Royals need to stop shortstop merry-go-round

Twenty years ago, when I spent a summer as an assistant manager for a Little League baseball team, we never played four different shortstops in four days. Not even counting practice. I never had the nerve to try it on Nintendo baseball in college.

Trey Hillman and the Royals accomplished the Quadruple Crown on Sunday afternoon, sending squatty-body Alberto Callaspo to man the six hole during the Kansas City’s 6-1 shellacking of the Cleveland Indians.

Now I’m not complaining. I’ve never seen Hillman manage a losing ballgame. I know nothing of this massive losing streak and hostage-holding that JoPo has been whining about.

When I’m at the K, the Royals look fine, to me, like a young franchise developing a legit leadoff hitter (David DeJesus), a solid third baseman (Alex Gordon), exciting pitchers (Brian Bannister, Joakim Soria) and a mild-mannered, soft-spoken, power-hitting outfielder/DH (José Guillen).

Trey Hillman? He looks like a genius.

Callaspo, despite an error, cracked a single, scored a run and ignited a nice double play. A natural second baseman with Kirby Puckett’s frame, Callaspo didn’t look anymore out of place at short than Esteban German and Mike Aviles. And at the plate, of course, Callaspo outshined Tony Peña Jr., he of the .155 average.

“Hopefully, I can make the right decision,” Hillman explained when queried about his shortstop rotation.

Yeah, Hillman is playing the guessing game when it comes to his lineup. We knew that. We talked about it in Sunday’s paper. But this is pretty freaking unusual what’s happening at shortstop.

You just don’t play musical chairs at shortstop. Especially not in June. It’s the equivalent of the Chiefs starting a new middle linebacker each quarter during a football game. What’s worse, it would be like Napoleon Harris playing the first quarter, Derrick Johnson playing the second quarter, Patrick Surtain playing the third and Tony Gonzalez playing the fourth.

Oh, you can rotate your right and left fielders. You can stick just about anyone at first base. Hell, I’m qualified to DH.

But no shortstop equals no heart. You can’t play without a heart. Great teams generally have consistent, gritty, reliable shortstops. David Eckstein won World Series MVP for the Cardinals. Derek Jeter was the centerpiece to the Yankees dynasty. Orlando Cabrera was a key cog in Boston’s 2004 championship.

The Royals need to figure something out at shortstop. The organization appears Mickey Mouse running a relay race at short. You can’t cultivate your pitching staff with Mo, Larry and Curly playing short.

The solution is to stick Peña back out there and let him swing his way out of his hitting slump. The Royals are going to finish last in their division playing musical shortstop, so they might as well finish last with Peña hitting a buck fifty at the bottom of the order. I don’t care if the Royals set a modern-day or all-time record for low run production.

Bad defense is contagious. One guy screws up in the infield, and the next thing you know communication in the outfield breaks down, and the next thing you know Guillen is on talk radio dropping F-bombs.

After Sunday’s game, pitcher Brian Bannister, who made it to the eighth inning, told reporters that starting pitching is the most important ingredient to winning baseball games. It wasn’t an earth-shattering revelation.

Not overeating is the key to losing weight. You can quote me on that.

Hillman needs to run his ballclub as if starting pitching is the most important element. Peña and his svelte batting average seem to play whenever $55 million man Gil Meche takes the mound. The Royals need to be committed to all of their pitchers.

Right now, no one is served by the current setup. Mike Aviles wasted his drive over from Omaha. I hope he got to visit the Power & Light District while he was here. Looks as if he won’t be here for the Tech N9ne, T.I. and Keyshia Cole concert. (I hope T.I. has the good sense not to go on stage after Tech, Krizz Kaliko and Kutt Calhoun do it like they do it.)

Aviles’ summer dream is turning into a nightmare ride on the KC bench. Peña isn’t getting any better sitting. German and Callaspo are not shortstops. And Hillman, despite his undefeated record with me at the ballpark, doesn’t seem much smarter than I did 20 years ago leading my Little League team to last place.

To reach Jason Whitlock, call 816-234-4869 or send e-mail to jwhitlock@kcstar.com. For previous columns, go to KansasCity.com.