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SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Since the start of the 2004 season -- a lifetime ago in
local baseball history -- the Red Sox [team stats] have gone through
shortstops like an office might go through temp workers.
Seven different players have started at the position, including one, Alex
Gonzalez, who received the nod on two different occasions, three years apart.
Twice, long-term free agent deals backfired. Edgar Renteria endured one
disastrous season before the Red Sox paid the Atlanta Braves to take him off
their hands. Julio Lugo [stats] was dealt to the St. Louis Cardinals last
July but not before the Sox were saddled with approximately $13 million in
remaining contractual obligations.
Even now, four months away from the start of spring training, the team is
unsure who will man the position in 2010. Jed Lowrie’s wrist injury made
2009 a lost season, and though the Sox would like Gonzalez to return, they
would prefer to avoid picking up the $6 million option on his contract.
But if the position remains uncertain for next season, it shouldn’t in 2011
and beyond. In Jose Iglesias, a defector from Cuba some 15 months ago who
signed an $8.2 million contract with the Sox last summer, the club may
finally have found someone who can stop the revolving door at short.
‘The whole package’
The Red Sox outbid a handful of organizations for Iglesias and gave him one
of the biggest signing bonuses ever awarded to an international free agent
position player.
To date they have not been disappointed.
“What jumps out are his raw athleticism and the instincts for the game,”
Red Sox director of player development Mike Hazen said. “He’s maybe not
polished yet. I don’t know what his coaching was like (in Cuba), and there
probably were some nuances -- basestealing, selectivity at the plate -- that
need work. But his natural instincts are incredible.”
Some talent evaluators have compared Iglesias to Omar Vizquel, the
slick-fielding Venezuelan who someday may be elected to the Hall of Fame.
Others have gone so far as to liken Iglesias’s defensive wizardry to Ozzie
Smith, the 13-time Gold Glover already enshrined in Cooperstown.
Asked which famous shortstop he most admires, Iglesias reveals a blissful
ignorance about his new team’s long and bitter rivals.
“Derek Jeter,” he says without equivocation of the Yankees superstar. “I
like the way he plays and his intelligence and professionalism.”
One talent evaluator was asked how he projects Iglesias in the big leagues.
Vizquel, if he improves a lot offensively, was his answer. If he doesn’t
progress much as a hitter, the evaluator added, perhaps as good as Gonzalez.
Iglesias spent several weeks with the Red Sox’ Instructional League team in
Fort Myers, before joining their Mesa affiliate in the Arizona Fall League, a
showcase for the top prospects in the majors.
“It’s been a great experience,” Iglesias said recently. “All athletes
want to play major league baseball, and I’m very, very happy to be here.
Iglesias’ big contract precedes him, making him a target for rival talent
evaluators. But scouts at the AFL have found that the hype isn’t unwarranted.
“He’s got the whole package,” a scout from another major league team said.
“He needs some refinement, but especially defensively, he could play at the
big league level right now.”
During a pregame infield practice, Iglesias artfully picked grounders with a
small glove and alternated between rifling throws to first or seamlessly
shuttling the ball to second to start a double play. The transfer on the
latter is so quick, it seems as if he’s performing some athletic
slight-of-hand.
“His tools are really impressive,” said Brandon Hyde, a minor league
manager for the Florida Marlins who is serving as Mesa’s manager. “For as
young as he is, he has unbelievable upside. He’s raw, but really talented. He
’s an incredible defender. (At shortstop), it’s really about fine-tuning.
He has amazing quickness. His hands are great and his footwork is excellent.
For him, it’s all in there. It’s really about making the routine play
consistently.”
Hyde praised Iglesias’ bat speed and quick wrists, which allow him to hit
the ball to all fields. Eventually, Hyde predicts, Iglesias will be a
gap-to-gap hitter, capable of doubles and triples. His slight build -- he’s
currently listed at 5-foot-11, 175 pounds -- could use additional muscle, if
not for increased power then certainly for stamina and endurance.
Major adjustment
Just 19, Iglesias has undergone culture shock since defecting. Intensive
English classes have sped the transition, and he already can handle
rudimentary conversations in his second language.
The language barrier, however, isn’t the only one he’s had to scale.
“It’s a different country than what I’m used to, but I’m trying to adjust
to life here and I’m trying to adjust as early as possible,” he said. “
There’s two different cultures (between Cuba and U.S.); they’re just
completely different.”
In the weeks and months that followed his defection to Edmonton, where the
Cuban junior national team was stationed, Iglesias fought homesickness, doubt
and loneliness. He described the period as “very dark, very sad. I didn’t
know what I was going to do. But I left knowing that I wanted to play
baseball.”
Even now, as he makes new friends in his new country, he struggles with down
time. Asked how he passes time at night, Iglesias points to his interpreter
this day, Red Sox [team stats] catching prospect and Mesa teammate Luis
Exposito.
“I call him,” he says somewhat sheepishly.
Predictably, with family still back in Cuba, he is reluctant to provide much
detail about his defection.
“That was a decision that everyone has to have very clear in their mind,
because it’s a very complicated decision,” Iglesias said. “But every
baseball player’s dream is to play in the major leagues, and that was always
with me.”
Iglesias’s case was particularly tough because his father, Candelaria, also
was a member of the Cuban national team and knew former Cuban president Fidel
Castro. Despite the relationship, his father backed the decision.
“When someone makes a decision for their future -- for themselves and for
their family -- nothing is more important than the future of somebody,”
Iglesias said. “My father respects my decision, and he backed me because he
’s my father. He was behind me 100 percent, and if my dream was to play
major league baseball, he was behind me all the way because he knows this was
not a political decision; this was solely to realize my dreams.”
This is what’s known of Iglesias’ defection. He left the team hotel in
Edmonton and soon traveled to the Dominican Republic, where he established
residence that helped grant him international free agent status. (Had
Iglesias sought U.S. citizenship, he would have been subjected to the
first-year player draft and lost considerable leverage for his contract).
Red Sox [team stats] vice president of international scouting Craig Shipley
only saw Iglesias a handful of times before he defected. But once the
shortstop established residence, Shipley and former Latin American
coordinator Johnny DiPuglia spent 10 months getting to know him as a player
and as a person.
“With international free agents, it’s all about forging that personal
relationship,” Shipley said.
Not long after, Iglesias relocated to Miami, where he began training with a
host of current major leaguers, including David Ortiz [stats], Luis Castillo,
Alex Cora [stats] and Gonzalez.
“While it was a lengthy decision overall, it was a very snap decision at the
time that it had to be made,” Iglesias said. “I already had talked to my
father about it; I had his backing and when the opportunity arose, I had to
make the decision very quickly.”
Future unknown
Now, Iglesias is making the transition to pro ball in America.
“The baseball on the field is the same,” he said. “But within the game,
there’s definitely more responsibility and more dedication. You work a lot
during the training period to eliminate as many mistakes as possible.”
Already, Iglesias has learned the hard way about some differences in baseball
protocol. When he bashed a home run in the first week of AFL play, he flipped
the bat in celebration, then admired his handiwork, drawing the ire of Mesa’
s opponent. Unsurprisingly, in his next at-bat, Iglesias was drilled in the
ribs.
Afterward, Iglesias apologized to teammates and told them he intended no
disrespect, explaining that such a display is routine and accepted in his
native country.
The Red Sox will invite Iglesias to big league camp in spring training by
virtue of his major league deal and presence on the 40-man roster.
In an organization with two other intriguing shortstop prospects --
22-year-old Yamaico Navarro and 19-year-old Oscar Tejeda -- the Sox are
unsure where Iglesias will start his climb up the organizational ladder,
though either Single-A Salem or Double-A Portland would be a safe bet.
To illustrate how earnest he is, Iglesias cites the need to show his
teammates how hard he’s willing to work as the one thing he’s most looking
forward to at spring training.
Hazen said Iglesias’ aptitude and willingness to learn emerged immediately.
“You can just tell the guy loves the game,” Hazen said. “He’s happy when
he’s on the field. There’s a genuine passion. That’s what we’ve seen --
that’s a beautiful thing that lends itself to being very coachable. His
maturity is pretty amazing; he’s not afraid to ask questions.”
Red Sox fans might have a question of their own: How soon?
“I don’t feel like I can say that I’m ready because I haven’t done it,”
Iglesias said. “But I feel like I absolutely have what it takes to be a
major leaguer. I can’t control (the timetable); all I can control is what I
do on the field and playing hard every day. The organization will be the
judge of that.”
On a beautiful sun-kissed day in Arizona, Iglesias considers where he’s come
from and where he’s going. In a year, he has gone from relative poverty to
multimillionaire. And on this day, his potential seems as vast and unending
as the blue sky above.
“Life has been good to me and has given me the abilities to be a very good
player,” Iglesias said. “And I know getting to the big leagues is not easy.
But when somebody does something with love and with talent mixed together, I
think I can make it.”
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