Dirtbag Kipnis

Something burns inside of Jason Kipnis.

You can feel it when he stares at you, when he tells you how he "just [hates] to waste an at-bat, I just hate it."

It's there when he says how it's his job "to play as hard as I can, to never go back to the bench and think, 'If I dove for that ball, I would have got it.' "

Kipnis said once -- he can't remember if it was high school or before that -- he jogged to first base on a ground ball.

"I was out," he said. "But I knew down deep that if I had run hard, I'd have been safe."
He never wants that feeling again.

Kipnis plays every game, every inning, every pitch as if he were being paid by the day. He tends to remember the coaches and scouts who didn't like him, the awards he didn't win.

It still eats at him that he was not a first-round pick in the 2009 draft after being the Pac-10 Player of the Year at Arizona State. The Indians grabbed him in the second round at No. 63.

"I played against the some of guys taken ahead of me," he said, shaking his head.

He didn't finish the sentence, but the thought was clear: He knows he was better than some of those guys.

Make it, he's done more than most of the 62 picked before him. But he was passed over because he's 5-10 and a chunky 185 pounds. He was passed over because his nickname is "Dirtbag." It doesn't take more than a few innings for his uniform to be filthy from sliding and diving.

But guys named Dirtbag are not first-round picks. They are guys who have to struggle for every hit, guys who make it with grit and sweat and sheer determination. Dirtbags are respected in the clubhouse for their work ethic, but they don't become All-Stars.

Only Kipnis plays like one, even if many people outside of Northeast Ohio fail to notice. That's part of the reason Kipnis declines to discuss being left off the American League All-Star team.
The second baseman doesn't want to sound like a phony, and say all the right things about Robinson Cano and Ian Kinsler being picked in front of him. Kipnis doesn't say a word about it, but you can be sure he's convinced he belongs among the game's best
.
He went into Tuesday's game hitting .272 with 11 homers, 47 RBI and 20 stolen bases. He was hitting .372 with runners in scoring position, and has committed only three errors at second base.
Cano was voted the starter, Kinsler was picked as a reserve. Kinsler's stats heading into Tuesday were .276, nine homers, 40 RBI, 15 stolen bases and 11 errors.

Tribe manager Manny Acta says Kipnis' glovework is almost ignored because of his offense -- and because he's a converted outfielder who was supposed to struggle at second base.
"He's been fantastic," Acta said. "He has been our best infielder in terms of range, [on pop ups] and on the ground. I don't remember his last error."

It was May 28, 31 games ago.

Or how about this? He's 20-of-21 in stolen bases.

"He just plays the game the right way," Acta said.

The comfort zone
After his first pro season, the Indians asked Kipnis to move from the outfield to second base, which had been a dead zone for the Tribe for years.

"Someone told me that I could be comfortable as an outfielder in Class AA, or I could be uncomfortable and get to the big leagues as a second baseman," Kipnis said. "My ticket up was second base."

The Indians tried to make the same move with Trevor Crowe, but the outfielder (and No. 1 draft pick in 2005) never could make the adjustment. Not everyone can do this.

"For Jason, it came down to hard work," said Brad Grant, the Tribe's scouting director. "When we approached him with the idea, he embraced it. He went to spring training a month early, took extra ground balls every day. He was determined to do it."

Then Grant told this story about scouting Kipnis. The scouting director had been receiving positive reports about Kipnis at Arizona State. Word was Kipnis did everything a little above average, nothing especially well.

Other than hustle.

The dirtbag part of his game always drew the most attention.

As Acta says: "He plays every game like it could be the last game of his career. He knows you can only play until your 40. He just goes all out, it really is 100 percent each day with him."
Or as Grant says, "Any day you see Kipnis play, you see him diving all over the place."
But Grant wanted to see him do something else -- hit with power.

"[Arizona State] was playing at Southern Cal," Grant said. "I watched him take batting practice and there's this four-level parking garage beyond the right-field wall. He had about four to five balls up there.

"Then came the game, and he parked a fastball up there. You look at his forearms, his back, his wide shoulders -- this guy was strong. He wasn't just a singles and doubles hitter. I knew we had to get this guy."

Kipnis wanted to tell everyone that, because he did hit 16 homers for Arizona State.

The complete game

Kipnis can deliver a 400-foot space shot to right field, or drop a 40-foot bunt down the third-base line.

Four times this season, he has bunted for a hit.

"I love to do it after I hit a homer or double," Kipnis said . "The third baseman is playing deep, and never guesses it's coming."

Kipnis is on pace to hit 22 homers, more than he did in any minor-league season. And he's on a clip for 40 stolen bases, far more than any season in the minors.
"I want to beat you any way I can," Kipnis said.

Bat. Glove. Speed. Power. Bunts.

He's been doing it all this season.

Kipnis played for his father in Little League. And he played for Pat Murphy at Arizona State. Both coaches told him that there's only one way for him to play -- the fierce, dirtbag style fans here so love.

"They told me to lock in on every pitch," he said. "Don't waste opportunities."
At age 25, Kipnis knows that there is plenty of time to make an All-Star team. After all, he didn't arrive in the majors until last July 22.
But he hates to wait.

"He's got that Midwestern toughness from Chicago," Grant said. "He wants to prove you wrong. He's a very driven guy."

So Kipnis takes the field with a little anger, a lot of passion and a personality that demands he seize the moment.

"I expect to be a good player," he said. "It comes down to trying to win for your teammates, the city and the fans."

Then he paused, considering what to say next.
"It's a personal pride thing," he said. "In every at-bat, I want to get a hit. On every ball hit, I want to run as hard as I can. In every game, I want to win. To me, that's the only way to play