O. T. Cubs Fantasy camp

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Posted By: Rob Dewolf

Jason,

I think I know what you're asking, and it's a good question. I think players look at other players differently than organizations look at them, because a player is paying attention only to skills and not taking into account how much money a team has invested in a player. I remember playing with and against guys who, the general consensus was, seemed to belong at a higher level. Then you'd ask around and find out that the organization "just doesn't like him" or that the player picked up a negative label along the way and faced an uphill battle just to get out of Double-A.

There were guys -- Gary Sheffield comes to mind -- who you could look at taking BP and just see the bat speed and know he was something special. An a**hole to be sure, but still a special player. Of course, you didn't have to be a genius to see it in him. And facing Ramon Martinez ... he's the only guy who ever made be feel borderline scared in the batter's box. You could just see he had that "extra" stuff and know he was going to make it. His stuff -- at least in the Texas League -- was so nasty, I often didn't know how to react to it. Which was scary.

The funny thing is, a guy like Martinez, even though he had a strong big league career, he fell far short of what I thought he'd do. Which tells me just how amazingly hard it is to succeed at the major league level. Even though it's a cliche, it really does take more than pure ability a lot of time, and mental toughness plays a big part.

Conversely, you play against guys -- Gregg Jeffries for example -- who seems to be the complete package, then they never make it or make it for only a short time.

Gosh, I don't know if I've even answered your question after all of this rambling. I guess what I'm saying is that when you play with or against the same guys during a long season, you quickly realize the ones who seem "destined." And even though you might not always be 100 percent right, the more you're around -- and the higher the level you're playing at -- the better your precentage is in picking out the future stars.