2012 didn’t end the way that The New York Yankees or their 13-time All-Star shortstop Derek Jeter envisioned it to. The Yankees were swept in The American League Championship Series by The Detroit Tigers. The bottom fell out for The Yankees in Game 1 of the series when Jeter suffered a fractured left ankle while he was attempting for field a ground ball. Now at 38-years of age, Jeter enters spring training with The Yankees to not only show everyone that he is still healthy, but to also show everyone that he still has the ability to be an All-Star caliber player.
After the 2010 season, Yankee owners Hank and Hal Steinbrenner took a hard stance with Jeter who was entering free agency for the first time in his career. The Steinbrenners were not willing to pay big money for a player who they felt was aging. For Jeter he knew what his brand name was worth as Yankee fans would actually pay to watch Jeter looking at someone else play shortstop for The Yanks. Cooler heads prevailed and Jeter was given a three-year, $51 million deal to remain in Yankee pinstripes.
Now with third baseman Alex Rodriguez rapidly declining and at the epicenter of a potential performance-enhancing drug scandal, The Yankee brain trust of The Steinbrenners, team president Randy Levine, and team general manager Brian Cashman are hopeful that Jeter will once again be his old self to start the season and he appears to have gotten off on the right foot in spring training.
According to FoxSports.com’s Jon Morosi via his Twitter account, Jeter fielded close to 80 ground ball this morning at The Yankees facility in Tampa, Florida. Jeter did not make any throws to first base, but it has to be a positive sign after things appeared to be grim for him and The Yankees last October.
Jeter enters 2013 with potential milestones right at his fingertips. Jeter is currently in 11th place on Major League Baseball’s all-time hit list with 3,304. With 132 hits, Jeter will surpass Hall of Famers Eddie Collins, Paul Molitor, Carl Yastrzemski, Honus Wagner, and Cap Anson and move into 6th place for hits. With 92 runs scored, Jeter will become The Yankees all-time leader in the category as he would pass Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth. Jeter needs 11 doubles to pass Gehrig and become The Yankees all-time leader in that category as well. With 21 home runs Jeter will surpass his former teammate Jorge Posada for 8th place on The Yankees all-time list.
For some 38-year old professional athletes it is time to slow down, but not for Jeter who compiled over 200 hits last season for the 8th time in his career. Fielding the ground balls is a start. Next for Jeter will be in the batting cage as all eyes in Tampa will see how his ankle will hold up being that his left leg is his plant leg when batting. The biggest test will come in game action when Jeter is attempting to turn a double play at second base or when he is covering for pick-off and stolen base attempts. It will be interesting to see how Yankee manager Joe Girardi uses Jeter on the base paths to start the season. Jeter only swiped 9 bases last season while he failed to record a triple for the first time since 2002.
The kid gloves could be on for right now with “The Yankee Captain”, but when April rolls around it should be full steam ahead for Jeter.
Sources:Baseball-reference.com
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