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March 4, 2016Where the Browns stand: Special Teams
March 4, 2016To my mind, Francisco Lindor is inarguably the most exciting part of the Cleveland Indians’ upcoming season. He exceeded expectations last year even after being hailed for years as the Tribe’s top prospect. His play at shortstop was as good as advertised, inspiring very reasonable comparisons to Omar Vizquel. He hit with more pop than anticipated and damn near won Rookie of the Year despite playing less than 100 games. He has a winning smile and by all accounts a good head on his shoulders.
And he’s only 22 years old.
There’s a decent chance we see some regression from Lindor this year, especially at the plate, but the point is that he has star potential — Frankie is frankly a star already — with star quality to match. He plays with a magnetic exuberance, that joy of the game that is so heralded in hardball. He’s the sort of player you want to learn about and get familiar with.
This is all a roundabout way of telling you that MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian wrote a story about how childhood drills in Puerto Rico shaped Lindor’s play in the field. Lindor grew up chasing rubber balls bouncing down a hill, which makes MLB grounders seem tame by comparison.
Lindor’s father, Miguel, would position himself halfway up the hill that ran alongside their home in Gurabo, Puerto Rico, just east of Caguas. Lindor would be at the bottom. One by one, the rubber balls would shoot off Miguel’s bat and a young Lindor had to do whatever he could to stop them from making the 200-yard journey to the thicket [behind him].
“They’d skip pretty fast,” Lindor said with a smile. “I just had to attack the ball and get that good hop. Once it went up, I’d charge the ball and try to get it before it bounces.”
These days, the flat, pristine infields around the Major Leagues seem easy.
The drills surely helped hone Francisco Lindor’s fundamentals, but there was an element of showmanship as well. Lindor’s brother and cousin would field grounders with him. They would compete against each other to make the flashiest play as Lindor’s father beckoned them to show their stuff.
“I was always taught that making plays was pretty cool,” Lindor said. “[My dad] would make me catch a lot of ground balls, and he always made it fun. It was never right at me. It was to the side. He let me have fun with it. He’d let me do tricks. He’d hit me a ground ball and he’d be like, ‘All right, try to do something nice.'”
Lindor certainly did his share of nice in the field last season.
In addition to learning by playing, Lindor studied the great middle infielders of his youth: Barry Larkin, Robbie Alomar, Omar Vizquel, and the like.
Lindor said he remembers watching Larkin when he was growing up. His favorite player was Roberto Alomar, who wore No. 12 just as Lindor does now with the Tribe. Lindor said he also studied how former Indians Gold Glover Omar Vizquel played the position. The young shortstop also cited Jose Reyes, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez as players he followed closely.
“I’ve tried to take something from every one of them,” Lindor said. “My dad always told me, ‘Grab something from everybody and make it your own.'”
We’ll be treated to plenty more magic in the field from Francisco Lindor in his first full season with the Tribe.
3 Comments
The Indians should sign Lindor to a $200M lifetime contract right now. It would be one of the smartest moves in baseball history. He is gonna be that good.
Ooh, a lifetime contract… do those exist in MLB? I’ve been waiting for a new Omar. I thought it was to be Johnny Mac, but, alas… And fantastic avatar, jpftribe.