As the Liberty cruise to yet another 100 win season (thanks, age limits!), it's helpful to take a step back and consider just how amazing this team has been, seemingly since its inception. It's even more striking if you take the most recent era, ever since the Liberty last missed the playoffs in 2038. Beginning with the 2039 season and up to today, their record is 2117-868, for a .731 winning percentage across 21 consecutive division titles and 9 CPL championships.
Think of some of the legendary players. Luis Luchero's 180 career dingers. Slugger Anibal Gracia and his team record 49 home runs in 2049. Winston Carreon holding the top four single season hit totals and four of the top five season batting averages in franchise history. Carlos Granados' incredible 23-2, 2.55 season in 2047. Ace Jorge Garcia's three season run with a 58-4 overall record.
And of course, no mention of Liberty Legends is complete without Chris Wright, holder of virtually every franchise hitting record imaginable, including 36.5 career WAR. Wright is now a hitting coach for these same Liberty, who are first overall in Baxter League team OPS with an .899 mark thus far. But when you get to talking to Chris, as we did a few days ago, he's not talking about the past. He's talking about the future.
And the future's name is Adrian Tallent.
We quickly brought Chris back down to earth with a single number: 50. That's what the "scouts" feel is Tallent's peak overall rating. Apparently, according to the bots, this 20 year old outfielder will only ever be slightly above average.
"Bullshit!" was Wright's succinct reply. "Just look at the guy. Look at what he does. A great many things in this game are, to put it simply, beyond the numbers. Just try to keep up with his workouts. Try to challenge his knowledge of the game. Just try and find another kid, barely out of his teenage years, that can command an entire clubhouse and leave guys shaking their heads in awe. I'm not kidding, this stuff is actually happening. He really Is. That. Good."
Big words from a guy like Chris Wright. So what's up with this young right fielder, drafted 13th overall in 2057? Let's take a look.
Born in Walnut Creek, California, Tallent had a comfotable upbringing in this small, upscale, Bay Area city. The community is rich with baseball blood, including noted MLB players Randy Johnson and Tom Candiotti, as well as Justin Spieier and Dan Haren. So, a precocious kid growing up in a baseball rich culture in an area with long, pleasant summers? Yeah, he grew up to be a baseball rat, as you can imagine. He was quickly shuttled off to the SimCity high school All Star team, where his first and second years were about as good as you'd expect.
A strange, unexplained falloff his senior year likely clouded scouting judgements on him, and allowed Phoenix to snag the speedy young outfileder in the middle of the first round of the 2057 draft. He immediately made an impact on the championship winning Traverse City Talons, recording 3.1 WAR in 66 games, to go along with an incredible 1.3 additional WAR in 19 playoff games. In 2058, he moved up to Short A and went on another 71 game tear, with 3.1 WAR and 42 stolen bases. The decision was made to bring him up to the vaunted Toledo Liberty in August of that year.
"That's when I first saw him in person," Chris Wright explains. "18 year old kid. Tall, athletic, agile. Everything you want in a prospect. Off the chart speed and tremendous instincts, some of the best I've ever seen. Adapted to pro locker room life without a single false step. I mean, this guy is playing for one of the most successful teams in professional sports, and it's just another day for him. Absolutely unreal."
"Oh, and he had like a one thousand OPS and almost 2 WAR in something like three dozen games," Wright added with a grin.
2059? Same story. Half a season in Daytona, half in Toledo, 5 and a half WAR between them. And Wright emphasizes that its doesn't end with the numbers. "Development Lab? Knocks it out of the park every time. Extremely coachable and absorbs instruction like a sponge. Tangible results almost immediately. He's truly a freak of nature. I've never seen anything quite like it."
And so we come to 2060. The Liberty are as good as ever. And Tallent? At the time of this writing, he's in the middle of a 20 game hitting streak with a 1.020 OPS, almost 4 WAR, and 48 stolen bases in 52 games. He is on pace to set all time single season Toledo records in hits, runs scored, doubles, steals, and yes, WAR. In his age 20 season.
Yeah, there are teammates on the Liberty who might hit more home runs, or hit for a higher average, or play better defense. But there has never been a Toledo Liberty player quite like Adrian Tallent. Guess you could call him the best 50-rated prospect in BBA history.
Go Talons!
