Everybody in the Phillies' clubhouse loves talking about Placido Polanco.
Well, almost everybody.
"I hate it," Polanco said. "Hate it. What am I going to tell you about myself? I don't like it. I feel uncomfortable, very uncomfortable."
Shortstop Jimmy Rollins said Polanco hits only line drives. Manager Charlie Manuel called Polanco the Phillies' best hitter. Hitting instructor Greg Gross compared Polanco to the New York Yankees' Derek Jeter. Third-base coach Sam Perlozzo marveled at Polanco's ability to play Gold Glove defense at two infield positions.
Polanco, signed as a free agent before the season, mostly said he didn't want to talk about any of it. He said he did not consider himself a star player even though his .304 career average ranks 15th among active players with at least 3,000 career plate appearances.
"I think I work hard," Polanco said. "I respect the game and I play the game hard. That's it. That's enough. Then whether you hit .300 or whether you win a batting title, that's all extra and you don't have any control over it. You want to win it, of course, but you don't have control of that. You control your effort, your approach."
For one day last week, after his fourth four-hit game of the season in a win over San Francisco, Polanco led the National League with a .325 batting average. He went hitless in his next two games and slipped to fourth in the batting race.
But given Polanco's resumé, he certainly has a chance to become the first Phillies player to win a batting title since Richie Ashburn hit .350 in 1958.
That's something that interests his manager.
"I think winning the batting title is a big deal," Manuel said. "I think that means you're the best hitter in the league when you do that."
Gross believes Polanco has the proper approach to win the batting title.
"I think he's just a guy who understands his swing," Gross said. "He knew the type of hitter he was going to be, so instead of trying to be that and more, it just seems he grasped what he does well and he was going to make that as good as he possibly could.
"He uses the other side of the field as well as anybody, but if you think you can come inside on him, he can turn on a ball and go to left as well as anybody. He's just very good at what he does best."
Hitting is what Polanco does second best. He excels even more at fielding. After he signed with the Phillies as a free agent during the off-season, some people wondered if the team's defense would suffer.
During his four-plus seasons in Detroit, Polanco played only one game at third base. He won two Gold Gloves as a second baseman, with the first coming in 2007, when he did not make an error in 683 chances.
But third base is different, and Pedro Feliz had done a sensational job for a Phillies team that went to consecutive World Series.
"I loved Pedro and I still think he's a great third baseman, but we haven't missed a beat with Polly," Perlozzo said.
In fact, Polanco, 34, has made the Phillies better defensively at third. Provided he can continue to play through the left-elbow injury that will likely require surgery after the season, Polanco has a chance to win his first Gold Glove at third base.
No player has won a Gold Glove at two infield positions. But Polanco's four errors are the fewest among National League third basemen with at least 250 chances, and his .984 fielding percentage is the best in the NL.
"Now I see why he only made an error or two last year," Perlozzo said. "He has great, quick hands and great reactions. I've seen tons of balls hit to him, and the ball jumps on him and I think he's going to have trouble with it, but he stays confident and calm and gets to the ball."
When asked if Polanco reminded him of anyone in the game, Gross thought for a moment and came up with Jeter's name.
"He doesn't have the power of Jeter and he doesn't walk as much as Jeter, but as far as staying within himself . . . he doesn't get away from what he does best very often," Gross said.
Polanco appreciated the compliment, but he wouldn't make that comparison.
"That's a very good compliment," he said. "He's a superstar. I don't know if I'd compare myself to him. I just show up every day. I don't really pay attention who I look like or who I hit like."
Winning, of course, is what Jeter has done best in his career. Polanco cannot match Jeter's five World Series rings, but he has been to the postseason three times and cares more about winning than anything else.
Unlike a lot of career .300 hitters, Polanco has an unimpressive on-base percentage, .348. That's because he is asked to do things as a second hitter that leadoff and power hitters are not asked to do.
"I've had managers who like to use me for hit-and-runs," Polanco said. "You give yourself up when you have to get a guy over, and sometimes it's not a strike. But if it's a pitch you can handle, you go with it. You have to be unselfish.
"It's either you want to win or you want to have a personal good year. That's why the batting title, I don't care about that. I want to win games, so if I start talking about a batting title, I'm being very selfish. That's why I don't want to talk about it."
Inside the Phillies:
Read The Inquirer's Phillies blog, The Phillies Zone, by Bob Brookover and Matt Gelb, at www.philly.com/phillies.
Blog response of the week
Subject: Tyson Gillies charged with cocaine possession in Clearwater
Response from Jerseymagic at 1:04 p.m. Friday: "Oh the Cliff Lee trade is looking worse and worse."