Making Strides: Gilmore heating up

As a 21-year-old playing baseball for a living, third baseman Jon Gilmore of the Winston-Salem Dash has more reasons than most for looking forward to work every day.

But the biggest reason that Gilmore can't wait to get to BB&T Ballpark is not so much what he does, as how well he has been doing it.

Baseball is a blast when you're hitting .397, Gilmore's average going into last night's home game against the Frederick Keys. He was coming off a four-hit game against the Keys that ran his hitting streak to 14 games and propelled him to third in the Carolina League in batting average behind Eric Hosmer of the Wilmington Blue Rocks (.435) and Oscar Tejada of the Salem Red Sox (.403).

"It's nice when you come to the ballpark and you think you've got a good chance of getting a couple of hits," Gilmore said.

Gilmore's torrid start has deflected some of the heat that the parent Chicago White Sox took for a trade before last season that sent pitchers Javier Vasquez and Boone Logan to the Atlanta Braves for Gilmore and three others.

While Vasquez was posting a 15-10 record and 2.87 earned-run average for the Braves, Gilmore was hitting .274 with five homers and 67 RBIs in 505 at-bats with Kannapolis of the Class A South Atlantic League. But the Braves then turned around and traded Vasquez and Logan to the New York Yankees, and Gilmore has flourished in his second season with his second organization.

Getting traded is never easy for any player, much less one who had been picked by the Braves between the first and second rounds of the 2007 draft. Gilmore, who committed to play with Wichita State during his standout career at Iowa City High School, ended up signing with the Braves for a bonus of $900,000 as the highest draft pick ever (33rd overall) from Iowa.

After 137 games in the Braves organization, Gilmore was traded. He was barely three months past his 20th birthday.

"At first you're just kind of shocked, especially getting traded so early and being so young," he said. "But it's good to know that a team wanted you. And it's not like a team was trying to get rid of you. A team was giving up a quality big-league guy to get you.

"I guess in a way, it's an honor. But you're kind of shocked at first."

Manager Joe McEwing attributes Gilmore's success to an improved approach at the plate. He's no longer as quick to let one bad swing affect the next one, or to carry a fielding miscue to the plate with him.

It's a lesson that all players have to learn to eventually make the major leagues, one that McEwing didn't incorporate until his sixth season of professional baseball. McEwing signed with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1992 and broke into the big leagues in late 1998. He ended up playing 754 major-league games with the Cardinals, New York Mets, Kansas City Royals and Houston Astros.

"That's what we're trying to instill in these guys now," McEwing said. "I wish I knew that back then, so I could grasp that process quicker.

"And it's not easy, but I think he's done a really, really good job with his mental approach and separating his defense from his hitting and his hitting from his defense."

Gilmore also has benefitted from his relationship with Ben Zobrist of the Tampa Bay Rays, who is married to Gilmore's sister Julianna. Zobrist played every position but pitcher and catcher last season with the Rays and hit .297 with 27 homers and 91 RBIs.

"He's been a huge help, really," Gilmore said. "He can help me with my approach. I got to hit with him a few times in the offseason, and I take every piece of advice I can get from him."

For all the thunder in Gilmore's bat this season, the question remains whether he'll develop the kind of power he needs to flourish as a third baseman. He hit 10 homers in his first 1,026 professional at-bats, and didn't homer in his first 78 at-bats this season.

McEwing said that Gilmore, like most young players, just needs more time to hone his power swing.

"I'm a firm believer that power develops as you get older," McEwing said. "Some guys get it younger, and that's just the process. That's when you realize guys are special talents, when they're able to put it together earlier, and some guys take longer.

"It's understanding yourself, understanding your swing and understanding who you are. And as you get confidence and you start understanding yourself there's certain situations in a count, or an at-bat, where you say, ‘OK, I'm going to take my shot here.' And that's when it becomes a lot of fun."

dcollins@wsjournal.com


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