As the Braves approached this weekend, their pitching staff was leading the National League in ERA at 2.91. That stingy statistic is a function of the dominant work of pitchers such as Jair Jurrjens, Derek Lowe, and Tim Hudson, but those same three pitchers also credit someone else behind them.
All three are sinkerball specialists who know they need somebody special at shortstop, fielding the bulk of their ground balls and getting them double plays. The Braves know they have one in Alex Gonzalez.
“How many runs has he saved us?” Lowe said. “You can’t even put that into words. It’s fun to watch, I’ll tell you that. The routine plays and the plays you think he has no chance.”
Gonzalez has made almost all of them. Until earlier this week he was leading all major league shortstops in fielding percentage at .995. He made his second error in 188 chances this season against the Astros on Tuesday.
Gonzalez has made the steady plays and the exceptional. An acrobatic double-play catch, a leap-and-throw over a sliding Mark Kotsay in Milwaukee, made the highlight rounds. So have countless others. When asked to name his own personal favorite, Gonzalez didn’t have a clear answer. So he just picked the guy sitting nearest to him and said “the ones for him.”
Gonzalez was pointing to Cristhian Martinez, and he was kidding. But right on cue, the following night, Gonzalez made a pair of standout plays behind Martinez, who pitched four perfect innings in relief after Brandon Beachy strained his oblique against the Phillies. And Gonzalez did it on consecutive hitters, first fielding a ball behind second base and then smothering a ball in the hole and throwing to first from his knees.
Gonzalez is not just providing TV highlight fodder, but his own pitchers plays to talk about.
“The thing I marvel at the most is how quick he can get the ball out of his glove,” Lowe said. “Even if you’re just going to go play catch with someone, I couldn’t get the ball out of the glove that fast. Not only do you get it out, but you get the proper grip and make a throw.”
Quick hands — that’s an accolade Gonzalez has heard a lot. But for another talented Venezuelan shortstop in a succession of great ones, who grew up studying the craft in Maracay — the town that produced five-time Gold Glover Dave Concepcion — it starts lower on the body.
“Sometimes people say you’ve got good hands; it’s footwork that makes you quicker, too,” Gonzalez said. “Every way I throw, I try to stand in the right position, with the right footwork, to second base, first base, a relay throw, on a dive.”
That’s something Chipper Jones has noticed and admired while watching Gonzalez from third base.
“He’s always cool, calm and collected, but his feet get him in position to make those plays,” Jones said. “It just seems like no matter whether he’s sliding, or planting, or on the run, he’s always got his feet in line to first base or is getting his feet prepared to make the throw.”
Jones said he always thought Gonzalez belonged in the upper echelon of shortstops around the league, playing against Gonzalez during his eight years as a Marlin. But watching him every day since the Braves traded Yunel Escobar to Toronto for him in July, Jones has ratcheted up his assessment.
“He’s the best I’ve ever played with, and I’ve played with some good ones,” said Jones, who included Rafael Furcal, Escobar and two-time Gold Glove winner Edgar Renteria on that list. “They were all solid, but this guy is right up there with the Omar Vizquels and the Ozzie Smiths, as far as I’m concerned.”
Vizquel, also from Venezuela, won nine Gold Gloves with the Indians and two with the Giants. Smith is the standard at the position, winning a record 13 consecutive Gold Gloves in the 1980s and early ’90s.
Gonzalez, 34, has never won a Gold Glove, and that’s something another Gonzalez — Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez — would like to see remedied.
“He needs to be noticed a little bit more than he’s ever been,” Gonzalez said. “Hopefully he keeps playing the way he’s playing and gets a chance to get that first one.”
Ironically, when Gonzalez began his first season as manager of the Braves, their defense was an area many targeted as a potential for disaster. The Braves had just signed Dan Uggla, who made 34 errors in the past two seasons with the Marlins. Martin Prado was moving from second base to left field, where he had played only three games. Third baseman Jones and his rickety knees were turning 39.
Those three players had combined for nine errors through Thursday’s game. And the Braves were third in the National League in fielding percentage at .988, trailing only the Phillies (.990) and Rockies (.989).
If you ask rookie Freddie Freeman, who has been a good defensive addition at first base, it has everything to do with Alex Gonzalez.
“It seems like every ball, he gets to [it], and we feed off that,” Freeman said. “You’ve got Chipper diving for balls. Uggla’s diving for balls. They get to all the balls. My job is just to catch them. ... He’s making everybody better.”
