Didi Gregorius Still Has Work To Do At Shortstop, But Up For The Challenge

Newest Yankees shortstop Didi Gregorius will be the first one to tell you that he is humbled to be the first player to take over that role after it was marked Derek Jeter’s territory for 20 seasons. He knows that it will definitely not be easy, especially since he is still trying to learn the position himself. However, he can promise that he is prepared to work hard and give it his all each day he takes the field. 

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“I’m still learning how to play shortstop,” Gregorius told Kevin Kernan of the New York Post. “I just try to get outs, make the routine play and once in a while make a highlight play. I’m going to go out there and try to be the best person I can be out there and give 100 percent, hustle, play the game hard all the time.”

Interestingly enough, Gregorius played second base up until he was the age of 17. As a 25-year-old, he has only been playing shortstop for eight years, but believes that his hard work ethic and his mental and physical state of mind will help him prepare for the upcoming season.

“I am hard on myself,” Gregorius told Kevin Kernan of the New York Post. “You want to get everything done perfect, but nobody is perfect.”

Coming from a family where his father, Johannes, was a pitcher for the Amsterdam Pirates and a mother who was a hard-hitting softball catcher, he just knew that baseball was what he was made to do. He couldn’t imagine his life without it, and doesn’t want to. He hopes that this will be the start to a new chapter in his life that he is looking forward to taking advantage of every second of.

In just 647 major league at-bats with the Diamondbacks and Reds, Gregorius has put up a solid .243 batting average. With just that little amount of at-bats, that is pretty stunning. In fact, his hard-hits baseball ratio for 2014 has been compared to All-Stars Mike Trout and Giancarlo Stanton. To be compared with those two guys alone is not too shabby.

Gregorius’ passion and talent will definitely be tested under the bright lights at Yankee Stadium this upcoming season. He has only been to New York City once, but will definitely get used to the stomping grounds in no time. Gregorius is prepared for what the next journey in his life will be like, and it sounds like it will be a positive for both him, the team and the fans.