position yourself properly for each hitter. Use your athleticism. Study routes, and “at the end of the day, just make sure you catch the ball. You can get a good jump and take a good route, but if you don’t catch the ball, it’s worthless.”
Some things Dubón can only learn by experience. As he unsuccessfully chased a Yolmer Sanchez drive that soared over his head in Sunday’s intrasquad game, Dubón raised his glove too soon, which reduced his speed ever so slightly. He needs to wait until the last possible second to reach for the ball.
Dubón also furthered his education by watching hours of video of teammates and others.
Dubón carried his newfound knowledge to the field when he returned to San Francisco. He said he notices a difference and feels more comfortable in the outfield. This is practice, of course. The proof will come in games.
During his limited outfield time in the Cactus League, Dubón demonstrated his athleticism and range, but also his inexperience with a couple of bad routes.
Richardson still predicts success because Dubón “is a confident athlete, intuitive. His instincts are good. I can definitely see the work he’s done now.”
Dubón “emptied his Rolodex” with a simple motivation: The Giants have plenty of infielders and can use help in the outfield. The better he can play it, the more starts he will get.
But there is something else, an ambition that has made him a popular teammate and fan favorite in the short time he has been with the Giants.
“I was always taught, if you’re going to do something, you better be good at it,” he said. “I want to be one of the best. I don’t want be the guy like, ‘Oh, we can’t put him out there.’ I want to be the guy where they say, ‘If you put him in center field, he’s a center fielder. If you put him at shortstop, he’s a shortstop.’ ”