The composition of a baseball team is quite important to it's success. Sure, it would be easy to go out and build a team of all stars and say "I'm going to win the Landis for the next X years". But it really isn't that easy. And even if a team does happen to stumble across 27 all stars. I bet that team wouldn't be any good. Superstars come with superstar attitudes. You try telling Don Smith that he should be a #3 starter. See how that turns out. He'll likely get pissed off and underperform because of it. Then his poor attitude will bring the others down.
Part of the Brooklyn Robins success this season has been a collection of role players who may have been oppressed on another squad. Ignacio Venegas is a prime example. His scouting report screams utility infielder. That is of course his projected role with this team. But with future starting shortstop Dick Walton not quite ready for the show to start the season, Brooklyn tagged Venagas as the stop gag starter until "Boy Reporters" was ready.
Venegas is a humble guy who understands his role should be a bench player. He is happy with that. But that doesn't mean that he isn't thrilled to be a starter either. Through the first 3 months of the season, Venegas has thrived in the role in the most unspectacular ways possible. He does all the underappreciated dirty work. Look no further then sacrifice bunts. He leads the entire BBA with 15 of them.
Of course bunting is a fun stat to throw out there for a dirt dog, Venegas main value is in his defense though. He is in the top 5 in the BBA for virtually every defensive stat at shortstop. This includes second in range as well as zone rating, while being 4th in defensive efficiency. A case could be made that he is the best all around defender at short this season. Sure Luis Pena has surer hands, but Venegas has much superior range. Trailing only Yamashita of Boise, who would be the third name in the conversation.
As far as his hitting goes. He is no Jarrod Gillstrom with the bat. His current .283/.335/.383 batting line is probably top of the line for a 45 overall defensive specialist with great speed and bunting ratings. But his numbers are nearly identical to last season in 349 at bats. So this probably isn't a career high type of season. He looks to be a fairly consistent performer. In fact, this might even be a low water mark as A) he still has a point of contact and gap to grow into and B) he has a .359/.404/.478 line against lefties. His intended role once Walton gets here is to be a short side platoon/defensive sub.
Speaking of Walton. He is hitting .513/.578/.692 in AAA for July and looks to be ready. What does this mean for Venegas? The easy answer is to let Walton start at SS, slide Venegas to 2B to be the short side platoon partner for Ricky Drouin. This was the plan all along. But with Brooklyn 32-10 (.761 winning PCT) in their last 42 games(25.9 % of the season), how do you do anything but download and export until this hot streak is over? I mean is it really worth the risk of upsetting whatever chemistry this team has right now? So for now at least, Walton waits in limbo while Venegas continues to live the dream.