MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -Last spring, Carlos Gomez’s confidence and eagerness stood out during camp while he spoke boldly about stealing a whole bunch of bases and scoring a whole bunch of runs.
At the beginning of the 2008 season, Gomez’s energy and speed were most noticeable while the Minnesota Twins enjoyed his spark at the top of the lineup and his youthful exuberance on the field.
By midsummer, however, Gomez’s glow was nearly gone.
Manager Ron Gardenhire stuck with him in the leadoff spot longer than almost anyone observing the situation believed he should, but with Denard Span thriving at the plate and in right field Gardenhire made the switch and put Gomez ninth in the order.
eouts in 577 at-bats.
Gomez’s first full year in the majors left him a lot to work on, and a lot to learn. But the combination of his blazing speed, natural power and wide-eyed and grinning passion to excel has also left him and the Twins with plenty to be hopeful about.
Discipline, control and discernment are difficult traits to master, but they’re teachable.
Fast feet aren’t.
This spring, much attention has been on the acquisition of Joe Crede and the health of Joe Mauer. The specter of the Johan Santana trade that brought Gomez to the Twins has subsided. The 23-year-old Dominican has quietly been working toward his second season, and the team is excited to see how he builds on last year’s experience.
“He makes you happy to look at. You know he’s got something good to say. He brings that around, that glow,” Gardenhire said earlier this spring in Fort Myers, Fla., adding: “He’s just got that special smile. He’s a gamer.”
Gomez hasn’t made as many outrageously entertaining or daring comments this year, but he still expresses a deep certainty in his ability. The experience of struggling at the plate and being bumped in the lineup was inevitably humbling, but he still believes he should score every time he reaches base.
“That’s what I’m out to do, you know?” Gomez said in Fort Myers. “No matter what. Walk, hit by pitch, groundball. I want to stand on first base.”
here more often, he needs to be more patient. The Twins are wary of muzzling his animated style and have generally been all right with letting him be who he is and living with some of the sloppy consequences, but they are asking him to take better at-bats and learn to be a smarter base-stealer.
Swinging so hard he falls down, which happened more than once last year, is not acceptable.
“You’ve got to find that happy medium, that level of consistency,” Gardenhire said. “You’re going to get the highs where you’re hot as a match, and everything they throw – it don’t matter if you take a good swing or a bad swing – it falls. Then you go through stretches where you start thinking about things: ‘I’ve got to do this or I’ve got to do that,’ and you start screwing yourself into the ground. You’ve just got to find that happy medium.”
Hitting coach Joe Vavra has tried to get Gomez to keep his shoulders square and stay on the ball at the plate to avoid overswinging. First base coach Jerry White, who works with the outfielders and helps teach baserunning, has been pleased with Gomez’s progress this spring too.
Gomez has been held out this week because of a sore back, but in 15 exhibition games he’s batting .256 with a .341 on-base percentage and a .615 slugging percentage. Gomez has three homers in 39 at-bats.
e guy,” Gardenhire said. “We’ve yet to kind of decide which way he’s going to go. Right now, I know he needs at-bats more than anything else.”
Whether his future is at the top, the bottom or in the middle of the order, Gomez’s threat to steal is unquestioned. White has helped him learn how to better watch the pitchers for his cue to run, and remind him it’s OK to stay in some situations. But overall, at the plate, on the bases and in the field, positive signs have popped up.
“You see the progression,” White said. “It’s good to see him out there. It’s just fun to watch him play.”
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