Little guys showing they can belt homers like game’s giants

WASHINGTON — In decades past they would have been given nicknames like "Pee Wee" and coached to shorten their swings, keep the ball close to the ground, find holes and use their speed to leg out base hits.

Now, "small ball" has a new meaning. This homer-happy era of baseball is proving that big sluggers can be found in tiny packages.

Consider some of the guys in Tuesday night's All-Star Game: Jose Ramirez, all 5 feet 9 and 165 pounds of him, whose 29 homers at the break are tied for the American League lead. Mookie Betts, also 5-9, has 23 homers and hit 31 last season. Ozzie Albies, who at age 21 could maybe hope for a late growth spurt, is 5-8 and has 20 homers.

And of course there's the best inch-for-inch hitter in baseball, 5-6 Jose Altuve, the three-time batting champion who's gone deep nine times this year but hit 24 homers in each of the past two seasons.

"You look around this room, it's not just big guys. It's guys of all sizes," said first-time All-Star Alex Bregman, who's listed at 6 feet, 180 pounds and has 20 homers. "What you see are ballplayers. You don't have to be big to be a ballplayer. You have to have the skills."

And their skills are holding up just fine against giants like Aaron Judge (6-7, 282 pounds, 25 homers), J.D. Martinez (6-3, 220 pounds, 29 homers), Jesus Aguilar (6-3, 250 pounds, 24 homers) and the consensus best hitter in the game with the ideal body type to match, Mike Trout (6-2, 235 pounds, 25 homers). American League outfielder Mike Trout, left, talks with National League first baseman Freddie Freeman during the All-Star Game on Tuesday night in Washington. The game was not finished at press time. See Dispatch.com for the result.