First of all, Nick made the team when Julio Lugo and Jed Lowrie went down because he out hit Angel Chavez and Gil Velasquez (not to mention Brad Wilkerson) in ST.
Whether Jed or Julio Lugo would have been the starting SS is irrelevant to a discussion of Nick Green, who began the year as journeyman backup to the backup. How is he doing? Fantastic. The Sox wouldn’t be in 2nd place without him; and today’s throwing error does not diminish that; especially when he hit 2 for 3 plus a walk against tough pitching, and otherwise played excellent defense. One mistake by one player didn’t lose that game.
This piece is not about Nick as a great defensive SS. He is very good, has limited experience at the position, and so far has been prone to the same kind of errors Julio makes . . . as he gets to a lot of hard hit balls.
According to ESPN’s stats, before coming to the Sox at age 30, he had played 2b, 3b, 1b & RF for 5 teams, making 17 errors in 226G; and had played only 23 games at SS, starting in 2007, making 4 errors. Since his rookie year, he played 194G at 2b, (162GS), and made 13E in 784TC for a .989%. He had played 39G at 3b making 5E in 62TC for a .919%. With the Sox, he has played mostly SS, where he has made 7E in 102TC. He also filled in at 3b and 2b, error free. This brings his career totals at SS to 43G, 31GS, 8E in 143TC for a .944%. On the field he has flashed leather, while making some “how did that happen” errors. He plays 2b, SS, 3b pretty well, which is just part of his value to the Sox.
He is also Heads Up on the field. Witness the “pickoff” double play he initiated in tonight’s game. He plays every game like that and, as such, adds another important dimension. He is an asset, perhaps in the way Alex Coras was an asset. Smart. Mature. Baseball head. Hustle. Good guy.
He is a career .246/.313/.355 hitter. However, for the Sox he is hitting .302/.368/.430 with 13RBI. Not bad for a part time backup to the backup. More importantly, he is hitting .406/1.111 with runners on base and .455/1.147 with RISP. Mr. Clutch. Can he maintain this pace at the plate? Who knows? He has a history of tailing off later in the season, but this reputation is based on what? Five years of improving annually despite inconsistent playing time at 5 positions . . . kind of like Youk . . . and he apparently is willing to fight to keep his job.
Jed Lowrie, the doubles and RBI machine will be back next month, with his error free play at SS. We can hope he returns to form. Julio Lugo is hitting off the charts, but his knees are not allowing him full mobility at SS or his old base stealing speed. Right now we have two SS with high BA/OBP, who for the first quarter of the year have generally outhit J.Hardy, O.Cabrera, B. Crosby, S.Drew, (with comparable errors), better numbers than anyone ever expected from SS this year. We await Lowrie. We are grateful for Lugo and Green. Can we stop talking about trading our kids for a SS who may not perform better than our 3 guys at the plate or in the field?
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