Many questioned the move when Cesar Izturis was handed the Dodgers’ starting shortstop job by former general manager Dan Evans.
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After all, Izturis, who then was 21 shortly after being acquired from Toronto in 2001, mostly played second base for the Blue Jays. He also lacked discipline at the plate.
And when Dodgers pitcher Giovanni Carrara, who had played with Izturis in the Venezuelan Winter League since 1996, told teammates the unknown kid might surprise them, he got a few funny looks.
But these days, perhaps Evans’ vision is being validated and Carrara’s ability to predict the future is proving uncanny because Izturis has developed into one of the major leagues’ best all-around shortstops.
The Dodgers acquired Izturis primarily because of his defensive skills. Baseball Prospectus went even so far as to rank Izturis, a career .246 hitter, as the second-worst offensive shortstop in the majors behind Neifi Perez in 2002.
Heading into the weekend he’s tied for sixth in the National League in hits (164), tied for fourth in triples (eight) and is the only player in the major leagues with four hitting streaks of at least 10 games.
Izturis’ 15-game hitting streak between May 22 and June 8 was the longest such streak by a Dodgers shortstop since Maury Wills hit in 20 consecutive games in 1965.
“I have to chuckle a little because there were a lot of people who gave us a hard time for playing this kid [right away] at shortstop,” said Evans, now a scout for the Mariners. “What I saw was a work in progress, a young player with defensive skills who could turn out to be a good offensive player.”
Izturis already has set career highs in hits, runs, RBIs, walks and stolen bases during his breakout season.
“When you play pretty much every day for three years, you learn something,” Izturis said.
Izturis’ emergence as a leadoff hitter–he usually batted eighth until this season–made it easier for new Dodgers GM Paul DePodesta to deal away Dave Roberts and acquire the power-hitting Steve Finley at the trading deadline.
“He’s becoming a force for us,” Dodgers manager Jim Tracy said. “Cesar has a chance to become one of the best.”
Izturis’ marked improvement from the left side of the plate perhaps has been the most unexpected development this season.
“Sometimes people are just too worried about the short term,” Evans said. “Patience is usually rewarded a great deal, but the people who aren’t involved in the decision-making process, especially the media and fans, don’t usually exhibit that same personality trait.”
In each of his first three full seasons in the majors, including this one, Izturis has taken more pitches per at-bat, drawn more walks and increased his OPS (on-base plus slugging percentages) every year.
“Offensively he’s made huge strides every year,” DePodesta said. “He got thrust into a big-league environment at a young age, and pitchers didn’t shy away from him. But the more he established himself, the more mature he became at the plate. And it has started affecting the way pitchers have tried to pitch him too.”
Izturis has settled in nicely and has been a steadying influence up the middle since taking over at short. This season he leads the NL in fielding percentage with just seven errors in 132 games.
“There’s nothing defensively he can’t do,” said Glenn Hoffman, the Dodgers’ infield coach and a former major-league shortstop. “[The key is] that Izzy gets his feet in position all the time to be able to throw.”
Since 2002 Izturis is fifth among major-league shortstops, and first in the NL, in fielding. In that span the NL Gold Glove winner the last two seasons, St. Louis’ Edgar Renteria, is 10th in fielding.
“Baseball is a game of reputation,” Evans said. “Cesar is early in his career, has played in the unbalanced schedule and hasn’t been seen by many of the East Coast voters. Now that he’s putting up [offensive] numbers, it’s only a matter of time before he gets the proper notice.”
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