Eaton's impressive start for White Sox silences critics
A few hours before the White Sox's April 8 home opener against the Indians, general manager Rick Hahn was asked about Adam Eaton.
He had an interesting answer.
"I think the only thing that probably surprises me with regards to Adam is some of the criticism that's heaped upon him for small flaws in his game," Hahn said. "Obviously, there are a few baserunning blunders here or there that he needs to clean up and is working on. Diving into bags at times, potentially risking injury during his first year here, we talked about.
"But this is an extremely valuable piece to a successful club and based on some of the criticisms or suggestions I've read over the last few months on him, I think some folks might miss his merit. They miss the benefit of what he does."
The Sox are back home Tuesday night against the Red Sox, nearly a month after Hahn went to bat for the erratic Eaton.
As for the critics, they've hit the road after Eaton's remarkable opening month.
Not only is the pint-size leadoff man off to a solid start at the plate with a .283/.357/.374 hitting line, Eaton is thriving on the defensive end after switching from center field to right.
When the White Sox signed free-agent Austin Jackson on March 6, he instantly became the starting center fielder based on his superior defensive skills.
As for Eaton, give him credit for handling the change with class and maturity.
"I'll do anything," he said after Jackson signed. "It doesn't matter where you play me, left (field), center or right, DH, doesn't matter. I just want to win."
With Eaton off to a rousing start in right field, the overall team defense has become a strength and the Sox roll into their six-game homestand against Boston and Minnesota with the best record (18-8) in the American League.
According to FanGraphs, Eaton leads the major leagues with 12 defensive runs saved, and he has a comfortable lead over Arizona shortstop Nick Ahmed and Colorado third baseman Nolan Arenado, who are tied for second with 7 DRS.
Over the past two seasons, when he was the White Sox's starting center fielder, Eaton would play brilliant defense from time to time. But he would also drop routine flyballs, run into fences and consistently misfire on cutoff throws.
In 2015, Eaton ranked 138th out of 142 qualified major-league defenders with a -14 DRS.
Clearly, the move to the corner has cut down the ground Eaton has to cover, and switching to right field is a perfect spot for his powerful throwing arm.
There is one overlooked aspect that also might help explain why Eaton has blossomed into a dangerous all-around player this season.
Many of his critics zeroed in on some of Eaton's off-field comments. While watching the Oscars in February, he tweeted: "(Why) does it always have to be about black and white ...? #American," and then immediately went into damage control.
In March, after Adam LaRoche abruptly retired when the White Sox requested he limit son Drake's access to the clubhouse, Eaton went on WSCR 670-AM and said: "We lost a leader in Drake."
Again, to his credit, Eaton was one of the very few White Sox players who regularly made himself available to the media last season, and speaking in front of cameras and tape recorders every day can be draining.
This year, newcomers Todd Frazier, Brett Lawrie, Dioner Navarro, Alex Avila and Mat Latos have helped picked up the slack - both as leaders and on the media front - and Eaton has been able to focus more on playing baseball.
"I think it's a huge deal," Eaton said. "You look at the successful teams over the last 10, 15 years, and they had true leaders. They have a good core group of leaders, and a lot of guys who are willing to follow."
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WAR leaders
Major-league baseball's Wins Above Replacement (WAR) leaders through May 1:
Adam Eaton, WHITE SOX 2.0
Nolan Arenado, Rockies 1.9
Jose Altuve, Astros 1.7
Manny Machado, Orioles 1.7
Aledmys Diaz, Cardinals 1.7
Josh Donaldson, Blue Jays 1.6
Dexter Fowler, CUBS 1.6
Logan Forsythe, Rays 1.6
Mike Trout, Angels 1.5
Adrian Beltre, Rangers 1.5
Source: baseball-reference.com