Varitek simply plays on: Consistently in the line-up

February 21, 2001 | Baseball Digest | By Tony Massorotti

 

Fort Myers - The game can sometimes turn into a numbers stew, a boiling pot filled with batting averages and slugging percentages, strikeout-to-walk ratios and first batter efficiencies. We make it too complicated sometimes. We fail to recognize that some of the most notable achievements are often the simplest. 
 
Take Jason Varitek for example. During the last two years, the only player with more games caught in the American League is Detroit Tigers backstop Brad Ausmus. 
 
"He never complained, never made alibis, nothing," Red Sox manager Jimy Williams said of Varitek, his starting catcher for each of the past two seasons. "He just played." 
 
Varitek was one of the 58 Red Sox players in uniform as the club continued spring training workouts at the team's minor-league facility yesterday, and, as usual, he was one of the first players out of the clubhouse. Williams has generally had his players on the field at 10 a.m. for daily workouts, but nearly an hour before Varitek already was in the batting cage doing extra work. 
 
Varitek is one of several players whom Sox fans have identified as having a disappointing season a year ago, but many of those followers missed the point. Varitek caught 128 games last year, the fourth-highest total in the A.L. And since becoming a full-time starter before the 1999 season, Varitek has caught 268 games, only nine fewer than Ausmus, who was traded to the Houston Astros (again) over the winter. 
 
Yes, Varitek has caught more games than Texas Ranger's anvil Ivan (Pudge) Rodriquez. He has caught more games than Jorge Posada of the New York Yankees. He has caught more games than Charles Johnson, who spent the last two seasons with the Baltimore Orioles and the Chicago White Sox before signing with the Florida Marlins during the winter. 
 
Given the position that Varitek plays, his reliabilty should not be overlooked. 
 
"You look for durability and longevity in all positions, but catchers seem to have the capability to play a long time," Williams said. "Some of 'em mature late as hitters, but maybe they get the oppportunity because they're catch-and-throw guys and they don't necessarily complain if they don't play a lot." 
 
"It's a tough position physically. Pain does not seem to be a factor," Williams said. "But to be able to handle physical pain you have to be very tough mentally. Bruises. Foul balls. Collisions. It goes with the territory." 
 
Said Varitek when asked to highlight some of the things he was most proud of from a year ago: "I played. I went out there and still played." 
 
Under the circumstances, that was no small feat. Last June, during a 22-1 loss to the New York Yankees at Fenway Park, Varitek suffered a right wrist injury that proved to be torn cartilage, a problem that required surgery at the end of the season. The discomfort was so severe at times, Varitek said, that, "I would reach for a doorknob and (the wrist) would lock up on me." 
 
Two years ago, he finished the season with "a torn ligament in my thumb and a broken bone in my hand." He caught 140 games, second only to Rodriquez, who was named AL Most Valuable Player. That total does not include the postseason. Nonetheless, Varitek's production last season dropped off some. His batting average dropped from .269 to .248. His home run total plunged from 20 to 10. He had fewer doubles (39 to 31), fewer triples (2 to 1), fewer RBI (76 to 65). But every time Sox pitchers took the ball, they knew who was going to be behind the plate. 
 
"I felt like I gave away some at-bats trying to be perfect, trying to make myself a little better hitter. I don't want to do that this year." Varitek said. "I'm not going to put pressure on myself to do what I did two years ago. I still feel like I did really well last year because I helped the pitching staff out. I can look back and say I did everything I could. Maybe the results weren't what I wanted." 
 
It depends on how you look at it.