Ian Desmond, Linchpin to the Future

There was an interesting note in a post recently by Nationals beat writer, Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post.  He said that if manager Jim Riggleman could build the Nationals from scratch, he would start that team with one player–shortstop Ian Desmond.  Ryan Zimmerman is widely thought to be Washington’s franchise player, especially with Stephen Strasburg on the shelf this year.  No one is doubting the importance of Zimmerman in the middle of the Nationals batting order or manning the hot corner.  Yet Ian Desmond could become the linch pin in holding the Nationals together as they try to move into serious contention in the NL East. It is a roll with a certain historical resonance.

The young shortstop made 34 errors in 2011 and batting second in the order had only a .308 OBP.  Yet when one hears his name mentioned it increasingly is tied to that ambiguous yet crucial concept, “clubhouse leader.”  Desmond is only 25 years old, but has spent seven years toiling in the Nationals organization after being drafted in the third round by the Expos in 2004. He has endured the ups and downs of being a prospect–one who has yo-yoed from “can’t miss” one year only to disappoint the next.

Desmond has worked his way up the ladder one rung at a time and it is that workingman’s major league ethic that is so reminiscent of Hall of Fame Washington Nationals player, Bucky Harris .  Harris came out of the Pennsylvania coal fields as a boy and quickly developed into an indispensable piece of a Washington winning tradition.  Part of his leadership came on the field as part of one of the great double-play combinations with Roger Peckinpaugh.  Clark Griffith made Harris the “boy manager” of his 1924 Championship team because he saw that same leadership spark than Riggleman sees in Desmond.

Desmond’s ability to live up to Riggleman’s confidence depends on his ability to turn the page this season.  He has a list of goals for 2011 that he is keeping close to the vest, but one of them has to be cutting into the errors total. Danny Espinosa is his partner around the second base bag.  The rookie Espinosa is only 24 this April and he showed well at shortstop in college and during his brief career in the minors.  While Espinosa has a steadier hand at short, Desmond has the range and quickness to make the spectacular play. It is his ability to consistently get the easy out that needs to emerge in 2011.

Desmond started his career in Savannah, Georgia playing there for the Sand Gnats.  Playing for those “Gnats,” he worked out at a local gym and met a man I know who was a pretty fair college shortstop in his day.  Although Desmond’s career has moved far from Savannah and people he knew at the gym, Desmond still seeks his old friend’s counsel occasionally, still values the advice of seasoned hand.  “He is a heck of a young man,” says my friend.  “Just an everyday guy with a lot of talent.”

Desmond has been groomed for the majors since early in his minor league career, but the special attention he has received has done little to alter his approach.  He is straight arrow as they come with a keen mind, especially when it comes to baseball. That is what Jim Riggleman seems to like in his young shortstop and why he asked Desmond to help Ryan Zimmerman draft a set of clubhouse rules that would be enforced more by the players than by Riggleman for the 2011 season.

I heard Riggleman recently discuss the unique management demands of a major league baseball team, where every player has an agent–25 clubhouse lawyers in effect who lurk just off camera but are always there ready to speak up for their clients should they be moved in the batting order or benched for being late to practice. So having a guy like Desmond who will take it upon himself to play the game the old-fashioned way, to “respect the game” as they say, is especially valuable. He can be a leader to team mates like Espinosa, Mike Morse, and Roger Bernadina whose abilities to keep the game in perspective all season long can mean the difference between success or failure.

The Washington Nationals are hoping to turn the page in 2011, to emerge as a competitor in the tough NL East where the Phillies and Braves have long winning traditions that far exceed anything Washington can boast. They will move out of the shadows only to the degree that their young players can play important supporting rolls.  One who may lead that charge is Ian Desmond.  Desmond doesn’t forget the people he met on the way to the bigs. Neither did Riggleman. It is that tough humility that makes many want to see them both succeed this year in a town that hasn’t seen a winner in a long time. — Ted Leavengood