You could sense when Jurickson Profar first arrived as a star on the baseball field.
It was the championship final of the 2005 Little League World Series. The Willemstad team from Curaçao team led Ewa-Hawaii, 6-5, in the bottom of the sixth. Two more outs and Curaçao would repeat as champions. But with the bases loaded, Profar’s coach left the infield back in double-play depth instead of cutting the run off at home. It was a questionable decision, considering these were 11- and 12-year-olds and not seasoned pros who could easily turn two. But perhaps he trusted his middle infield, led by Profar at shortstop.
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On an 0-2 count, Curaçao got what it was looking for — a grounder to the second baseman, who flipped it to Profar. Profar caught the flip cleanly, swiped second and unleashed a rocket to first. But Profar’s throw wasn’t in time as it sailed high, sending the game into extra innings.
The contest remained tied into the bottom of the seventh after Curaçao failed to score in the top half of the frame. The ABC telecast panned to Profar that inning, as if his errant throw — not the coach deciding to leave the infield back — was the reason the reason for extras. It was Profar’s introduction to how unfair the baseball spotlight can be. He was the star. If anyone could make that play, no matter the degree of difficultly, shouldn’t it have been the best player at the tournament?
In the bottom of the seventh, Hawaii’s Michael Memea drilled a lead-off, walk-off homer to right-center field. The cameras found the celebration, and then the tears from the Curaçao players. Then they found Profar, who didn’t quite know what to do with his hat, taking it on and off. The camera stayed on him the longest. He didn’t cry.
When Profar was asked last Friday to recall what he was thinking in that moment, possibly the worst loss of his childhood, he took a long time to respond. He looked up at the A’s clubhouse ceiling, then down at his white shoes. His cross earring dangled from his left ear. Then he offered up his most genuine response.
“Nothing,” Profar finally responded. “I wasn’t thinking anything because we won the year before, so I was kind of like, whatever.”
If the cameras were meant to find a player who would crack, they were focused on the wrong one.
The best athletes have a distinct ability to keep what’s important and dispose of what isn’t. In Profar’s case, if you ask him about the moments of glory he and current Minnesota Twins’ infielder Jonathan Schoop shared as Little League stars, Profar can only put bits and pieces together. Now, his mind is strictly honed in on the A’s.
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Profar was once heralded as one of the top prospects in all of the minor leagues. Profar flashed glimpses of that potential last season with the Texas Rangers, when hit .254 with 20 home runs. But, thanks to injuries throughout his career, he has never become the superstar that many scouts envisioned. However, he’s still just 25. The A’s think he can reach another level.
“For him, he’s coming off a healthy season. The expectations on him throughout his career, he kind of got past all that last year,” manager Bob Melvin said recently. “The timing is right to have him on our side.”
Profar’s locker sits between those of Matt Olson and Khris Davis. Profar carries extended conversations with each of them. He chats with his new middle infield partner, Marcus Semien, daily, reminding him that they need to add Gold Gloves to their collection like their corner infieldmates, Matt Chapman and Olson. The weight of not living up to the hype in Texas and the unknown that comes with being on a new team don’t appear to hinder Profar publicly. That might have a lot to do with who he is, that player the world watched not crack as a 12-year-old on TV.
Davis noted recently that Profar is always smiling. He is. Profar travels light and has brought his personality to an already vibrant A’s clubhouse.
He is also entering a situation with the A’s in which he has a set role, a luxury he didn’t always enjoy earlier in his career. In baseball, playing multiple positions can increase a player’s value. In the age of depth, that’s one way for some players to survive in the big leagues. Profar played all around the infield last year for Texas, but even for a player who doesn’t seem to dwell on past circumstances, he acknowledged how hard that was. Profar is expected to remain in one place this season, as Melvin has said the A’s will play him strictly at second.
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“Now I can focus and work on something specific and try to perfect that,” Profar said. “Instead of moving around (and having to throw) from different arm angles. That’s a little difficult. In the beginning, it took away from my hitting.”
Said Melvin: “It’s hard. It takes away your focus on one position and your at-bats. It’s not an easy thing to do and it wasn’t an easy thing for him to do in the past, either. That’s one of the reasons we don’t want to move him around.”
Chad Pinder, who has a utility role for the A’s, said Profar’s situation in Texas was harder than his, noting that, for the most part, the A’s only have Pinder play left field or second base. The A’s value depth more than most teams, and have multiple versatile players, such as Pinder and Mark Canha. They’ve now thrown Franklin Barreto into that mix, too, since he’s seemingly blocked at second by Profar. That the A’s plan to keep Profar solely at second despite his ability to play multiple positions speaks to how much they value him as an everyday player.
In the first couple of Cactus League matchups, Profar has shown his athleticism, turning quick double-plays while also flashing range up the middle. Though Jed Lowrie was the better hitter, Profar adds a speed element the A’s haven’t seen in some time at second.
“He’s awesome,” Pinder said. “Just watching him turn double-plays and seeing his range. He made that play the other day, going to his backhand.”
The spotlight isn’t on Profar as much with the A’s as it was in Texas, where he was once labeled the future of the franchise. For the first time since he was 12, the cameras won’t be on him, looking for a vulnerable moment.
But that never bothered Profar.
“I just play baseball,” he said. “I don’t really worry about anything else. When I came to the States that’s the only thing I want to do: just play.”
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With the A’s, he’ll get a chance to do just that.
(Photo: Jennifer Stewart/Getty Images)
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