The Legend of Omar Vizquel

by user I am a cpcp

Omar's wizardry at shortstop will never be forgotten at Jacobs Field.

The Cleveland Indians have a tremendous young shortstop in Jhonny Peralta. In only his third full season (with a halfsy and a shortsy) he's hitting .266 with over 50 home runs and over 200 RBI. This season he's already had 12 home runs, 37 RBI and is hitting just under .280.

Peralta is actually smack dab in the middle of the new generation of shortstops that were built for baseball's offensive era. He's big, he's bulky and he mashes. He's great in the middle of the lineup. The best part is he's actually becoming a decent fielder as well.

Most teams would be overly grateful to have a young slugger like this that can handle the shortstop position, but those clubs don't have some of the largest shoes to fill in their franchises history.

However yesterday when I was at the Cleveland Indians most recent disappointing loss, an Atlanta Braves player his a screamer through the left side of the infield. Peralta made an effort, but didn't quite get there as the ball headed into left field. All around section 276, and I'm guessing most of the ballpark, fans leaned to the person on their right or left and said the exact same sentence I was thinking, "Omar would have had that."

Omar Vizquel hasn't been in a Tribe uniform for three years, but whenever a ball is hit anywhere close to shortstop, Cleveland fans can still imagine him making a miraculous play. Peralta, or any other Indians shortstop in the future, will never be able to take Omar's memory off of the field.

Vizquel epitomized the words "fan favorite" because of the great person, hard worker and fielding magician he is and was in Cleveland for 11 seasons. No matter how good Peralta gets at the plate, he'll never be good enough in the field.

I hope the fans in San Francisco realize what they got in having Omar as their shortstop, sure he's a little older now, but he was an older player in his end days in Cleveland and he still made ever play by just enough.

Although if San Francisco fans aren't taking Omar for granted, I feel bad for any future Giants shortstops as they'll probably face the same uphill battle as Peralta and those after him.

For such a little guy, Omar Vizquel casts an inescapable shadow.

DNLLegend

896 days ago

Score 5

"Omar the Outmaker" is going to be one of those guys who, when HoF balloting comes around, will have a huge divide. In his favor will be those who saw him play, against him will be those who haven't. A few weeks ago, he made a great play against Julio Franco -- one of those magical players that those of us who rarely see Vizquel play typically chalk up to luck more than superhuman defense. Whether the Vizquel supporters can convince that group that Omar is more super than human remains to be seen.

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DrpatriotAll-American

896 days ago

Score 0

As someone who follows baseball but doesn't watch much of it, I had never seen Omar play until the Giants played the Red Sox yesterday. He's the only player I remember doing anything in that game on their team - other than that steroids guy whose name escapes me at the moment. I hope he makes the Hall of Fame because he's one of the better defense players to ever play in the league.

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Tyrone BriggsHall of Famer

896 days ago

Score 0

Vizquel's glove should make him a HOFer. One dimensional players who club a lot of HRa or hit for average routinely get into the Hall, than Vizquel should get in for his glove. He is that good and has been for a long time.

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RomiezzoLegend

896 days ago

Score 2

There is no doubt in my mind that Omar Vizquel is a Hall of Famer. Ozzie Smith made it, so why can't Vizquel? Vizquel only has 2 less Gold Gloves than Smith does (Vizzy has 11, while Ozzie has 13). Vizquel is also better on the offensive end than Smith. Ozzie has 2500+ hits, as well as 1300+ runs scored. He also has 370 stolen bases as of now. That just shows that Vizquel is known for his defense, but his offense is a bit overrated; not now, but a while back when he was hitting .290s and .300s.

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Willf123JV Squad

895 days ago

Score 0

I wouldnt quite say Visquel is better at the offensive end. Ozzie's career OPS+ is 87 while Omar's is 84 and Ozzie played in a tougher offensive environment. Their runs created per 27 outs are 4.16 for Visquel and 3.76 for Oz. It is a virtual dead heat but Ozzie has 580 steals at a 79% success rate vs. 371 sb at 71% for Omar. All in all I'd give a slight offensive advantage to Ozzie.

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Willf123JV Squad

895 days ago

Score 0

I understand Vizzy had 11 GG and Ozzie 13 but it is only significant in comparison to other players at that position in the time they are playing. As far as their gloves go Ozzie makes .63 plays a game more which is pretty significant in an era in which the fielding percentage was .966 vs .972 for Izzy.

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Willf123JV Squad

895 days ago

Score 0

On WEEI yesterday Sean McAdam stated that Visquel was not a dominant player in his era at the position in which he played and said he was in the Hall of Very Good.

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