Sullivan: Jesus Montero Almost Knows How To Run

Now, about Ellie Howard…

In Eric Wedge’s estimation, Jesus Montero’s running has made progress. In Eric Wedge’s estimation, Jesus Montero’s running isn’t yet where the team would like it to be. Thus, we may conclude that Jesus Montero almost knows how to run.

Which is good, in that it represents a step forward. But it’s progress in something that’s kind of humiliating to have to be working on in the first place. It’s something so fundamental, as if the Mariners had to have a player spend the offseason working on learning how to sit down and then stand up again. You should just have a half-decent running form naturally. Throwing overhand, that’s something you learn. Motion—that’s innate. I don’t think it can be pointed out enough that one of our 2013 spring-training fluff stories has to do with a hotshot young player getting better at running. Not base-running, not stealing. Running. A player is learning how to do what five-year-olds do for fun.

In Montero’s defense, it isn’t an easy thing to conquer muscle memory, and he grew up in a forest in which the natives were terrorized by an evil dragon that could sense motion from many miles away. So the locals developed a very particular form of locomotion in which they moved as quickly as possible while remaining on their tip-toes so as not to rouse or alarm their oppressor. Montero knows now that there is no more dragon, not in Seattle, not in the ballparks, but that’s years upon years of repetition to undo, and it takes more than a few months to erase such a habit. The Mariners need to be understanding, they need to be patient.

...Somewhere along the way, Jesus Montero learned how to run wrong. No one corrected him, and it probably only got worse and worse. Jesus Montero is probably going to make more money than you’ll see in your lifetime as a professional athlete. Matthew was right the other day. Jesus Montero’s running form is the present-day equivalent of Jose Lopez getting braces. These things, you can’t even dream them up.