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Inside Baseball
Posted: Tuesday March 12, 2002 1:37 PM
Hail, Cesar!
After much trial and many errors, L.A. may have found a shortstop in slick Cesar Izturis By
Stephen Cannella 
Finding a new shortstop is as much a ritual of the Dodgers' camp as spotting Sandy Koufax in the shadows behind the practice bullpen. Los Angeles has had a different player at short on Opening Day in six of the past seven years. With less than three weeks before the 2002 lid-lifter, the Dodgers were eagerly anticipating a seventh: Cesar Izturis, a 22-year-old Venezuelan acquired along with righthanded reliever Paul Quantrill from the Blue Jays in December for righthanders Luke Prokopec and Chad Ricketts, a minor leaguer. Last week manager Jim Tracy hinted strongly that Izturis, who played 46 games with Toronto last year and has been dazzling with his glove this spring, will take over the starting job from incumbent Alex Cora. "I know it's only March," Tracy said, "but I haven't seen anything yet to tell me he can't play up here."
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Izturis brings a glove and dash -- eight steals in nine attempts for the Blue Jays -- to the Dodgers. Heinz Kluetmeier |
Replacing the shaky Cora, who committed 20 errors and batted .217 last year, would not be a difficult decision for the Dodgers, but the 5'9", 175-pound Izturis is making it especially easy. Los Angeles knew it was getting a defensive whiz: Izturis started 34 games at second base and six at shortstop for the Blue Jays and made just three errors. After the trade a Toronto front-office executive compared him to the Indians' perennial Gold Glove shortstop, Omar Vizquel.
Though questions remain as to whether the switch-hitting Izturis can handle major league pitching and the grind of a full season, he impressed Tracy by batting .440 in his first eight spring games. Furthermore, Izturis's track record as a contact hitter -- he struck out a mere 37 times in 476 major and minor league at bats in 2001 -- is appealing to L.A., which had the National League's fifth-lowest on-base percentage (.323) last year. Izturis's maturity has also been striking. "He's very humble, and he realizes his place among all the veterans on this team," Tracy says, "but at the same time he's a very confident young man."
Issue date: March 18, 2002
For more Inside Baseball see this week's issue of Sports Illustrated, on newsstands Wednesday, March 13. Click here to subscribe to SI.
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