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April 04, 2008

Jason "Twinkle Toes" Giambi

Via Howard Megdal -

“I’d get hurt all the time, and I just took it as part of getting older,” Giambi said as he stood near his locker before yesterday's game against Tornoto, a bat leaning against his leg. “But when I worked toward getting back from the plantar fasciitis, I worked with a new doctor, who deals with—well—ballet dancers. And he told me that I had really high arches. I got these inserts—“he gestured toward prescription orthotics in his cleats “and suddenly it didn’t hurt to run anymore.”

His high in batting average since 2002 is .271, and last year he even saw his power drop precipitously, to just 14 home runs in 254 at bats.

His ability to take walks remained, though, and Giambi believes that his stronger legs will improve his offense, too.

“Well, for one thing, I hope my doubles go back up,” said Giambi, who had as many as 47 doubles in his prime, but just 8 last year. “A lot of singles last year should be doubles this year. And there should be more first-to-third, more second-to-home.”

Let's just hope that these inserts are better than the ones Giambi got last May - because they didn't seem to work out.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at April 4, 2008 11:37 AM

Comments

I've mentioned this before about Giambi, but you really have to recall what the situation was like that led to his injury last year. Basically, he had a monstrous April, some foot problems in early May that probably could have used a week off, but because the Yankees were struggling, Torre kept running him out there, and the next think you know, he's on the DL until the end of August.

Posted by: j [TypeKey Profile Page] at April 4, 2008 03:01 PM