Adam LaRoche, Going Out With a Bang

The 2014 MLB Post-Season will profile many of the game’s most brightly shining stars, most of whom have come to regard the October stage as their own. Albert Pujols, now of the Angels, and Miguel Cabrera are cornerstone players who seem always to be playing in October. They are destined for the Hall of Fame and there are others like Clayton Kershaw and Mike Trout who may join them. But just as often as a Reggie Jackson burns his trademark across the post-season, there are players like Gene Tenace, Darrell Porter and David Freese who become the real difference makers. They may not make Cooperstown, but they give us some great memories.

If one were scanning the lists of playoff rosters for the steady-Eddie performer who could become that breakout player in the looming post-season, it would be Adam LaRoche. On paper the Washington Nationals have the best team in the National League, but it is often and rightly said that luck is a key component that underlies many champions. Masquerading as good fortune, however, is quite often the inspired play of those who have never taken their game to the next level until they are playing on the big stage. And then, when the adrenaline is pumping and the unforgiving spotlight shines on them alone, they make the game saving catch or hit the walk-off home run that becomes transforming.

For LaRoche it would not be so surprising if fortune shines on him in the coming weeks. He has been performing at a heightened level for the past two months. When the Washington Nationals began their playoff push in August and September, no player was more dialed in than LaRoche. He had 13 home runs at the end of July and it looked like the normal production of a rail-thin 34 year old slugger who can see the end of his career coming around the next bend. Maybe it was that knowledge that another chance might not come his way that drove him, but LaRoche began to crush the ball in August. He hit 6 round trippers during that crucial month and added another 7 in September to double his numbers for the year. And they all seemed to come in tight games at just the right moment. He led the team in RBI on the basis of the numbers he posted in the final weeks of the season.

LaRoche is not a prototypical corner infielder. He does not have the muscular bulk of a Pujols or Cabrera. When amped-up players were hitting 50 home runs in the first few years of the 21st century, LaRoche began to steadily turn out 25 home runs per season with boring regularity. The trick is that when players like Andruw Jones are long forgotten, his team mate Adam LaRoche is still cranking out the same couple dozen long balls into his 11th season.

He has never been an All-Star, though his 2012 season did win him a Silver Slugger, a Gold Glove, and MVP votes. The 2012 season was only the second time in his career that LaRoche managed 30 or more home runs or 100 RBI. But the awards for that season were the first hint of recognition for a career that has been marked by its consistency during an age of out-sized performance, much of which has come into subsequent question. As offensive numbers have headed south with each season, Adam LaRoche just keeps on mashing at the same pace, though now it seems more noteworthy.

There is no extra weight on Adam LaRoche; rather he has more trouble than most in maintaining his weight through the season because of a late diagnosed Attention Deficit Disorder. He takes Ritalin to correct the problem, which tends to cause weight loss. In 2013 the concern became acute and  contributed to an off-year when he managed only a .237/.332/.403 slash line. In July 2014 he was having a nice recovery from a down year when he once again found the magic in his very tailored swing.

The long finish as the bat carries through the strike zone causes him to come off the ball like a golfer who watches the carry of the tiny sphere. There is no thunderous effort, just smooth efficient power. He is equally stylish around the first base bag and loves to snap off each catch of the rifled throws that come his way from Ian Desmond, Anthony Rendon and Asdrubal Cabrera who have joined him in one of the best infields in baseball.

LaRoche has made the playoffs three times; two with the Atlanta Braves at the beginning of his career (2004-2005) and in 2012 with the Nationals. In each instance he had only that one chance: the National League Division Series from which his team was eliminated. He played well in each series and his career playoff line of .262/.392/.595 is better than his career numbers. The 2014 Post-Season may be the final and most inspiring motivation for LaRoche. It may be his last chance to advance deep into the playoffs, the one best chance the inveterate bow hunter will ever have to bag the biggest cat of them all.

Baseball as much as any other is a team sport and the Washington Nationals are a team of equals. No one player dominates and over the course of even a short 5-game series, there will be many heroes. But chances are there will be several times during this post-season when that long, sweet swing from Adam LaRoche will make its presence felt. Maybe it will be the key hit to the opposite field to confound the over-shift, but more likely it will be that long deep fly ball that carries beyond the right field wall and sometimes deep into the right field stands. And if it does, Washington fans will applaud a little harder and a little longer than usual. Every baseball wonk in Washington knows this is likely LaRoche’s last season in DC. It could be their last chance to watch number 25 maneuver effortlessly around the first base bag and it would be totally in character for this steady, rock-solid favorite to go out with as big a bang as possible, hauling the biggest cat of them all down the mountain.