By: Dominic Cotroneo
After being drafted in the 5th round and 150th overall, Jamie Westbrook started in the AZL Rookie Dbacks season opener Friday night. Though he’s listed on the roster as a shortstop, he started at second base and batted third as the Dbacks took on the Cubs.
The Basha Bear alum Jamie Westbrook in the box for the first time as a DBack
In his opening plate appearance he drew a walk with two outs, then proceeded to steal second successfully on the next pitch from Cubs prospect Jorge Diaz. “After the first pitch, you know, it’s just baseball. ‘So see the ball, hit the ball’ and just play. It’s still 9 innings,” Westbrook revealed. Dbacks’ left fielder Justin Williams hit a base hit into short right center field and manager/third base coach Luis Urueta sent Westbrook home. Jamie would be thrown out at the plate on a perfect throw from center fielder Jeffrey Baez.
In the field, Westbrook had three ground balls hit to him in the early innings. He looked very comfortable moving from short to second making a nice play moving to his left in the 2nd inning. Also, he was on the receiving end of catching Cubs second baseman Zak Blair stealing second.
Westbrook prepares to tag out Zak Blair in a “strike him out, throw him out”
Westbrook also continued his ways from Basha by always hustling to be the first one on and off the field. In a couple of innings, Westbrook in fact beat his catcher Phildrick Llewellyn to the dugout. “It just seemed like second nature to me. I mean, I’ve been doing it for a year and a half now so might as well continue it for the rest of my career,” Westbrook commented.
Westbrook continuing to hustle on and off the field as he did in high school
He would finish the night 0-3 but also reached on a fielder’s choice by beating out a potential double play. He proved to be a disturbance on the basepaths after his first stolen base, with Cubs pitchers continuing to throw over to first to keep him close.
Considering Jamie was playing high school baseball less than two months ago, it was not a bad debut at all for the second baseman. The biggest question mark on him heading into the season was his defensive adjustment to the other side of the field. Westbrook showed he’s a versatile athlete on defense with a flawless day at second. The biggest difference he said was “the speed of the game because everyone is just like you so you have to find a way to separate yourself with your head on a swivel.”
Jamie gears up to hit in the 7th inning. He finished the night 0-3 but reached the bases twice
Absolutely there’s a difference in speed after seeing pitchers throw up to 96 MPH today, Westbrook saw the 90s when he reached a 2-0 count. “I was just late, I can’t miss good pitches, but I did foul them back.” He continued with a laugh “94 is a little different that 84!”
