Baseball is a difficult game and a profession for the select gifted few tough enough to survive its peaks and valleys, but it’s also a kid’s game played best by adults when they keep it fun.
White Sox manager Pedro Grifol knows this. So when he observed Romy Gonzalez beating himself up during a tough time, he had advice for the 26-year-old infielder/outfielder: “Play the game the way it needs to be played.”
Keep it fun.
“When you let the pressures of this game take away the joy of it, you’re done,” Grifol said. “You’re done in anything you do in the game.
“It looks like he said ‘the hell with it. I’m going to have some fun and I’m going to play this game the way I know how to play it, and the way I’ve always played it.”
The attitude change occurred when Gonzalez, who made his first Opening Day roster and started in right field in Houston, returned from an injury rehab stint in Arizona. Before going on the injured list with right shoulder inflammation on May 1, he struggled with a .139/.139/.194 batting line with one extra base hit in 21 games.
He is batting. .286/.297/.686 with a .986 OPS since then.
“I love this game,” Gonzalez said. “I work extremely hard and not getting early results was a tough pill to swallow. And that added pressure doesn’t help when you’re struggling. It’s just a game. Going out there and having fun took a weight off my shoulders.”
“You play 162 games in 180 days, it’s our job, but it’s a kid’s game,” first baseman Andrew Vaughn said. “If you’re not having fun, it makes it tough. It brings us back to our roots of playing for fun.”
Gonzalez heard similar from loved ones who knew him when it was literally a kid’s game.
“I talk to my grandfather and my dad every day after games,” Gonzalez said. “They can see when I’m flustered and trying to do too much. It took them a while to get through to me. But they did, and when I came back from the IL I told Pedro, ‘I’m a leaf in the wind, man. Whatever happens, happens. I’m just going to go out here, enjoy it as best I can and have fun.’ ”
Grifol will have choices to make veteran Elvis Andrus, as expected, returns from the IL today when the Sox host the Tigers. He views Gonzalez as a five-tool player “who can beat you in a lot of ways.”
“I don’t think I’m going to be mixing and matching at second base,” Grifol said. “We need to win baseball games so if somebody’s playing as well as Romy’s playing, then he’s going to play. If Elvis comes in and he does what he can do, then he’s going to play.”
In Wednesday’s 12-5 Sox loss to the Angels, Gonzalez went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts after he had homered in three straight games. A reminder that the game is never easy.
He homered for the third straight game against the Angels Tuesday, doubled and stole third base and scored on an errant throw. He also made a rangy play at second base. The mix of speed, power and defensive range presents an attractive ceiling.
“Great defender. Extreme range, really good hands and he can swing it,” Vaughn said. “When he puts his bat on the ball there’s a pretty loud explosion.”
“He brings some excitement and some energy to the lineup,” Grifol said.
No more beating himself up.
“It’s really important,” shortstop Tim Anderson said. “Do away with all the thinking, do away with all the noise, and just play. Just keep it simple and have fun.
“Romy has a lot of tools and it’s showing. It’s showing more and more every day.”
