Crede emerging out of his shell

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Crede sheds shell, raises game

White Sox third baseman Joe Crede's decision to relax and have more fun this season has given him more confidence at the plate

 

By Melissa Isaacson

Tribune staff reporter

 

August 6, 2005, 4:14 PM CDT

 

 

It was country boy vs. city kid on a recent off day for the White Sox when Joe Crede took Aaron Rowand turkey hunting on Crede's property in Central Missouri.

 

For the purposes of the story, it doesn't matter that Rowand doesn't consider himself a city boy in the truest sense of the word or that he had been hunting before. The fact is he never had hunted turkey. And he had never gone with Crede.

 

 

And, well, he was not very good at it, Crede says.

 

"A turkey can see anything out of the ordinary," the White Sox third baseman explained. "It can detect any movement, so you have to stay completely still. [Aaron] talks too much."

 

In other words, it seems the perfect pastime for Crede.

 

You can call him a country bumpkin. At least Rowand can and get away with it. But tell Crede that his coaches and teammates believe he finally has come out of his shell and he gets a little testy.

 

"I don't get where they're coming from," Crede says. "I'm the same person I was last year and the year before. I always hear that I'm a totally different person this year, like I didn't say a word last year."

 

All four of Debbie Crede's children—Leigh Ann, Brad, Joe and Josh—were shy kids "until they got warmed up," she says, laughing. "And then, God help you."

 

Joe Crede, it appears is just getting warmed up.

 

He hit .304 (21-for-69) with four home runs, 12 RBIs and 10 runs scored in July despite being bothered since early in the month by two herniated discs in his lower back.

 

He is batting .251 overall with 15 home runs and 47 RBIs, which projects as an improvement over last year, when he hit .239 with 21 homers and 69 RBIs.

 

But is it good enough? That always seems to be the question for a player who came through the organization with great expectations.

 

"Here's what's good enough," Sox general manager Ken Williams says. "He's the starting third baseman for the team with the best record in baseball, so he must be all right. Joe Crede goes out there on a daily basis and his glove alone helps us win ballgames."

 

Defensively, Crede is having what the Sox consider a Gold-Glove-caliber season, though the award often goes to the best all-around player at each position.

 

He ranks tied for second among American League third basemen in fielding percentage (.972), seventh in assists (180), seventh in putouts (64) and is tied for 11th in errors (seven). He is also tied for fifth with 15 home runs.

 

But another pretty fair White Sox third baseman, Bill Melton, says fielding percentage is not what makes Crede great.

 

"You can't get much better than what Joe does in the field," Melton says. "If you look at the mistakes he makes, he very rarely makes one with his glove. [Thursday's throwing error] was because he first thought double play and he lost vision to first base.

 

"His concentration defensively against any trouble he may be having offensively is remarkable. It tells you he's a player who is focused every game. He fights his offensive demons like a lot of players do, but Joe doesn't take it on the field, and that's a very hard separation."

 

Crede's ability to shrug off a bad hitting day is a big part of his evolution as a big-leaguer, Sox hitting coach Greg Walker says, and it may explain why those around him see a difference in Crede this season.

 

"I think a light bulb went off this winter as far as how he was going to approach the game," Walker says. "He was going to have more fun, he was going to be aggressive, he was going to come up with an approach and stick with it. He really got off to a good start, and then got back down to .230, .240, but he stuck with it and he came out of it and now he has been a really good hitter for the last month or so.

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"He got frustrated at times, but the attitude change has helped him. Instead of internalizing, he's having fun even on bad days, which is hard to do in this league."

 

Walker jokes Crede fell into the "cave dweller" category of players who stay in their hotel rooms from one road game to the next and don't enjoy the cities or their teammates' company.

 

 

"Last year on a road trip he never got out of his room," Walker says. "We never saw him eat lunch."

 

Rowand has known Crede since Double A and has roomed with him in spring training. He doesn't mind taking a little credit for pulling him out.

 

"I'd like to think some of us had something to do with it," Rowand says. "But ultimately it was his decision to open up and become more outgoing."

 

Walker says he understands Crede, having come from a small town himself.

 

"It's just not in our nature to be real vocal," he says.

 

But Douglas, Ga., Walker boasts, is "a lot bigger" than Westphalia, Mo. (pop. 320). "We have a McDonald's, his doesn't."

 

Family pastime

 

They pronounce it Crady in Westphalia, and it is a name that has produced several generations of ballplayers in a place that worships the game. One cousin, Dennis Higgins, pitched for four big-league teams, including the White Sox, from 1966 to 1972.

 

Out of high school, Joe's father Dave played on an Air Force baseball team, the Weisbaden (Germany) Flyers, for three years. When he returned home he tried out for the Dodgers, but they told him he was too old at 24, so he turned to fastpitch softball.

 

When the Crede kids were young they would travel the state on weekends to see their father's team play until the boys' baseball schedules got too busy.

 

The Crede's house sat on a hillside on about 30 acres, where a favorite pastime of the boys—Brad is five years older than Joe and Josh is five years younger—was to hit rocks with sticks.

 

"I guess that's why they were such good ballplayers," Debbie Crede says. "They'd see who could hit it the farthest down from the house into the field. The farmers probably didn't appreciate that too much."

 

Brad and Joe were drafted on the same day—Brad, a shortstop, by the Phillies out of Central Missouri State and Joe by the White Sox out of Fatima High School.

 

"That was pretty exciting," Debbie Crede recalls. "The whole town was in an uproar."

 

The buzz was that young Josh, a pitcher who entered high school the year after Joe graduated, might be the most talented Crede. He looked to be following in his brothers' footsteps until one morning in December of his junior year. Driving to school, Josh veered off the road and his car crashed into a gully, leaving him with a severe brain injury.

 

Joe, home during the off-season, was the first family member on the scene.

 

"He gets there and sees all the blood and the helicopter's on the way," older sister Leigh Ann recalls. "It wasn't anything he really talked about beyond describing what he saw. It's not like Joe to describe his feelings."

 

Josh Crede spent two weeks in a coma and three months in the hospital before entering rehab.

 

"When Josh was in the hospital, it was hard for me to get Joe to leave," Debbie Crede says. "It was tough on Joe and it still is."

 

Josh would be back in high school for his senior year, graduate with his class in '01 and spend a year in junior college before returning home. Slowly he recovered, but he never regained his baseball skills. Now 22, he works two part-time jobs and has dreams of acting, having recently taken some classes in New York.

 

 

"I've asked 'What if' so many times," Josh says. "I've cried myself to sleep over it. But I'm as happy as I can be for Joe. He's an absolute god to me in baseball.

 

"Last week was my birthday and we went to see him play in Kansas City and he hit a home run," Josh says.

 

"He kind of knew where I was sitting. I don't know if the home run was for me or not, but at home plate he pointed over to us. It's still amazing to me what he's doing."

 

Lofty goals

 

A league MVP at the Class-A and Double-A levels, Crede is used to high expectations, and he has them for himself. In years past, it was believed the pressure he put on himself kept him from achieving his potential.

 

"You always want to go out and perform, and any time you don't you get down on yourself," Crede says. "That's the worst thing you can do because it just makes it worse for the next opportunity. You have to learn from your mistakes and go from there."

 

Marriage, to Lisa, and fatherhood—daughter Anna will be 2 in November and the couple is expecting a second child in October—no doubt have helped the maturing process. Mother and daughter rarely miss a game.

 

Last year, as part of a commissioner's project to enhance baseball broadcasts, the White Sox were one of six teams asked to "mike" certain players during games. When it was Crede's turn, the producer had a slight problem: There was no sound the entire game.

 

It was not a technical problem.

 

Crede cringes at the "quiet man" characterization, but it's a common one.

 

"I'm the same person I was last year," he insists. "It's just a different team, a lot more guys to get along with and you're going to have more fun. Last year there weren't many guys I really hung out with—Rowand was pretty much it. But this year there's Rowand, A.J. [Pierzynski], Jermaine [Dye] … just more guys on the team I have in more common with."

 

Can it help Crede's play?

 

"You have to believe his attitude has been a positive for him," Walker says. "I've tried to tell him, 'Hey, you don't want to look back one day and say I played in the big leagues for 10 years and I wish I would've enjoyed it more.'

 

"He has been more of an influence on our team now. He has turned into one of our more vocal players and he has added a lot to the chemistry."

 

The back, Crede says, is not a problem as long as he stretches it. The Sox are giving him periodic days off to rest.

 

"I'm pleased with where he's at right now—he has made some big strides," Walker says. "But there's more upside there. I know we keep saying that about him, but it's true, especially if you watch him take BP every day. He pounds the ball all over the field."

 

Sox manager Ozzie Guillen says Crede is doing everything asked of him.

 

"A lot of people think he has the tools to be batting third, fourth or fifth, but when you're batting ninth, you can't expect nothing better," Guillen says. "He had [69] RBIs with 20-something home runs last year. When you're batting ninth, that's a lot.

 

"We've waited for him to break out and have a career year. Everybody loves him and so do I. He's real special."

 

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[SnB]

it's about time we can all stop complaining about crede.

he's been about as solid as can be this season.

[greasywheels121]

I said it earlier, but behind Frank, Crede's my favorite White Sox player.

[WHarris1]

Crede gets props from me for his defense.

But that popup swing doesn't deserve much.

[Cerbaho-WG]

He still pops up the same amount of times, who cares. He's hitting 12 points higher and only has a 4 point increase in his OBP. He's a hole.

[greg775]

Great article. I like Joe and Mark B, our two Missouri boys.

We'll have to see how Joe plays in his first postseason. If he can hit .270 somehow this year and have a big postseason, he may be a White Sox favorite a long time.

If he goes hitless in the postseason and finishes at .245, some may want his head on a platter.

I like Joe.

[KJean]

I like Crede...a lot. Great article and it's good to see some Crede love around here.

[greasywheels121]

http://whitesoxpride.mlblogs.com/inside_th...ay_morning.html

 

On a Sunday morning ... Aaron Rowand and Greg Walker were going at it good-naturedly with Joe Crede about his two-page spread in today's Tribune.  The story was great, but Joe hates the attention.  Of course, Aaron was on him about it.  Joe kept running around snatching Tribune sports sections and ripping them up.  "What, like I won't be able to get another Tribune in the city of Chicago," Rowand responded.

 

[RockRaines]

There shouls be a note in the article: While interviewing Crede he popped up to short several times

[kev211]

There shouls be a note in the article:  While interviewing Crede he popped up to short several times

...and also jacked his 16 homer out of the park

Edited August 7, 2005 by ScottPodRulez22

[Chisoxfn]

Crede has always been one of my favs. He's played rock solid this year and has came up with numerous clutch hits.

 

Joe...YESSSSS

[Jordan4life_2007]

If Joe can give us .250/.260, solid power numbers, and, of course, that gold glove caliber defense, I'm more than satisfied. Anything more than that would be a huge bonus, IMO.

[alexgtp]

CREDE!!!!!>>>>>>>>>>>YEEEEEEES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

always liked him..hope he continues on his hot streak.. now if only he could pop out less..LOL!

[nitetrain8601]

Crede will hit the game winning Grand Slam in Game 7 of the World Series to win it all. Bank it!