With the Arizona Diamondbacks, versatility is the key for their lineup and their new general manager Kevin Towers made it a priority during the offseason to supply manager Kirk Gibson with a strong, versatile bench filled with “do what it takes” kind of players who can play any position and are competent as starting players.
Thanks to Tower’s acquisitions, Kirk Gibson and his newly assembled cast of all-star coaches (Pitching coach Charles Nagy, First base Eric Young, hitting coach Don Baylor and bench coach Allan Trammell to name a few) has the luxury of utilizing Willie Bloomquist (plays infield and outfield), Xavier Nady (plays outfield and first base), Melvin Mora (plays all infield positions except shortstop) and brought back utility infielder Ryan Roberts who got some starts in at third base.
Because of this Gibson has been able to shuffle the starting lineup multiple times during the opening segment of the 2011 season to see what works best and what should be avoided in the future.
“We know it’s going to take 25 guys plus some and you want to try to keep everyone involved and play the matchups,” said Kirk Gibson on his new versatile team.
Kirk may not look thrilled at times (in fact he kind of resembles the baseball version of Bill Belichick), but he is definitely pleased with his new unlikely leadoff man’s performance over the first week of the season.
Willie Bloomquist has started the season as the leadoff hitter and starting shortstop for the Diamondbacks while regular shortstop Stephen Drew was recovering from an abdominal injury from spring training, has hit .357 with a home run to open up one of the Cubs games earlier in the week to go with his five RBI and five stolen bases.
When Drew returned to the lineup for the Diamondbacks’ home opener against the Cincinnati Reds, Bloomquist still started at left field. However, despite his solid start, manager Kirk Gibson isn’t sure he’ll keep him in the starting lineup all the time.
“I don’t know“, Gibson said, “I can’t play everyone every day but he’ll be involved for sure and it’s a good problem to have. Everybody is getting healthy, everybody wants to be in the lineup, everybody’s versatile, they can play and it’s my job to keep them all involved and keep them all sharp.”
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