Ian Kinsler came into the big leagues known as a below-average to flat-out bad defender at second base. Over the years, he has instead become one of the best defensive second basemen in the game with his immense range and flair for the flashy plays.
But recently, the Texas Rangers second baseman has hit a rough patch defensively, and it continued in Tuesday night's blowout loss to the Chicago White Sox when he committed an error in the fifth inning that led to two unearned runs, at which point the game was already well out of hand.
In the recent past, many of Kinsler's "errors" would come on plays that many second basemen would not have even been in the position to make, but this year, things have been different. His error on Tuesday was a simple drop of a routine grounder that kept the White Sox's big nine-run inning alive. It was his 12th error of the season, surpassing his 2011 total of 11, and his third in the past eight games.
Ron Washington has always preached pitching and defense and has been known to publicly call out Kinsler's middle infield mate Elvis Andrus when the shortstop has had some defensive lapses in the past. He has yet to do that with Kinsler, who might have more of a veteran status over Andrus in Washington's mind, but something might need to be said if this continues.
