This is supposed to be a day off at spring training (and no, I won’t be on the golf course), but I couldn’t help passing along this story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on former Mariners shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt, who’s now with the Brewers.
Say what you will about Yuni’s performance when he played for the Mariners, it’s sad to see that he – or, the Brewers – already are getting some serious criticism from Milwaukee fans before he has even played an exhibition game.
Has Yuni changed from the free-swinging shortstop whose work ethic was questioned? Does he “get it” when it comes to realizing what he must do in order to cut down on his errors? Nice as Yuni was to talk with during his time in Seattle, he rarely (if ever) seemed to own up to his responsibility toward improving as a player, at least when reporters would ask him about it.
This Journal Sentinel story by Brewers beat writer Tom Haudricourt includes some comments by Betancourt that make me think he might finally have figured out what the issue was – him. Getting traded twice in two years might have something to do with that. Check out these quotes:
On his fielding:
“I have to work more on making decisions, especially on throwing. When I get in trouble, I throw the ball all over the place. I’ve been working on that. I have to be more mature about it. When I go in the hole, sometimes I still throw when I don’t have a chance. When I don’t move my feet, I throw the ball all over the place. I need to work on being more mature about it, knowing when not to throw.”
On his hitting:
“I was happy with my home runs and RBI but I need to work on my batting average and improve my walks. I will try to do better with that.”
And on his free-swinging at the plate:
“People talk to me about it but it’s in my blood. Latin people don’t walk too many times. We just go out there and swing.”
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