With a fresh year ahead of us, it's probably a good time to search for nuggets of optimism in The Nation. After what we went through in 2011, that's kind of like looking for statesmanship in Washington, D.C. However, one glimmer of hope is our "shortstop of the future", Jose Iglesias. The Cuban-born Iglesias will achieve the ripe old age of twenty-two tomorrow—twenty two. Suffice it to say that many of us here at FenwayNation have ticket stubs older than that—a lot older. In ten games with the big club last year, we got a little glimpse of what will be—wizard-like defensive skills and (at least in six at-bats) reasonable offense. That, of course, is the big question: can he hit consistently in The Show? The people who are supposed to know these things project him to start out as a bottom of the line-up guy, but with a real chance to mature into an impactful offensive player. While Marco Scutaro is a more than serviceable shortstop in the near term (his very good 2011 season was overshadowed by The Collapse), his injury history may again catapult Iglesias to center stage in 2012. As far as we're concerned, we can't wait.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Iglesias Brings Optimism For The Future
With a fresh year ahead of us, it's probably a good time to search for nuggets of optimism in The Nation. After what we went through in 2011, that's kind of like looking for statesmanship in Washington, D.C. However, one glimmer of hope is our "shortstop of the future", Jose Iglesias. The Cuban-born Iglesias will achieve the ripe old age of twenty-two tomorrow—twenty two. Suffice it to say that many of us here at FenwayNation have ticket stubs older than that—a lot older. In ten games with the big club last year, we got a little glimpse of what will be—wizard-like defensive skills and (at least in six at-bats) reasonable offense. That, of course, is the big question: can he hit consistently in The Show? The people who are supposed to know these things project him to start out as a bottom of the line-up guy, but with a real chance to mature into an impactful offensive player. While Marco Scutaro is a more than serviceable shortstop in the near term (his very good 2011 season was overshadowed by The Collapse), his injury history may again catapult Iglesias to center stage in 2012. As far as we're concerned, we can't wait.