Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.
About eight years ago, the hardest part of Lee Banks' job as coach of a youth travel team based in southeast Virginia was picking a shortstop.
"It was a lot of fun," Banks recalled to FanHouse last week. "You just sat back and let 'em play and try not to mess it up."
Back then, the team (now known as the Tidewater Orioles) had on its roster B.J. Upton, David Wright, Ryan Zimmerman and Mark Reynolds.
Heard of them?
"It was a pretty good group, I could tell," Banks said.
Yeah, pretty good.
Wright, Zimmerman and Upton's brother Justin -- who played for Banks a few years after the others -- were All-Stars this year. And Reynolds just missed.
(Banks went to the 2007 and '08 All-Star Games but missed seeing three of his former players at this year's contest because he had a tournament to coach in.)
But Zimmerman said back then the players themselves didn't realize how good they were.
"That's the thing -- I'm not sure if we know it now," he said. "That's the great thing about it. I think that's the great thing about where we grew up. We were so lucky to have good coaching and good parents and people that kind of keep us, I would say humble, but humble is such and overused word. A lot of people say they are and really aren't.
"I think we were lucky enough to have good people around us when we were growing up that made us not realize how good we were. And I think that was part of our success. We just enjoyed playing baseball."
The Tidewater area isn't know just for baseball. Among many sports stars native to the area, Allen Iverson and Ronald Curry are from Hampton and Bruce Smith is from Norfolk.
"It's traditionally an athletic-rich area," Wright said, "but now we're just starting to kind of break the seal on the baseball in the area."
Wright said it started with Michael Cuddyer, picked in the first round of the 1997 draft by the Twins.
"Everybody said they wanted to be the next Michael Cuddyer," Wright said.
By the time Justin Upton got to high school, he was aspiring to be the next B.J. Upton or David Wright.
"We had guys to play up to," Justin said. "Baseball's kind of at the head right now."
Why is that? It seems because of people like Banks and the Uptons' father, Manny, who is active in the local AAU programs.
"I think the AAU programs have been the foundation here," Banks said.
Said Wright: "I remember playing on traveling teams where we were [practicing] bunt defense and rundowns and things like that. So coming to spring training my first [pro] year, I knew all the stuff they were teaching me in professional ball -- that we were doing at 10, 11, 12 years old -- that other guys were learning for the first time."
Zimmerman said he has been asked "100 times" how one corner of one state could produce so much talented.
"If you're super-talented, it can take you a long way," he said. "But this game is so hard on people because it's such an up-and-down game, it's such a grind, that you have to be a good person. You have to be able to go through ups-and-downs. You have to learn what it's like to struggle. And I think you have to battle through that. And a lot of people don't play this game because when they struggle, they quit. And I think a lot of us growing up in that area were lucky to have people around us who taught us not just about baseball but about life, and I think that's a big part of the reason why we're so successful.
"Truly, to me, I think it's a testament [to] good youth sports. We get to play against great competition from such a young age and we learn things and we learn how to compete -- at 9, 10 years old what other people are learning at 14, 15. And that's the thing in sports: You can be the most talented person in the world, but if you've never been put in a position to be in that clutch situation or be in that pressure situation, you're going to be out of sorts. And I think we were lucky enough to have that at a young age. So now when you get 15, 16 and into college it's kind of second nature."
Reynolds (Virginia Beach First Colonial High Class of '01), Wright (Chesapeake Hickory High '01), Zimmerman (Virginia Beach Kellam High '02) and B.J. Upton (Chesapeake Greenbrier Christian Academy '02) were all teammates on Banks' team and all shortstops in high school.
On that team, Zimmerman said, "David actually played third. I remember at one point David was playing third, me and B.J. would kind of rotate at short, so when B.J. played short, I would play second. I was kind of smaller back then, so I kind of fit the mold for a second baseman. Mark was kind of everywhere, just hitting homers."
Said Banks, "They were all pretty good about that [sharing the position]."
Meanwhile, at that time, Justin Upton was "a little kid that would kind of come around and kind of hang out," as Zimmerman put it.
"He's bigger and stronger than all of us now," Zimmerman said.
Zimmerman followed Reynolds from the area to the University of Virginia.
"Mark's actually the reason I play third," Zimmerman said. "He was a year ahead of me, and I show up as a freshman, and they're like, 'Well, you're not going to play short.'
"They're like, 'Have you ever played third?' I'm like, I have never, ever played third, but if that [is what it] takes for me to play, 'Yeah, I've played third before.' It's kind of funny that we both end up playing third now."
As does Wright.
"We pushed each other, even when we were younger, to become better players," he said. "We wanted to out-do each other, one-up each other. I think that's still the case."
Overheard and Understood
• One of the top prospects in the Dominican Republic, Miguel Angel Sano, could sign for a major bonus – now that Major League Baseball has reportedly determined his age is authentic. To avoid fraud, MLB has started requiring DNA tests from Dominican prospects and the people they claim to be their parents. As for Sano, one international scout seemed dubious, saying, "He's got the body of a 22-, 23-year-old with a young face. I haven't seen many 15-year-olds built like that."
• While the Dodgers are well ahead in the race for the National League's best record, one scout says, "They're not set up well for the playoffs. They don't have a hammer ace that will carry you. I like [Chad Billingsley] but I've never [considered] him an ace." Dodger Opening Day starter Hiroki Kuroda "is a No. 4 and not trustworthy. He can flash brilliance but I don't trust him."
| Chart of the Week | |
|---|---|
| Which teams will come on strong in the second half? Here's what history says; the teams with the best winning percentages after the All-Star break, from 2005-08: | |
| Team | WPCT |
| Yankees |
.631 |
| Phillies |
.601 |
| Angels |
.599 |
| Indians |
.577 |
| Astros |
.557 |
| Mets |
.557 |
| Source: Stats LLC | |
• Aaron Boone, who underwent heart surgery March 27, is scheduled to rejoin the Astros on Monday to begin working toward returning to play.
• Trying to get more balanced, Kansas City is looking for a right-handed bat and would be willing to part with lefty swingers Mark Teahen, David DeJesus or Mike Jacobs.
• Including Thursday's win, Philadelphia's Jamie Moyer is 8-0 with a 1.37 ERA in eight career starts at Florida.
• The Brewers' next game against a team that currently has a winning record is Aug. 3, at the Dodgers. Three of Milwaukee's next four series are against the NL's last-place clubs.
• Boston's Tim Wakefield and Josh Beckett became the first AL teammates in 18 years to tie for the league lead in wins at the All-Star break -- since California's Chuck Finley and Mark Langston in 1991.
• Drew Storen, the Nationals' other first-round draft pick (10th overall) has started his pro career by striking out 26 and walking none in 14 2/3 relief innings for Class A Hagerstown (Md.).
• Last week's announcement that the Diamondbacks and Rockies will share a spring training facility near Scottsdale, Ariz., beginning in 2011 means the end of Cactus League baseball in Tucson, which has had a team train there since 1946. That means everyone can stop pretending that big-league ball competes with University of Arizona basketball for the town's attention.
• The deal that sent Jeff Francoeur from the Braves to the Mets for Ryan Church was the first in-season trade between the franchises since 1991, when right-hander Alejandro Pena went from New York to Atlanta for lefty Tony Castillo. Back then, though, the teams were not in the same division.
• Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon's explanation, via Twitter (@RaysJoeMaddon), on why he wears No. 70: "When Don Sutton was aquired [sic] by the Angels my number went from 20 to 70 I vowed 2 keep it no one would want 70."
• Hard-to-believe stat: Lance Berkman has the highest career slugging percentage for a switch-hitter (1,000 or more games played) – just ahead of Mickey Mantle, .558 to .557.
• Advice to those asked to participate in the Home Run Derby: Don't ask Scott Pickens to throw for you. Pickens, the Tigers' bullpen catcher, "held" Magglio Ordonez to two homers in 2007 and shut out Brandon Inge this year.
