NEW YORK DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Tuesday, June 24th 2008, 2:20 AM
NEW YORK - JUNE 19: Derek Jeter #2 of the New York Yankees hits a first inning single against the San Diego Padres on June 19, 2008 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
If there were ever a year when Derek Jeter could be called overrated, this has been it.
The Yankees' captain, the highest-paid shortstop in baseball, has a .279 batting average, a whopping 37 points below his career mark, while his 10 doubles and 39 runs scored put him well below his usual pace. Fourteen shortstops in the majors have more extra-base hits than Jeter's 17.
Not that Jeter is concerned.
"I don't judge a year after three months," Jeter said. "I've had good halves and bad halves. I still have until the end of the year. I don't complicate things."
Still, it's clear that something hasn't been right with the shortstop, who was voted the most overrated player in the game in a Sports Illustrated players poll released last week.
Then again, Alex Rodriguez was tied for third in that poll, bringing the voters' motives into question as far as one big-league scout is concerned. (Rodriguez and Jeter were voted 1-2 in an SI poll the previous week that had players selecting one person to build a franchise around.)
"I don't agree with that for a second," the scout said. "That's just plain jealousy. It's ridiculous. They're two of the best players to play the game in the last decade and both will be Hall of Famers. How can that be overrated?"
Based on his current statistics, Jeter is on pace for 87 runs, 22 doubles and nine home runs, while his on-base and slugging percentages sit at an unusually low .336 and .379, respectively.
Those totals would all mark career lows for Jeter, who has averaged 114 runs and 32 doubles in his 12 full seasons, not to mention his career on-base and slugging percentages of .386 and .459.
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At .279, Jeter is batting 37 points below his career mark.
Jeter won't even offer a guess at the reason for his declining numbers, but Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long has his own theory.
"I can tell you that he probably lost 30-35 points in his average due to his hand injury, but he'd never admit that," Long said. "His swing wasn't the same, he was favoring it and he got into some problems when it came to staying behind the baseball, which has always been his strength. He still contributed and helped us in other ways, but his hitting suffered."
The injury happened on May 20, when Jeter was drilled in his left hand by a Daniel Cabrera fastball. Jeter missed the rest of that game, but he was back in the lineup the next night.
When Jeter was hit, his average was .312 and his on-base .351. Over the next 10 games, Jeter went 4-for-40 with only one extra-base hit, dropping his average down to .269.
Nevertheless, his presence in the lineup and on the field remained a crucial piece of the Yankees' puzzle as the team struggled to find its way over .500.
"There's a grinding attitude when he's out there," Joe Girardi said. "He's important to our club on a daily basis - not just for what he does on the field, but the whole picture."
Jeter began expanding his strike zone, swinging at pitches on the corners or off the plate. As Long watched those bad habits, he knew something wasn't right.
"How much damage can you do with a pitch that's (a foot) off the plate?" Long said. "Since he's been healthy, he's had to get out of some of those bad habits, and now he's starting to put a little something together."
Since the calendar turned to June, Jeter has looked like a different hitter. He's hit safely in 19 of 21 games, batting .301 with a .370 on-base percentage. Jeter is riding a season-high 11-game hitting streak, though he cringes when asked about his hot bat.
"It's just a feel. You can't explain it," Jeter said. "Sometimes you're comfortable and it feels like nobody can get you out. Other times, you're trying to find it. If people knew how to fix it, no one would ever go through bad streaks, but sometimes it's hard to figure out."
The scout, who has watched Jeter several times over the past two months, said he didn't see any noticeable differences in the shortstop's approach compared to any of his recent seasons.
"His bat is still quick," the scout said. "When the leaves turn brown, he'll be around that .300 or .315 mark he always is."
Johnny Damon can relate to Jeter's early-season struggles. Damon was hitting .250 when Jeter was hit by Cabrera's pitch, but just when Jeter went cold, the left fielder became the hottest hitter in the majors, batting .418 (51-for-122) since that day.
"He knows it's not how you start, but how you finish," Damon said of Jeter. "We know when the season is over, he's going to be hitting .300 with 100 runs scored. He doesn't get affected too much. He knows what New York is about and what baseball is about, so he just goes about his business."
"There's a hot streak right around the corner," Long said. "Sooner or later, it's coming. He's a model of consistency. Keep putting his name in the lineup and, in the end, the numbers will be there. He'll make something out of this season."
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