Sammy Sosa, superstar! It has a nice sound to it, and Cub fans can begin practicing those three little words in front of a mirror.
Sammy isn’t quite there yet–he must get his average up–but he is on his way and should be checking in, pronto.
“He’s a five-point player right now,” Tom Lasorda, manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers said Wednesday at Wrigley Field.
“Do you know how many five-point players are in the major leagues?” he asked.
Before an estimate could be offered, Lasorda jumped in.
“Not many.”
Lasorda went on to explain the necessary qualifications:
“He has to hit with power; hit for an average; (have) outstanding speed; (have an) outstanding throwing arm and be very good defensively.”
Lasorda was guilty of a slight exaggeration. Sosa doesn’t hit for much of an average–around .250 this season, .268 last year, .256 lifetime. But Cub coach Billy Williams, certainly an expert on hitting, says Sosa soon will become a reliable .300 hitter.
“He’s getting there,” Williams said. “He’s learning how to hit the pitch on the outside to right-center. That, right there, can give him 30 points.”
Otherwise, Sosa qualifies in all areas of play. He leads the National League in home runs with 23, is seventh in total bases and among the leaders in runs batted in with 53. These numbers, projected over the full 162-game schedule, translate to a huge season: 52 home runs and 119 RBIs.
This, of course, is assuming Sosa can maintain his pace. It seems a likely possibility. The hitters are usually at their best during the steamy months of July and August.
So, barring injury, Sosa can be expected to have his third 30-30 season–30 or more home runs and 30 or more stolen bases. He has only 12 steals but can turn on the heat whenever necessary.
Only three players have had three or more 30-30 seasons: Bobby Bonds, who had four; his son, Barry, who has three; and Howard Johnson, also with three. Sosa is the only Cub in the 30-30 club.
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Sosa concedes it’s nice to belong to such an exclusive group but insists he isn’t overly concerned.
“I don’t worry about it,” he said. “If it happens, it happens.”
He also doesn’t worry about his high strikeout ratio, aware that most long-ball hitters generally lead the league in strikeouts.
In the ideal scenario, the Cubs would have another genuine power hitter batting behind him. Without this protection, rival pitchers can keep Sosa on a steady diet of pitches out of the strike zone.
But Sosa has a hyper persona, a desire to excel and carry the club on his back. Instead of exercising patience, as he should, he sometimes whales away, to his and the team’s disadvantage.
Tony Muser, the Cubs’ third-base coach, offered an interesting observation.
“Sammy is so intense and aggressive once the game begins, who’s batting behind him is not a factor. I’ve seen him for four years and I’m convinced he’s out to prove he has a chance to be the best ballplayer who has ever lived.”
And Muser believes Sosa could succeed.
It has been obvious almost from the beginning of his professional career that Sosa was possessed with extraordinary ability. The Texas Rangers signed him off the sandlots of the Dominican Republic four months before his 17th birthday.
After only 25 games with the Rangers, he was traded to the White Sox in July 1989. Larry Himes, then the general manager of the Sox, swung the deal.
Ron Schueler, who had succeeded Himes, traded Sosa to the Cubs for aging slugger George Bell before the 1992 season.
None other than Larry Himes was again on the receiving end. By this time, Himes had resurfaced as the Cub general manager, the only person to be GM of both of Chicago’s big-league clubs.
“I’ll never forget Larry Himes,” Sosa said Wednesday. “He traded for me twice. That was very good for me. It gave me confidence.”
It has been more than a year since Sosa saw Himes, now working for the Cubs out of Arizona.
“I’m sure he’s very proud of me.” Sosa said.