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Playing first base is a great way to meet folks, and in his first year in the big leagues, Eric Hosmer has chatted with some of the travelers who have passed through. Welcome to the big leagues, Derek Jeter said to him, adding, "It's the same game you've always played, just more people watching."
Paul Konerko talked hitting with him, but no one has talked more about that than David Ortiz, who carried over a conversation from one day at first base to a 30-minute exchange of thoughts with Hosmer the next day. Hosmer listens, in keeping with one of the first nicknames bestowed upon the Kansas City Royals' rookie first baseman: The Sponge.
Hosmer asks the right questions. He says the right things. He does everything the right way. Jeff Francoeur had a conversation last year with Mark DeRosa of the San Francisco Giants, and DeRosa had told him about how different the San Francisco clubhouse was after Buster Posey arrived.
"It reminds me of that," Francoeur said the other day. "How many rookies come up and just take over the 4-spot [in the lineup]? I'd have given anything to be like Hos at age 21.
"I can't believe that he's 21 years old. From the first day he was up here, it's like he just took over."
Hosmer has played 119 games in the big leagues and is hitting .289 with 17 homers and 71 RBIs. That's not really what is striking to Francoeur and other Royals; it's how Hosmer learns, how he adapts. When the Royals prepared to play some interleague games early in the year, Francoeur mentioned to Hosmer that if a pitcher happened to line a ball to right field, Francoeur might look to throw to first base.
"That's only time I mentioned it," Francoeur said. "We didn't talk about it for two months."
Weeks later, Michael Taylor of the Oakland Athletics ripped a ball to right field, and as Francoeur rushed to the ball, he could see, peripherally, that Hosmer was moving toward first base -- to give Francoeur a target at first base. They nailed Taylor. Francoeur and Hosmer almost got Alexei Ramirez of the Chicago White Sox the other night with the same play, and Ramirez screamed angrily at Francoeur for trying it.
The play is only possible, Francoeur said, if Hosmer reads the ball quickly and anticipates. On Thursday against the White Sox, Tyler Flowers walked to give Chicago runners at first and second and two outs -- and that's when Hosmer called for a pickoff play at first, successfully, to end the inning.
During a 10-game hitting streak that started in August and finished in September, Hosmer had three hits against the Detroit Tigers on Aug. 31 and three more hits the next day. When Francoeur walked to the plate for an at-bat, Detroit catcher Alex Avila remarked with admiration about how tough Hosmer was to face. "Dude, we have tried everything against him," Avila said. "We've thrown the kitchen sink at him, and we can't get him out."
But Hosmer is hitting .245 against lefties with a .293 on-base percentage and a .610 OPS. "He's not really hitting lefties, but he will, because he'll learn how to do it," Francoeur said. "When he does, he's going to be killing it."
"It's going to be fun to watch."
The Royals have seven straight victories and counting.
There is an expectation among rival executives that the Royals will be very active this winter in their search for at least one front-line starting pitcher such as James Shields of the Rays -- for whom the Tampa Bay Rays were willing to take offers before the trade deadline. And Kansas City has prospects to deal.
The Royals hope good times are ahead for fans.
