Youth is a funny thing. It feels like Evan Longoria has been around for a long time. In a sense, he has. He has existed in our collective baseball subconscious as a viable entity since he was drafted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays with the third pick of the 2006 amateur draft. Promise was on his side. His name sounded famous. It oozed with an ironic sense Hollywood femininity. Evan Longoria seemed to be on the fast track to immortality. He was great at a young age. He was great right away. He could hit extremely well and he could play defense–fantastic defense by all metric and eyeball accounts. He was a fast moving golden god.
Because he started at such a young age, superlatives were heaped upon him…as were expectations. They were heaped for good reason. People say good things when you are a young golden god with a golden glove. He was so good, so young, that people were baffled when he agreed to sign a six-year $17.5 million contract with the Rays before he had any sort of chance to explore his options. When you are talented and young, you have options. Security is for us mortal folk. Golden gods can, nay, ought to roll the dice. Evan Longoria took the deal, which I imagine helped him feel secure in some way, shape, and (or) form.
The reality of the situation is much different that the relative perception. Evan Longoria is in the midst of a minor blip. Purely from a value perspective, he has almost doubled the total worth of the contract in every single season he has played since signing. From a contractual point of view, the Rays have already won (on a purely metaphorical level, of course). From the point of view of someone who loves watching the development of the prodigy, it isn’t a satisfying victory. The defensive metrics, while still measuring in his favor compared to the average third baseman, are down. Offensively, he’s actually walking a tick more (BB% 12.5), and striking out a tick less (K%17.3). Usually, not always, but usually, walking more and striking out less leads to good things. This time, they are not harbingers of good news. The once golden god, while still godlike in the grand scheme of things, is not looking so golden.
The problem, most likely, is luck–or a lack thereof. Everything, every blip, every high, every low, usually comes down to luck (and skill). It always comes down to luck (and skill). Evan Longoria’s BABIP sits at a very unlucky .225. In the three seasons prior, he had BABIPs of .309, .313, and .336 respectively. Because he is talented, or, rather, because he has enough talent, his luck will change. The curse of youth, however, is not luck but time. Time is the great equalizer for both man and the golden god. There is a very good chance that the injuries Evan Longoria has been dealing with will subside. There is also a very good chance they will not… which I guess means that the curse of youth is time and one’s ability to avoid falling apart.
Jesse Gloyd usually can be found writing essays about baseball (among other things) at buckshotboogaloo.com (which is where most of these posts live). Follow him on Twitter at @jessejamesgloyd. You can also hear him weekly on The Buckshot Boogaloo Podcast.
