Manny Machado showed the upside early.
He showed why his major league debut was an anticipated event. He showed why so many scouts and the Baltimore Orioles believed he could be great. He proved he was well worthy of being the third overall pick in the 2010 draft.
Machado’s 2012 debut gave us glimpses of him being a five-tool player. Someone who could hit, hit for power, run, throw and play defense with the best infielders the game had to offer.
But over the next two years, injuries and a bit of immaturity threatened to snatch back one of baseball’s young, budding superstars before the game got a chance to fully enjoy what he had to offer. Two major knee injuries required surgery—one to each joint, limiting him to 82 games last year—and may have flattened his career arc entering 2015. Machado has also proven to be a combustible player over the past two years, getting himself ejected three times through occasional overreactions.
This season has still hinted at the maturity issue, but his production is back on a significant uptick, and he may very well be pushing himself into the American League’s Most Valuable Player conversation by the time the All-Star Break arrives.
Manny Machado has been raking since May. Now he’s got AL Player of the Week honors to prove it. pic.twitter.com/iqL4drzfVD
— MLB (@MLB) June 15, 2015
Over Machado’s previous 28 games leading into this week, he hit .298/.350/.482 with an .832 OPS, five home runs and four doubles. The numbers were not on-another-planet fantastic, but they were very good and could be an indicator of what is about to come.
Especially since this week is off to a pretty good start, too.
Machado went 3-for-4 with home runs in his first two plate appearances, scored three times and knocked in three Tuesday against the Philadelphia Phillies. Both home runs left little to no doubt at impact where they’d end up, and his first one started an onslaught that led to eight Baltimore home runs, a franchise record.
Machado is doing his damage as a leadoff hitter, a role manager Buck Showalter put him in May 2. He took over the spot for good May 7 after bouncing around the lineup for the first 25 games.
“The more he does it, it almost seems like he is running a little more, bunting a little more, kind of taking on the attributes of a leadoff guy kind of by osmosis,” Showalter told reporters, per Joey Nowak of MLB.com. “He is running better than he ever has as an Oriole.”
Machado never had more than 13 stolen bases in the minors, but he already has nine in 10 attempts this season.
The new role has not affected Machado’s power stroke, which has always been on a flat swing plane anyway. Seven of Machado’s 13 home runs have come out of the leadoff spot this season.
"It is a win-win," Machado told Steve Melewski of MASNsports.com Monday about hitting at the top of the lineup. "You get more at-bats, you get to see more pitches and I think it has helped me out. Becoming a hitter, learning how to hit, learning situations and learning the game. It's been fun hitting leadoff."
Aside from learning, Machado is also still maturing. He is just shy of three weeks away from his 23rd birthday, but it was just a little more than two weeks ago that we saw Machado’s third career ejection. It was a strong reaction that left home plate umpire Toby Basner no choice other than thumbing Machado out of the game.
It was not the first time Machado has a surprising reaction to what seemed like a minuscule event. Last June he reacted dramatically when then-Oakland A’s third baseman Josh Donaldson tagged him out on what seemed like a routine play.
That led to yet another sign of immaturity later in the series. Machado flung his bat down the third-base line after a pitch was too far inside for his liking. He was ejected from the game and later received a five-game suspension that virtually everyone agreed was fair.
Unsolicited advice for manny machado: accept the 5-game ban, then grow up.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) June 10, 2014
The hope is that Machado will learn from his mistakes and continue entertaining with his on-field prowess. However, his reaction to his latest ejection does not bode well for that happening anytime soon.
“Why would it be [a concern]? I've got hopefully 20 more years in my pocket to play baseball," Machado told the Baltimore Sun’s Dan Connolly about his temper. "There's going to be more where that came from. You still have got to keep grinding and keep your head up and keep playing some baseball."
When Machado sticks to just playing baseball, and not acting foolishly to perceived slights, he is one of the game’s current wonders. He can do everything we ask of a player on the baseball diamond, and do it at an elite level.
His recent run of production is more evidence of that. And as long as he can keep doing it while staying in good health and in a good frame of mind, we are witnessing the reemergence of one of the game’s most special players.
All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.
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