Small-stature AL stars in line for MVP
BOSTON -- Dustin Pedroia beat out Tampa Bay’s 6-3 Delmon Young to run away with the 2007 American League Rookie of the Year Award and earn a spot at the New York Baseball Writers’ dinner the following January. Seated with CC Sabathia, the 6-6, 300-pound AL Cy Young winner, it looked as if Pedroia had suddenly been promoted to the big kids’ table.
It was -- by completely unscientific and unofficial calculations -- the largest body mass differential between a Rookie of the Year and Cy Young winner in baseball history.
“Yeah, featherweight and heavyweight,” Pedroia, generously listed at 5-9, 175 pounds, recalled recently.
Pedroia up with the AL MVP Award the next season, beating out Minnesota’s 6-4 Justin Morneau. Another flyweight-heavyweight matchup.
Call them what you will. But, there’s a good chance -- as in 2008 and last season with Houston’s 5-6 Jose Altuve, the major leagues’ shortest player -- you will once again be calling a sub-6-foot player the AL MVP.
Boston’s 5-9 Mookie Betts is the favorite to win the AL MVP Award this season, with Altuve and Cleveland’s 5-9 Jose Ramirez and 5-11 Francisco Lindor in the running. Houston’s Alex Bregman could also be included in the group, but he is listed as 6-feet-even (Although, your eyes will confirm what one uniformed member of the Astros declared: “That’s a lie.”)
“For me, he’s the MVP,” Altuve said of Bregman. “I have seen the guy play every single day this year and there’s no doubt that he’s the MVP for me.”
Boston’s 6-3 J.D. Martinez and the Angels’ 6-2 Mike Trout -- who look like they walked right out of MVP central casting -- will also be in the mix.
Other than Trout, all of these candidates will be playing in the postseason, attempting to wrest the World Series title away from Houston, Altuve and Bregman.
“Our sport doesn’t discriminate,” said Houston manager A.J. Hinch. “If you’re good, you’re going to get to play...Their skill sets, they’re all elite. I don’t know if they've had to work harder because of the perceived disadvantage (but) they have to work harder for credibility and they shouldn’t. They're putting up numbers like everybody else.
“Most of those guys, if not all those guys, have very fast-twitch actions. You see quick bats, quick feet, quick hands, quick arms, which helps them, and -- this is not meant to be necessarily funny -- but the smaller shorter arms, the direct path to the ball, you see that as a consistency among smaller players. But those are all impactful guys.
“They’re not just good for small guys; they’re good for any size big leaguers. Those are elite players.”
Baseball has always had standout smaller guys such as Freddie Patek (5-5), Rabbit Maranville (5-5), Hack Wilson (5-6), Phil Rizzuto (5-6), Johnny Pesky (5-9) and David Eckstein (5-6). Maranville, Wilson and Rizzuto are all in the Hall of Fame. And, while it wasn’t necessarily a novelty at the time for Pedroia to win the MVP in 2008, Altuve was the first sub-6-footer to win since 2002.
Smaller-stature players are taking a more prominent place in the game.
“I started noticing that last year with Ramirez and Altuve,” said first-year Boston manager Alex Cora, who was Houston’s bench coach last season. “Lindor is another guy, too. I think physically they do things differently than other guys -- they’re flexible, they get their legs under them and they’re very explosive. I think Mookie and Lindor, they’re very similar as far as athletic ability. Ramirez and Altuve, the fact that they can hit pitches anywhere and barrel, it is impressive. Bregman, too.
“Short arms, that they can stay inside pitches but at the same time it seems like if there’s a pitch off the plate, it seems like their arms kind of extend, like Inspector Gadget. It’s amazing. They’re good athletes, and that’s where the game is going. The more athletes we have, the better.
“It’s something that physically -- I can’t explain it, I never been in that level -- but they’re freak athletes. They are. That’s why they’re so good.”
Betts was second in the 2016 AL MVP voting and has won two Gold Gloves. His 162-game average, according to Baseball-reference.com, is a .303 batting average, 28 homers, 99 RBI, 28 steals and 120 runs.
“This game is not about size; it’s about athleticism. Mike’s big, strong, athletic,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia says. “Mookie is strong and athletic. He might not be as tall as Mike, but I don’t know if height’s ever been a prerequisite to be a good baseball player. So that’s not part of the equation.”
Cleveland bench coach Brad Mills, Houston’s manager for Altuve’s first two seasons (2010-11), suggests smaller stature might lead to extra motivation.
“They probably have had to do a little bit extra just so people would notice them,” he says. “But because they’ve had to do that their entire life, they’ve got a confidence and an air about them every time they take the field.”
Altuve, overlooked and sent home from his first tryout camp in his native Venezuela, used to hear it from teammates, razzing him about his height.
That’s changed. He and many undersized players are prohibiting others from overlooking them.
“I don’t feel like I have to do anything else besides just go on the field and play hard,” he said. “At this point, it’s like any other player. It doesn't matter how tall, how big you are. You got to show up and prove people wrong every single year.
“You’re playing against guys stronger and bigger than you so you have to maybe do a little extra effort. But besides that, it’s fine. And when I go between those white lines, I feel the same size as everybody else.”
