At 5’10”, you’d be hard pressed to see his power when he’s in his street clothes. I mean, the kid everyone calls “Moo” (a name he god as a kid when he kept telling people to “Mo over, I’m coming through”) looks a lot more like a point guard than a slugger. “He’s got tremendous strength in his wrists, though,” said AAA hitting coach Emilo Rodriguez. “All you have to do is watch the kind of bat speed he generates to understand what he’s about.”
He’s also apparently about foot speed. Despite only 7 steals in 10 attempts this season, teammates say he can beat anyone in a race. He’s also apparently about pop music and girls, not necessarily in that order.
“You can tell he’s eighteen,” said Santa Clara beat reporter Bob Mendoza. “It’s not that he’s reckless, but he’s just got all this talent, and he’s a strong kid, and handsome, too. You know what I mean. He can sign a little, and when you’re gregarious and work hard you just attract people.”
By people, he means girls.
The only real question at this point is how long he’ll be attracting girls in Indianapolis before he shows up in Yellow Springs. The fact is that he’s really ready to play there now, but the Nine have a guy named Andy McKinney in left field, and a guy named George Robertson at DH, and a guy named Lucas McNeill at 1B. You might have heard of those guys. If none of those were true statements, there’s no doubt that girls in Indy wouldn’t even have a chance to find him. Alas for girls in Yellow Springs, barring injury, they’ll have to wait a little while at least. Probably September, anyway.
“I’m just going to hit,” Mendoza said with a 100-watt smile when asked what he thinks about going to Indy rather than Yellow Springs. “If I keep hitting, I figure I’ll get there.”