When Mike Gallego goes out to conduct early morning infield
work, the same young man is always the first there. He’s Grant
Green, the Oakland Athleics’ 2009 first-round draft pick (No. 13
overall) and their consensus top prospect. In a few days, Green is
likely to be dispatched to the Athletics’ minor-league camp at
Papago Park. But while he still can, he’s sponging Gallego, the A’s
third-base and infield coach, for every shred of information he can
get in his quest to become Oakland’s future starting shortstop.
PHOENIX
When Mike Gallego goes out to conduct early morning infield work, the same young man is always the first there. He’s Grant Green, the Oakland Athleics’ 2009 first-round draft pick (No. 13 overall) and their consensus top prospect.
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In a few days, Green is likely to be dispatched to the Athletics’ minor-league camp at Papago Park. But while he still can, he’s sponging Gallego, the A’s third-base and infield coach, for every shred of information he can get in his quest to become Oakland’s future starting shortstop.
There’s little doubt Green, 23, has the goods to get to the big leagues as a hitter. He hit .318 in his first full season at Class A Stockton last year with 65 extra-base hits, including 20 home runs.
It’s with Green’s glove where there has been mounting doubt. He committed 37 errors at short in 2010, a California League high, leading to some rather harsh critiques heading into this season.
Not quick enough to the ball. Below average arm. Probably better suited to second base or perhaps the outfield. Fundamentally unsound. Erratic.
Green acknowledges that he had a rough year in the field, but he isn’t buying into the notion that he’s a hopeless case as a future major league shortstop. He burns a bit about all the whispers.
“Coming up, they’re always going to criticize you,” Green said. “But once you get there and prove you can do it, all the criticisms will go away. I’ve learned throughout the draft process and last year, they’re always going to say negative things about my fielding. It’s the one thing they can really pick on.”
Green is on a mission this year to prove his doubters wrong. And Gallego, who has been his intensive defensive guru this spring, believes he will.
“To be honest with you, I had my doubts the first couple times I saw him,” Gallego said. “But I’d never had a chance to talk or work with him, and now that I’ve done that, I have no doubt he’s going to be a major league shortstop.”
Part of it has been Green’s insatiable hunger to learn. The A’s retooled his entire approach to playing the position last year, and despite the high error total, he did get better and less error-prone as the season progressed.
Green and the A’s hope his improvement in Phase II will be significantly more dramatic. Now in his second big-league camp, he is more familiar and comfortable working with the staff. He’s also getting a lot more one-on-one time with Gallego, one of the best infield coaches in the business and a man who spent several years in Colorado working with Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki.
Gallego has spent considerable time devising a strategy for Green, and then he’ll turn him over to Double-A Midland manager Steve Scarsone, who had Green last year at Stockton, and Juan Navarette, Oakland’s roving fielding instructor.
“There were a few things we had to address with his fundamentals — his setup, the angles of his glove and his arm, his first step — as well as his mental approach,” Gallego said. “Basically, we just broke it all down and put it back piece by piece.”
“We have stressed the importance of exploding to smoothness, being in the proper position as he arrives to the ball and to finish the play,” he continued. “He’s definitely one of those guys who has to have his feet underneath him, but he’s not too slow. It’s just a matter of knowing how to read the ball better off the bat, being able to anticipate and understanding the purpose of exploding on your first step.”
If Green does that, and also develops consistency on routine plays, Gallego believes Green can cut his error total in half. So does Green.
“I felt I’ve made huge strides compared with last year at this time,” he said. “I didn’t get to work with (Gallego) as much last year as I have this spring. But coming into camp knowing exactly what he wants has made it a lot easier transition.
“It’s a step-by-step process, and I try to take everything he says and implement it in games. I’ve felt great so far here, so building on that will be the key.”
— Story by Carl Steward, The Oakland Tribune
