Derek Jeter once claimed he invented the play, and no one protested loud enough because we now call it the Derek Jeter Jump Throw, but maybe Archimedes and his circle doodles deserve more credit. He at least understood the early physics of the twisting power of torque.
There were 47,152 defensive plays made in the major leagues last season and 7,743 of them were turned by shortstops. Every season, shortstops account for about 16-18 percent of defensive plays — it is the most active position on the field once a ball is in play.
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Very few of those plays are easy. If every groundball dribbled firmly and evenly straight to a shortstop’s feet, the world wouldn’t need an acrobat like Ozzie Smith to play the position. All those chances for a shortstop to make a play, year after year, has led to plenty of creativity.
Sometime after he debuted 25 years ago for the Yankees, Jeter ranged toward the 5-6 hole, that large, unmanned gap between the shortstop and third baseman, to pick up a groundball. Because he was running in the opposite direction from where the baseball needed to go, Jeter jumped and spun like a figure skater performing an axel.
He did not do this for style points. Archimedes more than 2,000 years ago figured out the force of spinning around an axis can be powerful, like kids playing a game of crack the whip. Jeter improvised this and made a play.
Since then, every shortstop worth his salt has tried to improve on the Jeter Jump Throw.
“I’ve been practicing that one for a long, long time,” Rockies all-star shortstop Trevor Story said.
Story last season played the best fielding stretch of his four-year career, a confident and authoritative display of defense that is nearly unmatched in Colorado’s history. His predecessor, Troy Tulowitzki, set the standard for Rockies shortstops with his enormous free safety frame, mobility and strong arm. Story is nearly meeting that bar.
In one of the tightest Gold Glove Award decisions in recent memory, Story fell short to National League shortstop winner Nick Ahmed of Arizona. The tallies, which are not made public, are totaled from votes from coaches and managers (75 percent) and from SABR’s Defensive Index statistic (SDI, 25 percent). Ahmed led the NL in SDI, followed by St. Louis’ Paul DeJong and Story.
By defensive runs saved, a statistic created by the Fielding Bible that measures defenders better or worse than average, Ahmed and Story were glove-to-glove as the two best shortstops in the major leagues, with barely any room between them.
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“I see it every day,” said Rockies manager Bud Black, who was surprised Story did not win the award. “There are great defenders. Nick Ahmed in our division is great. Brandon Crawford is steady. He’s got a track record. Javier Báez is a good one too. It’s a premium defensive position and there are a lot of good ones and Trevor is in that conversation.”
The differences between Story and Ahmed came down to styles. Ahmed has developed a unique exaggerated throwing motion, releasing the ball well above his head, like a hand at midnight.
Story, on the other hand, defends in the tradition of Jeter.
“I really pay attention to footwork,” Story said of how he scouts fellow shortstops. “That’s where the routine plays are made. Guys who make less errors are the guys who are most consistent with footwork. The fun, crazy plays are awesome to look at. But footwork and arm strength get you range. I watch range. It shows how much ground you can cover.”
For Story, arm strength and range also lead him to the crazy plays that are awesome to watch. It starts with the Jeter Jump. The jump throw has become the play that shortstops talk about when shortstops talk to each other.
“At the time I just thought it was quicker to do it that way,” Jeter once told the New York Post. “You work on it enough and it becomes second nature. The key to the play is being quick. The quicker you get rid of it, the better chance you have of getting the runner.”
The shortstops after him refined the movements. Tulowitzki, who was so enamored with Jeter he once spent part of his time on the disabled list in the stands at a Yankees game in New York, made his movement quicker and, at times, higher off the ground. He was so big, at 6-foot-3 and 205 pounds, Tulowitzki seemed more comfortable throwing downward to first base. Here he is shortening his jump for speed with a slight sidearm:
Story tweaked that idea for efficiency. He cares little for style points and his speed is dependent on footwork chasing the ball. When he arrives at the jump, then, Story shortens his hang time in order to achieve more power in his arm action.
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“Some guys are different,” Story said. “Some guys really like to jump up and get high in the air to throw it. I found, the closer I stay to the ground, the more I can get on the throw. That just comes from practicing and playing around with it in batting practice. When I jump really high, it looks pretty cool, but I don’t get much on the throw. I try to get off the ground, but I stay more centered so I can really throw through it.
“When I’m lower,” Story added, “more of my energy is going toward first. When I get up in the air, the energy is going up and away, back into left field, and the throw is slower.”
Story borrowed some of those physics from third baseman Nolan Arenado, his left-side mate with the Rockies who won a seventh Gold Glove award this month in his seventh season, and a second platinum glove award as the NL’s best defender overall.
Arenado’s instruction for making a similar ranging play to his right, one that leaves him in foul territory, is to get a throw on line with oomph by facing first base as much as possible, even if you’re falling away.
“I know with instincts that I need to get my throw while I get my body going toward the base as much as I can,” Arenado said. “Even though I’m fading back, if I can get my hips and my arms through going toward the base, I know there will be a better chance for a throw on line.”
Together, Story and Arenado form baseball’s best left-side defense, a duo that proved invaluable to the rise of a young pitching staff in Colorado in 2018. Their acrobatics, though, are measured. They do not wildly throw themselves into axel jumps and off-balance putouts. Everything has a purpose.
And at least some of their discipline was implanted by Tulowitzki, a notorious stickler for errors. To his eye, there was only one defensive statistic, fielding percentage. Story and Arenado remain aware of that but aren’t afraid of flair.
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“You don’t want to be reckless,” Story said. “There’s a fine line between being reckless and being aggressive, trying to make plays for your team. Nolan is great at that. He doesn’t make too many errors. He’s not eating the ball, as opposed to making a risky throw past the first baseman. I respect that a lot, guys who try to make plays and not worry too much about errors. But you have to draw a line.”
Story said he continues to work in the other direction, fielding the difficult play to his left toward second base, the grounder that spins a shortstop in a circle, and on shifted plays that position him away from his natural spot at short.
A highlight does not make a shortstop. Jeter will likely enter the Hall of Fame next year in large part because he played for 20 years, regularly fielding more than 150 games in a season, a workhorse on defense. His offshoots raised the bar.
Story and his jump throws are one tool in his defense, another option for snuffing out groundballs with a maximum amount of efficiency and power, and as often as he can. Steadiness is critical. Make the plays that should be made, in the first inning or the ninth, then build from there.
“What marvels us is the spectacular,” Black said of Story. “Because that really helps. It helps to win games and it has so many aspects. It helps your pitching staff, they throw fewer pitches, it creates an out when it didn’t look like there would be one, it stops rallies. And he does that.”
(Photo: Dustin Bradford / Getty Images)
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