In 1959, San Francisco’s Willie McCovey was the National League’s rookie of the year. On July 17, 1960, the Giants optioned a slumping McCovey to the minor leagues. He returned on Aug. 2, and went on to enjoy a 22-year Hall of Fame career.
Slugger Jim Thome arrived in the big leagues with the Indians in September of 1991. He arrived again in May of 1992. He arrived yet again in August of 1993, this time to stay. His remedial stints in the minor leagues smoothed out some wrinkles, and he, too, will likely end up with a plaque in Cooperstown.
The guy who beat the Nationals last Thursday, Philadelphia’s Cliff Lee, had already won more than 50 big league decisions when Cleveland sent him to the minors in 2007. He admittedly was so despondent over the demotion he considered quitting the game altogether, but reconsidered, and the rest is history, so to speak.
A number of fans have expressed to me the notion that maybe shortstop Ian Desmond needs a refresher course in Triple A this year. They believe his struggles at the plate — and at times in the field — indicate that he’s succumbing to the pressure of the leadoff spot in the order, and that it’s impacting his defense as well.
Desmond doesn’t think so, and if manager Jim Riggleman does, he’s not saying. While I don’t advocate that type of move at this point — it’s far too small of a sample after barely a dozen games — it’s something that GM Mike Rizzo isn’t beyond considering later on.
Last year, the ballclub optioned then-struggling John Lannan — their staff ace of the previous two years — to the minors in late June, and he stayed down all of July. He came back having recovered the mechanics he’d misplaced and has been fine ever since.
Desmond is nowhere near your prototypical leadoff hitter. Historically he hasn’t watched a lot of pitches and learning that kind of plate discipline isn’t easy. The late spring training swap of Nyjer Morgan to the Brewers allowed little to no time to prepare for the role, and at 25, he’s still a work in progress.
To say that Desmond is pressing is to belabor the obvious. Sure he is, but so is Michael Morse, Jayson Werth, Adam LaRoche, Pudge Rodriguez, Rick Ankiel and Jerry Hairston — all of whom are having similar issues with putting the bat on the ball. But as I pointed out earlier, it’s a very small sample size. When push comes to shove and April turns to May, perhaps then some tough decisions will be made.
Maybe in the long run Desmond doesn’t bat leadoff, or perhaps he catches fire in that spot in the order. If his struggles begin to snowball, however, history shows that some additional fine tuning in the minor leagues isn’t the end of the world.
Examiner columnist Phil Wood is a baseball historian and contributor to MASN’s Nats Xtra. Contact him at [email protected].
