Simmons special even to those who’ve seen greatness

In the Braves’ series at Washington last weekend, shortstop Andrelton Simmons made two plays that demonstrated an acute awareness of everything moving on the baseball field, and the speed of all movement. One of the plays also displayed a throwing arm that astounds anyone seeing it at maximum effect for the first time.

The Braves lost all three games, yet no player except Nationals slugger Bryce Harper — three homers in the first two games — left as many jaws hanging as did Simmons, perhaps the first defensive player since Ozzie Smith to legitimately be worth the price of admission. On the chance he might do something you’ve never seen done before.

“He has things you can’t teach,” said Don Sutton, a Hall of Famer who pitched in 23 seasons, played in four World Series, has been a broadcaster for a quarter of a century and said he never saw a player more intuitive than Simmons.

“He has things you’re born with,” said Sutton, who watches him nightly as a Braves radio man. “I think you can only refine those things. To me, his approach to playing shortstop — I used to marvel at Greg Maddux, and then go talk to him and Maddux would say, ‘Well, I just saw it coming.’ And I think the same thing is true with Andrelton Simmons. He has a sense that’s more astounding than a sixth sense, in that he does things that you just can’t anticipate. It’s an amazing gift.”

First play at Washington: Fourth inning Friday, Braves led 2-1. Harper singled to center, ran hard to first and did what most aggressive players do, rounding the base and going 10-15 feet toward second, in case the ball’s bobbled or an outfielder was slow getting it in — anything that might allow him to take an extra base.

Only this time, Harper underestimated the guy waiting to take the throw from the outfield. Simmons’ body language didn’t suggest an urgency or intention of doing anything out of the ordinary. Which was part of the genius of the play. Knowing Harper’s aggressiveness, Simmons intended to try an unusual pickoff.

He caught the throw in a routine manner. Then, in one fluid motion, Simmons turned and threw to first. Again, nothing frenetic in the movement, just smoothness all the way through release. In one of those Simmons actions that seems to defy physics, the ball came out of his hand as if from a rifle. Harper saw and high-tailed it back, but was too late. The ball, whistling on a straight line, caught up and passed Harper quickly, smacking into first baseman Freddie Freeman’s glove.

A single had become an out in a blur.

“The first time I saw that done was ’06 or ’07, somewhere in there,” said Terry Pendleton, Braves first-base coach and former third baseman and National League MVP. “Yunel Escobar was the first one I saw do it from shortstop. He got the kid in Miami, the left-handed hitting first baseman (Mike Jacobs). Most guys usually pay attention after they round first, but you’ll catch them every now and then like (Escobar) did.”

The difference this time?

“Harper was paying attention, and he still got him,” Pendleton said. “You’ve got to have a special arm to do that. In fact I heard him when he came in, he said, ‘That’s probably the hardest ball I’ve ever thrown. And I can believe that, from what I saw.’”

Second play in Washington: Score tied in the fifth inning Sunday, two on with two out. Dan Uggla, former Braves second baseman, has a big lead off second base. Ready to score on a hit anywhere. What he wasn’t ready for was Simmons sneaking in from behind to take a pickoff throw from Alex Wood and tag out Uggla as he frantically retreated.

Uggla had seen Simmons do this plenty of times, yet still got caught by it, so quickly had Simmons sneaked over.

“It’s fun to watch him,” Sutton said. “God bless him with good health, please. Because it’s fun to think down the road where he will be. If he stays healthy, I’ll find a spot for his plaque (in the National Baseball Hall of Fame). I’ll stick around to watch that. I may be 108, but that’s all right. I’ll stick around just to watch that. He is a remarkably instinctive athlete.”

Simmons, 25, who has won Gold Gloves each of the past two seasons and figures to win them for, oh, at least another decade. He makes all the routine plays, yet also makes more sensational plays on a regular basis than anyone at his position in the past half-century, with the possible exception of Smith — whom Pendleton played alongside for years in St. Louis — and Omar Vizquel.

Simmons, who was drafted as a pitcher with a 98-mph fastball, has a far stronger arm than Smith or Vizquel.

“How can I put it?” Pendleton said. “There’s another level to his arm. I would compare it to watching Deion Sanders play football. You know when everybody else is running down the field and they’re in slow motion and he’s in fast forward when they show him run. That’s what it looks like at times (with Simmons).”