Do Wah Didi Didi

I haven't said much about him on my blog. I don't even own a Yankees card of his yet. However, Didi Gregorius is having a great season, and I hope to see him at shortstop for the Yankees for a long time to come.

Didi had a bit of a slow start in NY. Who could blame him? He had the tall task of being the next shortstop after Derek Jeter. Management preached patience; that Didi was not a finished product. And they were right. Those first few weeks were rough.

Luckily, NY was pretty soft on him all things considered. There was the A-Rod circus which really took the focus away from everyone else. There was watching every pitch Masahiro Tanaka pitch, waiting for his elbow to snap. There was Mark Teixeira, hitting HRs like he was a Texas Ranger again. And most importantly, there was winning.

Didi was bad though. He wasn't hitting, he was making baserunning blunders, and even his fielding was poor. Back in 1996, when Tin took over for Mattingly, while his bat was cold, he still played a good 1B. Didi did little well.

But something happened.

He started to get comfortable. And then he started to get a couple hits. And then the errors stopped. And then he made the plays he should make. And then the highlight reel plays came. And then he came into his own.

For the year, Didi is at  .268/.315/.373. Look, those aren't Jeter prime numbers. They are Jeter at the end numbers. But he's not Jeter. Few are. What he is is a 25 year old up the middle player who looks like he has what it takes to be an above average for a long time. And that's extremely valuable considering what shortstops are in 2015. This is not 2000 when every shortstop was hitting 25 bombs.

Plus, his defense. He has a ton of range and a rocket for an arm. He's been great.

While I wait for a Didi Yankees card, I figured I should pounce on an auto of his, even if it is with the DBacks. Somethings tells me it might be harder to get this guy's auto in a couple of years.