Meet Sis Bates, a shortstop you need to see
She's the University of Washington's human vacuum
Listen, there are a lot of good shortstops going right now. You have the flash of Francisco Lindor. There's the glove-wielding wizard that is Andrelton Simmons. Fernando Tatís Jr. is just beginning to show off his skills.
But what about Sis Bates? Have you heard of Sis Bates? You need to know about Sis Bates.
Twitter is littered with the University of Washington senior's highlight reels. She's a defensive master -- a human vacuum. Here she is somehow touching second base in a position where nobody should be able to touch second base:
Glove flips:
Pirouettes:
She's made zero errors this season and only two in 166 chances last year. It's so rare, that when it does happen, fans can't believe it. There were seven tweets about one error she made on June 4, 2018 -- all of them just as perplexed as the next.
And what about her name: Sis Bates. It sounds like a character out of some fictional sports novel -- it's light-years better than Henry Skrimshander. (Her real name is Nicole, but because she was the only girl playing baseball with her brother's friends growing up, the nickname took over.) She even calls one of her gloves "Carmella" and cares for it like it's her own child.
So go, get out of here. Go watch some more Sis Bates highlights and try to find someone better (she also has a .385 career batting average and is hitting .571 this year). I would tell you to remember the name, but it's nearly impossible to forget.