I find this situation fascinating as an example of a larger cultural trend, particularly this aspect of the story:
“It takes time,” Pedroia said. “He has the hand-eye coordination that will allow him to put the bat on the ball. People say he can’t hit. But how many at-bats has he had in the minors?”
Good question. Iglesias has played 261 games in the minors and had 1,076 plate appearances. To put that in perspective, Pedroia played in 270 minor league games and had 1,216 plate appearances before he stuck with the Red Sox.
Pedroia also had the advantage of playing three seasons at Arizona State, a premier college program, and played 42 games at two levels of Single A ball and 66 games for Double A Portland before he was promoted to Triple A Pawtucket.
Iglesias played only 13 games of Rookie League ball in 2010 before the Sox pushed him to Portland for 57 games.
He started the next season at Pawtucket.
Perhaps it should be no surprise that Iglesias has hit .251 in Triple A
with a .589 OPS given his quick route there.
“To start at the level he started at, he kind
of missed out on some things that other players go through and he missed
that learning curve,” said Red Sox first base coach Arnie Beyeler, who
managed Iglesias in Portland in 2010 and the last two seasons at
Pawtucket.
“Because he was so gifted when he arrived, he
got to skip some of that stuff and we forget about that. Sometimes that
comes back on you in the long run.”
We seem to be so concerned with a fast track focus that we are often putting the cart before the horse, trying to rush to goals rather than letting a process take its course. I see this all the time with young musicians who are trying to master orchestral excerpts before they have really spent the time to learn to play their instruments and understand the music they are playing. Most orchestral excerpts are not that difficult to play IF you have laid the groundwork for them with scales, etudes and solo repertoire. At that point it becomes about making musical choices and practicing for a consistent mental approach.
If I had my way we would not hear orchestral excerpts for undergraduate admissions to music schools at all. Except for an extremely rare few, they're just not ready. Even in the best undergraduate auditions I've heard, the excerpts have been the weakest part.
I'm afraid I also see this phenomenon with young conductors who are fast-tracked to big careers. There was a time when many talented young conductors from the United States would go to Europe to work in the opera houses, where they had no choice but to learn to be a good traffic cop with excellent baton technique. Now we seem to want conductors younger than ever, so this step is skipped; they get in front of the major orchestras, who don't need a particularly good traffic cop to play together, and never really learn how to do it. This makes it very difficult for the orchestras that do need a clear baton to find a music director.
I'm sure there are many other examples in other fields. College admissions now have to talk about job placement before anything else, rather than the tremendously valuable experience of a liberal arts education for its own sake.
I don't know what to do about it except tilt at the windmill in my own little way.
