The Lost Souls
09-08-2004, 02:20 PM
Rookie Shortstop has enough pop to hit 20 Homeruns (http://cbs.sportsline.com/mlb/story/7654900)
http://images.sportsline.com/u/photos/baseball/mlb/img7654899.jpg
SAN DIEGO -- The Olympic gymnastics competition ended a couple of weeks ago, but what's the big deal? Khalil Greene (http://cbs.sportsline.com/mlb/players/playerpage/390804) is playing gold-medal shortstop for the San Diego Padres (http://cbs.sportsline.com/mlb/teams/page/SD).
He dips. He dives. He vaults and glides. I don't know how he'd look in a leotard, but I know how he looks in baseball double-knits. Like a cross between Ozzie Smith in mid-flip and a Swiffer. Talk about graceful. This guy is capable of making the Olympic pixie set look like a bunch of clods. And that's just by dinner.
The buzz is getting louder. Wherever San Diego manager Bruce Bochy ventures around town -- the grocery store, the barber, the gas station -- people want to know about Greene.
"I get asked about him more than anybody else," Bochy says.
Whenever an opposing team lines up against the Padres, Greene is the guy they're talking about when they leave.
"He's terrific," Atlanta manager Bobby Cox says. "A terrific player. He's a beauty. He's got a lot of confidence when the ball is hit to him."
The Padres are dangerously close to dropping out of the NL playoff hunt, but they wouldn't even have been on the same IM board with the contenders if not for their budding superstar shortstop.
Already named NL rookie of the month in both April and August, Greene is closing in on winning the rookie award for the entire season. You'll get plenty of argument from Pittsburgh, where outfielder Jason Bay leads NL rookies in home runs (21), RBI (66), on-base percentage (.370) and slugging percentage (.574).
Pittsburgh has never had a rookie of the year, and Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon is campaigning with such verve that the Republicans or Democrats might want to consider hiring him after the season as a consultant heading into the November elections.
"It would really be a shame if he doesn't win it," McClendon says.
Bay is an honorable and deserving candidate, and Pittsburgh certainly is overdue to have some things fall in its favor. But whatever offensive numbers Greene lacks in comparison to Bay -- the San Diego shortstop has 11 homers, 57 RBI, a .344 on-base percentage and .417 slugging percentage -- playing lights-out shortstop for a contending team is a whole different breed of cat.
Particularly for a team that essentially has become an overnight success after compiling the NL's worst record last season.
As veteran major-league shortstop and current San Diego utilityman Rich Aurilia says, "If you add the runs he's saved defensively to his RBI total ..."
Yep, add those together, and Greene might have more value in his town than the pandas up the street at the San Diego Zoo.
"He's a real good-looking player," St. Louis manager Tony La Russa says. "The way he plays defense, the way he bats, he's outstanding. I'm not sure there's a better-looking young player in the league."
The Padres have been eagerly anticipating the arrival of Greene, 24, since making the shortstop from Clemson University their first-round pick in the 2002 draft. He climbed through their system far more quickly than anybody dreamed, going from Double-A Mobile to Triple-A Portland to the majors for a September apprenticeship last summer in only his second professional season.
This spring, Rey Ordonez, who was part of a New York Mets infield that Sports Illustrated praised as one of the best ever in 1999, fled Padres camp when it became clear that he was being outplayed by Greene.
Events since have only confirmed that Greene is the It shortstop of a new generation.
"Compared to the minor leagues, there is a sense of urgency here more," Greene says of his adjustment to the majors. "The growth period, some mistakes you can get away with there. You can't here because everyone is watching. Your concentration level is therefore raised."
Concentration is what sets Greene far apart from the Future Journeymen of America. Yes, he has drop-dead athletic ability -- but so, too, do most players who flirt with major-league jobs. What makes Greene unique, particularly for someone who came of age during the MTV generation, is that his attention span lasts far longer than one or two music videos.
"I try to be in the game from the first pitch to the last," he says. "Whether we're winning by 10 or losing by 10, however long we're out there.
"For three or four hours, I try to take it like a job."
And in that, he's not just settling for entry level, either.
"I think it depends on what kind of player you want to be," he says. "If you want to devote your entire mindset, you're going to become a lot more successful than if you go about it half-assed."
His seriousness and maturity belie his boyish, blonde, surfer-dude looks, which recall early Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Though he grew up in Key West, Fla., the only thing flamboyant about him is his knack for hogging the time of the television producers who edit highlight clips.
He is a devout member of the Baha'i faith, which is the basis of his name. "Khalil" means "Friend of God" in Baha'i, and his middle name, "Thabit", means "steadfast." Rumor was, earlier this year, one of the black magazines planned to do a story on him until learning he was Caucasian.
Mistake. As entertaining as that rumor was, Padres media relations officials say they never received a call from any such magazine attempting to run down Greene's background.
His strong faith has kept him grounded, which in turn has allowed him to handle his rookie success with aplomb.
"It's the foundation of everything I do," Greene says. "I can't separate it from baseball. It's the thing in my life that shapes everything I do."
So instead of living the high life, he lifts weights and chugs protein shakes. Instead of demanding the spotlight, he stays firmly grounded within a very strict routine, which governs everything from nutrition -- a bowl of oatmeal every morning and a can of tuna every evening, among other things -- to working out to carving a few minutes into his schedule for quiet reflection both before and after games.
"I understand what's going on in my life, from the outside world to stuff within the framework of baseball," he says. "I have the perspective, I'd like to think, of what my role is in the game and what my role is in life.
"I'd like to think I'm not totally defined by being a baseball player. It's something I do. It's something I'm doing. But I'd like to not be limited by that. I'd like to think there's a lot more to me than hitting a ball and catching a ball."
In time, that undoubtedly will come. But as Greene introduces himself to the baseball world, right now it's difficult to see the entire person when his baseball self causes so many people to stop and say, whoa!
Like the time a couple weeks ago against Florida when he went deep into the hole toward third to stab a hard bouncer, stopped in his tracks ... and this is where it got interesting.
Instead of making the off-balance, fade-away throw to first while falling toward left field like so many shortstops before him, Greene, after stopping, did a half-circle whirl around to his right, acrobatically landing in perfect textbook position to throw. He nailed the runner and drew a standing ovation.
"He made that play on the last road trip, with that kind of pivot," Bochy says. "That's something he works on. That's how talented this kid is.
"I can't remember ever seeing anybody else do that, and he's done it a couple of times."
The interesting thing is, as flashy as he is on the field, he's the complete opposite away from it. That odd match began in Key West, where life in general -- and baseball in particular -- has a definite Latino influence.
"It was a different style," Greene says. "You didn't just catch the ball perfectly against your chest, crow-hop and throw to first. You did it with a little bit of flair.
http://cbs.sportsline.com/u/polls/nlrookie90704.gif
http://images.sportsline.com/u/photos/baseball/mlb/img7654899.jpg
SAN DIEGO -- The Olympic gymnastics competition ended a couple of weeks ago, but what's the big deal? Khalil Greene (http://cbs.sportsline.com/mlb/players/playerpage/390804) is playing gold-medal shortstop for the San Diego Padres (http://cbs.sportsline.com/mlb/teams/page/SD).
He dips. He dives. He vaults and glides. I don't know how he'd look in a leotard, but I know how he looks in baseball double-knits. Like a cross between Ozzie Smith in mid-flip and a Swiffer. Talk about graceful. This guy is capable of making the Olympic pixie set look like a bunch of clods. And that's just by dinner.
The buzz is getting louder. Wherever San Diego manager Bruce Bochy ventures around town -- the grocery store, the barber, the gas station -- people want to know about Greene.
"I get asked about him more than anybody else," Bochy says.
Whenever an opposing team lines up against the Padres, Greene is the guy they're talking about when they leave.
"He's terrific," Atlanta manager Bobby Cox says. "A terrific player. He's a beauty. He's got a lot of confidence when the ball is hit to him."
The Padres are dangerously close to dropping out of the NL playoff hunt, but they wouldn't even have been on the same IM board with the contenders if not for their budding superstar shortstop.
Already named NL rookie of the month in both April and August, Greene is closing in on winning the rookie award for the entire season. You'll get plenty of argument from Pittsburgh, where outfielder Jason Bay leads NL rookies in home runs (21), RBI (66), on-base percentage (.370) and slugging percentage (.574).
Pittsburgh has never had a rookie of the year, and Pirates manager Lloyd McClendon is campaigning with such verve that the Republicans or Democrats might want to consider hiring him after the season as a consultant heading into the November elections.
"It would really be a shame if he doesn't win it," McClendon says.
Bay is an honorable and deserving candidate, and Pittsburgh certainly is overdue to have some things fall in its favor. But whatever offensive numbers Greene lacks in comparison to Bay -- the San Diego shortstop has 11 homers, 57 RBI, a .344 on-base percentage and .417 slugging percentage -- playing lights-out shortstop for a contending team is a whole different breed of cat.
Particularly for a team that essentially has become an overnight success after compiling the NL's worst record last season.
As veteran major-league shortstop and current San Diego utilityman Rich Aurilia says, "If you add the runs he's saved defensively to his RBI total ..."
Yep, add those together, and Greene might have more value in his town than the pandas up the street at the San Diego Zoo.
"He's a real good-looking player," St. Louis manager Tony La Russa says. "The way he plays defense, the way he bats, he's outstanding. I'm not sure there's a better-looking young player in the league."
The Padres have been eagerly anticipating the arrival of Greene, 24, since making the shortstop from Clemson University their first-round pick in the 2002 draft. He climbed through their system far more quickly than anybody dreamed, going from Double-A Mobile to Triple-A Portland to the majors for a September apprenticeship last summer in only his second professional season.
This spring, Rey Ordonez, who was part of a New York Mets infield that Sports Illustrated praised as one of the best ever in 1999, fled Padres camp when it became clear that he was being outplayed by Greene.
Events since have only confirmed that Greene is the It shortstop of a new generation.
"Compared to the minor leagues, there is a sense of urgency here more," Greene says of his adjustment to the majors. "The growth period, some mistakes you can get away with there. You can't here because everyone is watching. Your concentration level is therefore raised."
Concentration is what sets Greene far apart from the Future Journeymen of America. Yes, he has drop-dead athletic ability -- but so, too, do most players who flirt with major-league jobs. What makes Greene unique, particularly for someone who came of age during the MTV generation, is that his attention span lasts far longer than one or two music videos.
"I try to be in the game from the first pitch to the last," he says. "Whether we're winning by 10 or losing by 10, however long we're out there.
"For three or four hours, I try to take it like a job."
And in that, he's not just settling for entry level, either.
"I think it depends on what kind of player you want to be," he says. "If you want to devote your entire mindset, you're going to become a lot more successful than if you go about it half-assed."
His seriousness and maturity belie his boyish, blonde, surfer-dude looks, which recall early Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Though he grew up in Key West, Fla., the only thing flamboyant about him is his knack for hogging the time of the television producers who edit highlight clips.
He is a devout member of the Baha'i faith, which is the basis of his name. "Khalil" means "Friend of God" in Baha'i, and his middle name, "Thabit", means "steadfast." Rumor was, earlier this year, one of the black magazines planned to do a story on him until learning he was Caucasian.
Mistake. As entertaining as that rumor was, Padres media relations officials say they never received a call from any such magazine attempting to run down Greene's background.
His strong faith has kept him grounded, which in turn has allowed him to handle his rookie success with aplomb.
"It's the foundation of everything I do," Greene says. "I can't separate it from baseball. It's the thing in my life that shapes everything I do."
So instead of living the high life, he lifts weights and chugs protein shakes. Instead of demanding the spotlight, he stays firmly grounded within a very strict routine, which governs everything from nutrition -- a bowl of oatmeal every morning and a can of tuna every evening, among other things -- to working out to carving a few minutes into his schedule for quiet reflection both before and after games.
"I understand what's going on in my life, from the outside world to stuff within the framework of baseball," he says. "I have the perspective, I'd like to think, of what my role is in the game and what my role is in life.
"I'd like to think I'm not totally defined by being a baseball player. It's something I do. It's something I'm doing. But I'd like to not be limited by that. I'd like to think there's a lot more to me than hitting a ball and catching a ball."
In time, that undoubtedly will come. But as Greene introduces himself to the baseball world, right now it's difficult to see the entire person when his baseball self causes so many people to stop and say, whoa!
Like the time a couple weeks ago against Florida when he went deep into the hole toward third to stab a hard bouncer, stopped in his tracks ... and this is where it got interesting.
Instead of making the off-balance, fade-away throw to first while falling toward left field like so many shortstops before him, Greene, after stopping, did a half-circle whirl around to his right, acrobatically landing in perfect textbook position to throw. He nailed the runner and drew a standing ovation.
"He made that play on the last road trip, with that kind of pivot," Bochy says. "That's something he works on. That's how talented this kid is.
"I can't remember ever seeing anybody else do that, and he's done it a couple of times."
The interesting thing is, as flashy as he is on the field, he's the complete opposite away from it. That odd match began in Key West, where life in general -- and baseball in particular -- has a definite Latino influence.
"It was a different style," Greene says. "You didn't just catch the ball perfectly against your chest, crow-hop and throw to first. You did it with a little bit of flair.
http://cbs.sportsline.com/u/polls/nlrookie90704.gif