HAMPSON MAY BE NEW MODEL OF SHORTSTOP
In changing game, good glove, speed harken to past generation
Is there room in the major league draft for a shortstop who catches more bullets than he hits?
Garrett Hampson, the velvet glove for Long Beach State, was waiting for the answer June 9.
Then he had to wait one more day.
The Colorado Rockies picked Hampson with the fourth selection in the third round of the Major League Baseball draft. In doing so they acknowledged a shortfall at shortstop, but they also followed baseball’s renewed attention to defense. After all, if you don’t handle the ground balls at Coors Field, the fly balls will just bring in one more run.
In the 1970s and 1980s, a lot of major league shortstops looked and played like Hampson. He is 5-11 and could easily pass for a first-year associate in a law firm. Athleticism and power do not ooze from his pores, but the things he does on the field tend to lubricate a baseball team.
Hampson, a junior, played 56 games in the regular season and made three errors, two of them while throwing. But then he took over the position from his first day on campus. Hampson’s debut in 2014 was against Vanderbilt, which would end up winning the College World Series. He got two hits and scored a run.
Against Cal State Fullerton on May 28, Hampson dove hard to his right to catch a plummeting liner by Dalton Blaser. Before Blaser peeled off to revisit his dugout, he pointed to Hampson in tribute.
“I’m not sure if the defensive metrics in baseball are on the same level as the offensive metrics yet,” says Long Beach State coach Troy Buckley. “But if they were, I’d love to see what Garrett’s were. He might have saved 30 runs for us this year. And that might be a low number.”
He also hit .302 and had an on-base percentage of .387, and he stole 23 bases in 31 attempts.
The catch? Home runs. Hampson hit two, although Long Beach State hit only 26 as a team and plays in some unreachable ballparks, including their own Blair Field.
“I understand I’m not a power guy,” Hampson says. “If they’re looking for one, I’m not their guy, and that’s fine.”
But power was not always a consideration for shortstops. In 1976, major league shortstops totaled 79 home runs. And nobody hit more than Dave Concepcion’s nine.
That was before Cal Ripken Jr. and Alex Rodriguez and Nomar Garciaparra and Carlos Correa, the 2015 National League rookie of the year and the top pick in the 2011 draft. Corey Seager, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ prodigy at the shortstop position, is 6-4 and hit five home runs in a three-game span on the first weekend in June.
Everyone wants the home run-hitting shortstop who can be moved to another position if need be. Baltimore Orioles third baseman Manny Machado was a shortstop when he was picked third in 2010. So was Kansas City third baseman Mike Moustakas when he was picked second in 2007. Matt Bush led off the draft in 2004, when the San Diego Padres picked him. He’s just now getting to the majors as a relief pitcher for the Texas Rangers, but he was a shortstop in high school.
Last year the top three draft picks were shortstops. Their bonuses totaled $17.9 million.
But you never know about power. J.J. Hardy was a secondround pick by the Milwaukee Brewers and hit only six home runs at High Desert, the Class A outpost in Adelanto, Calif., where baseballs fill the sky like UFOs. Now with the Orioles, Hardy has 177 big-league home runs. He also is a three-time Gold Glove winner.
But the power-hitting shortstop phenomenon might be a tad overblown.
This year, major league shortstops were hitting .258 entering the week. Their on-base-plusslugging percentage (OPS) was .709, which was the lowest of any position except catcher. They had hit 186 home runs, the fewest of any defensive position.
The shortstops of 2006 had a .276 average, which was tied for fourth among positions. They hit 400 home runs, and their OPS was .740. And in 1996, shortstop had a .267 average and a .721 OPS.
So maybe the defensive trends are taking hold. A shortstop who can catch the ball in his area should be more prized these days because more teams are shifting to anticipate balls hit to certain spots. If their research is right, then a shortstop’s pure lateral range might not be as significant as it once seemed. But aptitude, and the ability to adjust to different vantage points and throwing angles, should be more valuable.
In 2002, 5-6 David Eckstein provided the plasma for the Anaheim Angels’ World Series victory and was the World Series MVP for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2006.
Hampson has far more measurables than Eckstein. Like Eckstein, he’s fast with good hands, and, like Eckstein, he has had his arm questioned over the years.
“I think he’s eliminated the risks,” Buckley says. “He’ll show you an average arm. Out of high school, it was a 35 arm (on an 80-point scouting scale), but he’s improved it. He’s running at about a 70. I’ve heard that there aren’t a lot of great shortstops, but I know some scouts love him. He’s not Troy Tulowitzki, so you’re going to get a mixed bag.”
Tulowitzki was the seventh pick in the 2005 draft and has epitomized the macro shortstop.
“Nobody can deny that if he (Hampson) is healthy, he’ll find a way to play in the big leagues,” Buckley says. “He’s just a baseball player, right? What is he? I think the game will decide that for him, but we’ve given him extra layers of duties and responsibilities that fall upon his position.”
Larry Bowa was a sawed-off shortstop from Sacramento who was billed as a ground-ball retriever. In the middle of his career, Bowa was called “the best two-out shortstop in baseball” by his Philadelphia Phillies manager, Dallas Green, and he has a World Series ring.
Ozzie Smith also used defense and speed to reach the majors and was so good at it that the Cardinals traded hard-hitting Garry Templeton to the Padres for him. Smith won a World Series, too.
P.S.: Bowa and Smith both finished their careers with more than 2,000 hits.
“Garrett has the Derek Jeter approach,” said Pete Savage, Hampson’s coach at Reno (Nev.) High. “If it’s the first day of the season or if it’s Game 7 of the World Series, he’s the same.”
For full Major League Baseball draft results, see Pages 32-34.