Angel of Mercy?

Angel of mercy, you don’t need no golden wings.
Angel of mercy, you don’t need no golden wings.
The way you came to my rescue, heaven must be watchin’ over me.
--"Angel of Mercy”, Jonny Lang

Stop a second and imagine something beautiful with me.

Take a second and visualize this in your mind: .270/.330/.450. Okay, not that big a deal. Now imagine those same numbers, but with the following name affixed: Angel Berroa, shortstop of the Kansas City Royals.

I know. I understand the unlikeliness of this. I know that using FanGraphs you can see the following stats…

Year BB% K% BB/K OBP SLG RC/27
2003 4.9 17.6 0.29 .338 .451 5.33
2004 4.3 17.0 0.26 .308 .385 3.96
2005 2.9 17.8 0.17 .305 .375 3.82
2006 2.9 18.6 0.16 .259 .333 2.44

...and know that ‘screwed’ isn’t a very inaccurate way to describe Berroa.

In Bob Dutton’s first piece from Surprise, Ariz., there was a very simple but very interesting question to answer:

Can shortstop Angel Berroa reverse his startling career regression?

Indeed, it seems like this may be one of the bigger questions for Spring Training and the early part of the regular season. If Berroa can do the impossible and get his act together, he will immediately become a useful tool for the Royals. If he continues his very abrupt tumble downward, he won’t be spending much time in blue.

But is there hope? People familiar with me know that I often suggest outlandish ways to get Berroa off the field—involving Mark Teahen, Esteban German or a cardboard cutout of George Brett—because I will do anything I can to get his offensive and defensive production off the field.

But I believe there might be reason to hope. His offensive struggles are very easy to summarize: NO PATIENCE AT ALL. And, for his defense, look at what Dutton said way back during our Q&A session here:

[Berroa] does work hard and he does care. People who say otherwise don’t know him. And, remember, he would go for long stretches of bearing down and not making errors. His mistakes usually came in a cluster because he did care too much and would tend to get down on himself, which would only make things worse.

Last year was different, though. He became lead-footed almost overnight. He now backhanded balls not because of sloppiness but because he couldn’t move well enough to get in front of them. Etc. To use the players’ cliche, he got old in a hurry.

This winter, he chose to remain in Kansas City and work out with a physical trainer on specific drills to increase his quickness and flexibility. It’s his last chance. We should know fairly quickly next spring if it pays off. If so, and he returns to a solid defensive player, he can be an asset. If not, he could be out of the game within a year or two.

So his offense seems to be fixable—show a very tiny bit of restraint at the plate. And he has been working hard at improving his defensive techniques. You never know. Lightning isn’t supposed to strike twice, and Kauffman Stadium’s third base got hit hard last year with the miracle that was Mark Teahen’s season. But if the Royals win the lottery twice, that is yet another potential issue that can be very comfortably solved.

To conclude, here’s a quick paragraph from Poz in a season preview:

Shortstop: This is without a doubt the Royals’ biggest problem in the field. Angel Berroa may have been the worst everyday player in the major leagues last year. He had the lowest on-base percentage for any qualified player in the American League. He also had the lowest slugging percentage. Nasty daily double. Berroa was often brutal defensively, too. The Royals believe he will improve — in part because he can’t get worse and in part because they really have no other options. Angel Sanchez, the shortstop of the future, is a year away. Berroa’s keys to any success remain the same: He has to quit swinging at every pitch, and he has to concentrate better in the field. The Royals intend to give German some time at shortstop, too. That might be an adventure.