Blanco Called Up

With Angel Berroa booting routine ground balls on a regular basis and showing less patience at the plate than ever, the Royals apparently decided to let him know that his spot isn't completely secure. They called up Andres Blanco from Omaha where he was hitting .282 with 1 HR and 14 RBI in 38 games.

I love watching Blanco play. Last night he made a great back-handed play in the hole at short and then he made a strong throw to get Pujols at first. As impressive as the play was, I just simply enjoy watching his continual hustle. He runs the bases hard. He lays out for balls on defense. And he looks like he actually cares—as opposed to Berroa who sometimes looks like he'd rather be doing anything except playing baseball.

Blanco hasn't had a good year defensively in Omaha though. He made 12 errors at shortstop there. In his limited amount of time in the big leagues over the past couple of seasons, he's made 7 errors in 50 games—so I'm not all that sure he's as good defensively as everybody thinks he is. He does have good range and a strong arm, but at times he has problems fielding the ball cleanly.

Today, he got the start at second base and Berroa returned to play short. They made a nice double play in the early innings, but if I had any say, I'd prefer to see Blanco given the starting shortstop position and Berroa given his walking papers. But I don't expect that to happen since we're on the hook for the next few years.