Healthy Jeter will prove haters wrong again

Derek Jeter is getting healthier by the day and that’s good because the haters are already starting to come down on him.

The New York Yankees captain is out of the walking boot that protected his surgically repaired ankle for months and is already performing some light exercises, according to general manager Brian Cashman. Both Jeter and Cashman swear the shortstop is on track for Opening Day 2013 following the painful injury that put a premature end to his (and the Yankees) quest for another baseball title in 2012.

But ahead of the start of spring training, the haters, I mean the stat geeks, are already talking about what kind of year Jeter is going to put up in 2013. Not surprisingly, many of them are predicting that Jeter’s numbers, beginning with his batting average, will fall significantly. Despite the captain’s many accomplishments, these stat geeks continue to use their models to make the case that A) Jeter is not a good defensive player and B) Jeter will struggle offensively. And even though he proved them wrong last year, they will come back with a vengeance to try to discredit the performance of baseball’s top ambassador.

Jeter and the people who know him best have no doubt he will return to his 2012 form after a successful rehab. But the haters will keep spewing out their negative predictions, just waiting for Jeter to back and again prove them wrong.