Life after Trammell

By the time I was nine, I was a pretty good ballplayer, relative to my peers in the Enfield Little League back in Connecticut.  At this age, in recreational Little Leagues, each team is usually stocked with one or two kids who can really play; a handful who aren’t entirely incompetent; and a few who really don’t want to be there.  I could really play at that age, and thus I spent most of these formidable years of my youth at shortstop. 

Shortstop is a really fun position on 60-foot base paths.  Most of the hitters are right-handed, so there’s lots of action.  While it’s technically a longer throw than the one from third base, it’s a smoother transition from fielding the grounder, coming up for a crow-hop, and delivering an accurate toss across the diamond than the one from the hot corner.  At least I always thought so.  The catcher may be the leader on the field, but the shortstop is his vice president, keeping the chatter alive, communicating the number of outs to the outfielders, picking up a pitcher who is struggling to find the strike zone, taking the cutoff throw on a gapper, etc.  I really like all of these ancillary responsibilities, and I always reveled at smooth-fielding shortstops who could rob a sure base hit headed up the middle and flip a seed across his body to cut someone down by a half-step at first.  We had one of those kids in the Enfield Little League, and his name was Kenny Castellano.  Aside from having a great baseball name, Kenny was born to play short.  He was a lanky but athletic kid, with a sure glove, a rocket arm whether he was throwing overhand or sidearm, and a good understanding of the game.  I was happy to shift over to third when All-Star season, which was the center of my universe, rolled around in the summer of ’91, because Kenny was our unquestioned shortstop.     

It’s hard to believe Jose Iglesias will be 28 years old on Opening Day of this season.  He still looks like a little kid out there but there is nothing childish about the leather he throws.  The offensive output has diminished since his 2015 All Star campaign, as he’s been hampered by injuries throughout his entire career.  I would love to see what this “kid” can do with a full 150+ games of healthy action.