Nick Punto Day - Why I love Nick Punto!

Today is Nick Punto Day for Twins bloggers, as created by Andrew Kneeland of the Twins Target blog. I have been looking forward to this day because Nick Punto is one of my favorite members of the Minnesota Twins. Seriously. No, I don’t think he’s one of the best players on the team, and I’m certainly not interested in debating his value with any Nick Punto haters. I know you’re out there, and I know you’d love to tell me why he shouldn’t ever play, but I don’t care, so feel free to write your own blog about why he doesn’t belong in the major leagues, but don’t rain on my parade. This is just me explaining why I love Nick Punto!

I wrote last year about why Punto played as often as he does if you want to look at statistics, but this blog is kind of like explaining why I love my big comfy soft Adidas sweatshirts or my perfect fitting Twins Enterprise Twins hats (Twins Enterprise has nothing to do with the Minnesota Twins, but it’s only “fitting” that they make my favorite hats). Punto is obviously not the best player on the team, and my favorite clothing items are not straight off the fashion runways. I just really enjoy Nick Punto, just like I enjoy my most comfortable clothes! Punto isn’t my first choice for who I’d want to bat with the game on the line in the 9^th inning, just as I wouldn’t wear my favorite sweatshirt/cap combo to meet with a publisher about getting my new book into print (not that I have written a book, started a book or thought about starting a book…). Nicky is just a player that I know will make my evening more comfortable overall!

-Just to clarify, earlier tonight, long after I started writing this blog, I saw that Kbrobaseball had her Punto blog title comparing him to a “good ol’ pair of shoes.” I swear I did not steal her idea, as I had been planning this line of thought since hearing about Nick Punto Blog Day. Apparently this merely means that Punto has this kind of effect on some of his fans!-

Nobody hustles and goes all out quite like Punto does on every play, both on offense and defense. I am not at all a fan of him diving into first base, except in those rare occasions where it is necessary to avoid a tag. Even though physics says that’s not the fastest way to reach the base, he believes that it is until someone can prove him wrong. While he knows he’s putting himself at risk of injury, he does it because he wants to do whatever he can to get on base. His logic may be faulty in this case, but I still can’t be mad about the effort. He only has one gear: going all out all the time.

The Twins are always known for solid consistency on routine grounders, and the ability to make the spectacular plays as well. Of all the fantastic defenders the Twins have had in the last handful of years, I would put Nick Punto’s collection of Web Gems (even if they weren’t all on Baseball Tonight) up against anyone else on the team, or almost any other team for that matter. Torii Hunter has obviously had some of the most amazing catches in Twins history, so he would have to be at the top of that list, but I would still argue that Nick would be right there with him.

There are two Twins plays of the last 5 years that stand out in my mind above all others, in terms of the quality of the play (and I know once I write these, I will think of 30 other ones that should be at the top as well, but such is life). One was Torii Hunter in the 5^th inning (I think) of a game in which Johan Santana had a no-hitter going at the time. The ball was hit to left-center field, and seemed to be at a trajectory that would be impossible to even reach in time to cut off on a bounce, let alone to snatch out of the air. The cameras didn’t even show anyone in the area as the baseball shot out toward the direction of the fence. All of the sudden, there was Torii Hunter flying across the field turf, channeling his inner Usain Bolt (even if we didn’t know who Bolt was yet), propelling off the ground horizontally toward the ball and somehow capturing it in the leather pocket of his glove, followed by a good 2-3 somersault/rolls toward the warning track. I can still hear Twins television play-by-play announcer Dick Bremer saying the following lines as his excitement and volume level increased with each word: “He didn’t catch that did he?!?! He didn’t catch that did he?!?! He sure did!!” The catch itself may have been routine for Torii, but actually getting to the ball way out of his range combined with making the catch; that is what made it amazing.

The other play that is at the top of my own personal web gem list is what I titled The Nick Punto Superman play at 2^nd base, for my own personal DVD highlights. It was in Yankee Stadium a few years ago. I don’t remember if it was a bunt, or just a roller slowing up in the grass, but I know there was no chance it was going to be anything other than an infield hit. Punto got up to the ball, but the angle at which it was rolling vs. the direction he was coming from = no chance in the world of physics to get the ball to 1^st base accurately, let alone before the runner reached safely. He grabbed the ball barehanded, and had his whole body off the ground, almost as if he was lying down and had started levitating in a perfect Superman type pose. The fact that he was in the air should’ve eliminated any ability to put some torque on the toss, since the arm is only one component in getting power behind a throw. Yet somehow, he was able to take the energy from pushing his legs off the ground for the dive, and move it along to his arm, which was hanging below his body between his torso & the grass, to get something on the throw to first. As for accuracy, I have no idea how it got where it was supposed to go. Throwing across your body very rarely works out well for even the strongest and most accurate of arms (ask Brett Favre or Peyton Manning about that…), especially when you are suspended in the air. Yet little Nicky Punto got that throw to 1^st base in time for the out. The play continues to amaze me just thinking about. Even more amazing to me is that he made almost the identical play in 2009, in the exact same borough of New York, albeit on the opposite side of the street. The pretty much cemented that fact that it wasn’t a lucky play!

I would need to write that book I mentioned previously in order to describe all my favorite defensive plays from Nick Punto over the years (and I would need a Lord of the Rings size series to cover all the plays by every Twin that I’ve enjoyed through time), but that play at Yankee Stadium just embodies who he is out on the field. He never believes that a play is impossible and he will always give it his all. I’ve often wondered what would happen if the effort and attitude of players like Nick Punto & Mike Redmond was combined with the talent of a Milton Bradley. That would be one unstoppable ball player.

I still can’t quite understand why Punto only seems to be able to swing the bat well in even numbered years, but that means we should be in for a good season for him, regardless of what different position he heads out to each game. I just know I can rely on him to play hard, and to care about what he is doing, no matter what the situation. No one can control their talent; sure, they can work hard on skills and practice consistently, but talent is a gift. Effort and dedication is what can be controlled, and I think that must be why Nick Punto is one of my favorite Twins of the past decade. My favorite sweatshirts & cap certainly have been there for me repeatedly, never failing to be comfortable, even when they felt perhaps they needed a break. So as sappy & sugary as this superfluous post may be, this is why I love Nick Punto!

(1st Photo taken by Liz Strand, 09/21/07. 2nd Photo taken by Kathy Willens, 07/04/07)