Baseball’s still trying to fill the void left by Derek Jeter

By: Ashley Allen

3-9-15

SARASOTA, FL — Over his career, Derek Jeter has been a lot of things to a lot of people.

For Red Sox fans, Derek Jeter has been the player they love to hate, but for the better part of two decades, he’s also served as the face of major league baseball.

When the former Yankee walked off the field last year at Fenway Park for the final time, he left behind him not only a legacy, but an open pair of very large cleats to fill.

Orioles outfielder, Adam Jones said before their Monday afternoon game against the Phillies, “I don’t think anybody can replace him, the individual,” that’s going to be quite hard to replace.” The 29-year old, who has been playing the in majors since 2006, said replacing Jeter as a person and as a “teammate, that’s hard to do.”

Orioles third-baseman, Manny Machado was drafted  to the major league straight out of high school, and said he “became a man,” during his first year in the MLB.

“Jeter was one of a kind and was a great leader he was the captain of baseball,” Machado said before Monday’sgame. “It’s going to be hard to follow in his steps but but people are going to have to go out there and play baseball and show people what they’ve got.”

The 22-year old is  one of the better young players in the game today and said he’s hopeful he can represent his team in the way Jeter did. “I’m going to try and go out there and do my best.” Machado said. “That’s the only thing we can do and that’s the only thing we can control and we learned that from him.”

The Orioles fell to the Phillies 1-0 in their game at Ed Smith Stadium and set to face off against the Jeter’s team, the New York Yankees on Tuesday.