Yankees Top Prospect Derek Jeter Adjusts to Meet the Challenge

Derek Jeter is nearing the end of the trail. He has been a class act in the tradition of Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Phil Rizzuto.

The March 1995 issue of Baseball Digest has a article that presents the top rookie prospects for the 1996 season.

According to reports, the New York Yankees had a top prospect in Derek Jeter.  George Vass informed readers that the 20-year-old Jeter was the 1994 consensus minor league player of the year.

He batted .329 at Class A Tampa, .377 at AA Albany and .349 at AAA Columbus. Jeter also stole 50 bases in 58 attempts.

Vass reported that Jeter's somewhat erratic defense was improving.  What was significant is: "...he has outstanding range, a strong arm and outstanding reflexes."

Derek Jeter and "outstanding range" in the same sentence?  As Rizzuto used to say, "Holy cow."

Bill Livesey, Yankees' vice president of player development, spoke about Jeter:

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"His ability to make adjustments is very rare for a young man of his age. He senses what a situation demands and adjusts his style to meet the challenge."

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What statistic measures that ability?  What sabermetric measures Jeter's play in the 2001 playoff series against Oakland that helped win the Pennant?

Here's what Chad Curtis, who once took umbrage at Jeter's approach to the game, related after Jeter ran to the first base foul line, caught a relay from the outfield and flipped the ball to Jorge Posada to nip Jeremy Giambi at home plate.

Curtis told the media there was no way that, if he were playing shortstop, he would have done what Jeter had done. The reason was that shortstops don't go to the first base foul line to catch a relay throw.

Buster Olney wrote that Jeter had roamed outside the diagrams and used his imagination.

Joe Torre summed up Jeter magnificently:

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 "He's absolutely sure of himself all the time, but not in a way that can be counter-productive. He's not arrogant; he's confident. He's sure he's going to do well."

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