Ruben Tejada has impressed his new teammates with how quickly he has adapted to his new position, second base, but he likely won’t be staying there for long.
Whenever Tejada is sent back down to the minors — as Luis Castillo continues to mend his injured feet — the 20-year-old infielder will go back to his original position of shortstop.
“That’s where he’ll be in the minors,” GM Omar Minaya said. “He’ll keep working at second base, too, but he’ll play shortstop. We expected him to be able to do this and he is.”
Tejada has played his last six games at second base, filling in for Castillo. And while he has had difficulty at the plate, he has been very solid defensively as the Mets head to Cleveland to open a three-game series tonight.
“He’s been good so far,” Jose Reyes said. “He knows how to play the game. I’ve never had a chance to really play with him before and he knows what he’s doing out there.”
Although Tejada has just five hits in 27 at-bats, Reyes said that shouldn’t be his primary concern.
“I always talk to him all game,” Reyes said. “I tell him not to worry about hitting, because that’s gonna come. If you’re not hitting, just play defense.”
That’s what Tejada has been able to do, showing nice form turning double plays and showing excellent range at his new — and temporary — position.
“He looks relaxed,” Reyes said. “Changing positions is tough. He looks like a natural second baseman.”
Reyes knows how hard that can be, since he was forced to move there after his 2003 rookie season, when the Mets signed Kaz Matsui and put him at shortstop.
In 2005, Reyes was back at short and Matsui at second.
“No matter how much work you put in, it’s still hard to do,” Reyes said.
Tejada played just a handful of games at second at Triple-A Buffalo before being summoned to the Mets, although he worked there before each game and will continue to do that when he returns to the minors. In the meantime, he has been leaning on both Reyes and Alex Cora, who also has played both spots.
“His instincts are taking over,” Cora said. “But it takes more than two weeks to make the transition. It took me a whole year.”
Cora’s primary concern — for himself and now Tejada — is the double-play pivot, since that’s the easiest way to get injured.
“It’s like with [Daniel Murphy],” Cora said of Murphy, whose season ended earlier this month when he was taken out on that type of play. “Whether it was a hard, dirty slide or not, that’s the way the game is played, and if you don’t protect yourself, bad things are gonna happen. It would be a shame for him to come here and get hurt because he’s not used to it.”
So far, Tejada hasn’t had any problems.
“It’s a new experience, but it’s going well,” he said. “I think I’m getting much better.”
“He’s 20, but he doesn’t look 20 out there,” Reyes said. “He’s good. When I was 20, I was a little crazy, running around. He doesn’t do that. He seems like he belongs.”
And while he’s at second base now, the Mets still think he belongs at shortstop.