When Five Tools Aren't Enough

It was only one at bat in a long season, but emblematic nonetheless of the gulf between a good Washington Nationals team, and their pursuit of championship-caliber baseball. The fact that it occurred in the first inning of what would become a 6-5 win over the lowly Astros doesn't matter. 

What does matter is that championship teams, recent World Series winners like the Red Sox and the Cardinals, just don't give away key at bats like this.

When Ian Desmond, an immensely talented five-tool shortstop approached the plate with one out and runners on second and third, the Nationals had already taken a 2-0 lead in the bottom half of the first against laboring Houston ace, Dallas Keuchel.  Desmond was anxious to deliver an early knockout blow. Perhaps too anxious.

Though Keuchel was clearly struggling with his command, having just served up a belt high fastball that Ryan Zimmerman had sent rocketing off the left-center field wall, Desmond just couldn't muster the batting eye or the discipline to wait for a hittable pitch.

The lack of plate discipline is trumping 
Ian Desmond's five-tool talent

His at bat started with two flailing swings at sliders in the dirt. Then, after working the count to 3 and 2, Desmond awkwardly lunged at another slider so low and inside that Houston catcher Jason Castro had to smother it before throwing down to first base to complete the strike out.

Yes, Desmond may be a five-tool player worthy of a 8-figure  contract in this era of inflated baseball salaries, but striking out in 6-pitch at bat without forcing the opposing hurler to throw even a single pitch in the strike zone, shows why the "sixth-tool" -- discipline --  can so often trump the other five. And this vital missing ingredient could easily prevent a very talented Nationals team from ever rising to championship-level.