Hey... DAVID WRIGHT!

[metirish]

The comparison with Jeter is a good one.....you don't have to search that hard to find David gushing about Jeter


at the WBC upon learing that he was going to locker next to Jeter

That's one of the guys I really wanted to see go about his business over the course of these three weeks," Wright said of Jeter. "[i want to] see how he prepares, kind of get in his mind a little bit and try to learn a little something. It was good to look over and see him to my left. I'm going to try to soak in as much as I can." "As a young player in New York, there's certain guys that you try to emulate, certain guys that you want to learn from -- both on and off the field," Wright said. "I'm excited to have a locker next to him, to play next to him and pick his brain a little bit. Obviously, he's a class act. I'm interested to get in his head a little bit."

Rightly or wrongly Jeter is the guy Wright gets compared to in this town.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090303&content_id=3913148&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

[Frayed Knot]

I do understand that he has publickly stated an intent to hold himself to the Jeter Standard ... I just don't think there was ever any such thing.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I don't know too many shortstops who ever throw to the wrong base. It's generally pretty clear where the play is for them.

I think he gets thrown out on the basepaths at much more common rate than all that. He gakked several times in the World Baseball Classic --- in the field and on the basepaths. His throwing error finished off the Americans, and people excused it because somehow a Yankee firstbaseman would have caught it.

The whole Marty Foster thing was embarrassing. "I'm Derek Jeter. I will let you know when I'm out."

[Vic Sage]

thank you, edgy, for not participating in the Jeter myth machine. Knot, you should know better.

[Frayed Knot]

I'm not buying into any myth. I've got maybe half-a-hundred posts here over time that say otherwise.

The Jeter myth is about him being the 'clutch-est' person in the world and about the strawman argument involving intangibles and about performances that go on around him that are automatically attributed TO him. It's the columnist from earlier this year who claimed that any credibility that the WBC had is all due to Derek Jeter. It's about Rick Sutcliffe saying during the WBC that Brian McCann going to the opposite field could only have come about as a result of his pre-game conversation with Jeter. It's about the joke that made the rounds after ARod kept that kid from walking into traffic in Boston which said that Jeter wouldn't need to do that because he automatically makes everyone around him a better pedestrian. It's about repeating how he can raise his game when pumpkin-selling season rolls around when it's a claim that's demonstrably untrue. It's about making believe the catch he made while crossing the foul line before not being able to stop was one he didn't catch until he was air-born over Row C.
Ironically, the Jeter myth-makers have been so busy over-selling mystical powers he doesn't have that they often miss or under-sell the fact that he's a terrific fundamental player and THAT is what I'm talking about.

So, no, it's not about him never making a physical error, it's about rarely making play 'A' when play 'B' is the better choice. It's about never taking plays for granted and therefore being prepared if the unexpected does happen. It's about not staying put when he should be running and not running when he should be staying put. And it's about never NOT hustling.
In short, it's a standard players should aspire to and so when one who claims to want to do just that doesn't it's a situation worthy of comparison - particularly when the two share both a city and a face-of-the-franchise label.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Please show me some stat that says that Jeter regularly and significantly outperforms the mean as a baserunner, because I'm dubious.

[Frayed Knot]

Mostly this is based on my observation of watching him in dozens of games per year over 14 seasons now.
And while I don't have any stats on hand, I have seen some that have him almost never being thrown out on the basepaths (other than in steal attempts).