Imaginary, Real

I keep hearing how pitcher Jackob deGrom is HOF-worthy, and, for the life of me, I can’t see it. At age 38, deGrom has a 105-74 record and 2.70 ERA. That includes last night, when the veteran righthander gave up six runs in the first inning to the White Sox, who went on to beat the Rangers 11-7. Nobody is mentioning Sox rookie outfielder Tristan Peters for Cooperstown, though I doubt he cares. After going from one to another to a third organization, the 26-year old seems to have found a home with the Sox. A 3-for-3 night with a homerun in four consecutive games no doubt has Sox GM Chris Getz feeling good about his talent-scouting chops. This is where baseball stands out from the NFL and NBA, neither of which feature 26-year old rookies any more often than Haley’s Comet comes around. In baseball, it happens all the time, though more often with pitchers than position players. From what I can tell, it happened with Peters because of the right combination of skills and coachability. He had a reputation as a plus-defender who could bunt, which got him a look-see in spring training, where he hit .270, good enough for a spot on the roster. Through April, he looked to be a rangy slap hitter, with just three RBIs in 66 at-bats. Then came May and June. Maybe it was Peters’ first homerun, a three-run shot against the Cubs on May 17, that announced his arrival, or just a steady approach to the plate. Either way, the native of Winkler, Manitoba, has established himself at the lower end of the batting order. And, because he can express himself, he’s done a number of postgame interviews in which he’s made comments that touch on coachability. Peters has eleven homers that have basically come in two bunches. During the first bunch, he mentioned that he’s trying to stay within himself after going the power route for a time in the minors. Indeed, last year in Triple A, he struck out 102 times while hitting fifteen homers and batting .266. As we speak, Peters is hitting .277 with eleven homers and 72 strikeouts in 354 at-bats, together with a 342 OBP. I’ll take that kind of production over make-believe HOF stats any day of the week.