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Thursday, September 23
Giles one of baseball's new stars
By Tim Kurkjian
ESPN The Magazine

It has been a marvelous year for rookies in baseball and an equally good sophomore class. Some aren't pure sophomores, but for some, this has been their first chance to play every day. And they're taking advantage of it. They are the second tier of terrific young players, and they're proving this year there is no such thing as a sophomore jinx.

Brian Giles
Giles finished with 39 home runs and a .315 batting average.

Brian Giles, Pirates
The Indians traded him last winter for reliever Ricky Rincon because they didn't know where he'd play or if he could hit left-handers. Well, he can play the outfield -- he was playing center before his season ended Tuesday with a broken finger -- and he can hit anyone. What a heist.

Giles finished at .315 with 109 runs scored, 39 homers and 115 RBI -- one homer shy of joining Ralph Kiner and Willie Stargell as the only Pirates to hit 40 in a season. Pittsburgh is going to be a very good club in a couple years when they move into their new park, and one player they're building around is Giles.

Giles played running back in high school next to Touchdown Tommy Vardell, but what he has also brought to the Pirates is the ability to take a walk, which has rubbed off on his teammates. Last year, the Bucs walked 393 times, led by Jason Kendall's 51 -- the last team to walk that few times and have a walk leader with less than 51 was the 1975 Tigers (Pirates manager Gene Lamont played on that team). Giles walked 95 times this year, as many as the top two Pirates combined last season. They've walked 541 times in '99. Now they're a much better team.

Richie Sexson, Indians
They were talking about trading him early this year in a deal for Curt Schilling, but he's off the block now for good reason: through Wednesday, he had 31 homers and 110 RBI in only 453 at-bats. "Every time I see him he reminds me more of Mark McGwire when McGwire was drafted," says Indians manager Mike Hargrove, an instructor in the A's system when McGwire signed in 1984. "Same long body, and the same kind of power."

Sexson is 6-6, an inch taller than McGwire. Being that tall generally hasn't helped hitters in baseball history. With so many movable parts, pitchers often carve up such a large target. There have really only been four players that tall in major league history who have had highly productive careers: Dave Winfield, Darryl Strawberry, Dave Kingman and Frank Howard.

Sexson might be next because he's such a good athlete. He was a terrific high school basketball player. He is a first baseman, but has learned how to play the outfield. And he can hit. Since the All-Star break, he has 16 homers and 56 RBI in 56 gamees.

Magglio Ordonez, White Sox
He hit .282 with 14 homers and 65 RBI last year as a rookie, but he has built on that this year. This season, he's hitting .297 with 28 homers and 109 RBI (impressive numbers, espeically considering he plays in one of the game's bigger ballparks in Comiskey). Scouts say that Ordonez reminds them of a young Edgar Martinez, high praise indeed considering Martinez has been one of the game's premier hitters the last 10 years. Both have that burly body and that short, quick stroke.

Bobby Abreu, Phillies
Two mistakes were made on this guy. First, how could the Astros make him available in the expansion draft? And how could the Devil Rays trade him on draft day for shortstop Kevin Stocker? Abreu hit .312 with 17 homers and 74 RBI last year, but this year, he's second in the league in hitting (.340), has scored 112 runs, hit 20 homers (31 doubles and 11 triples), knocked in 91 runs, walked 100 times and stolen 22 bases. Plus, he's an above average defensive right fielder with a howitzer for an arm.

Sean Casey, Reds
The Indians traded him the day before the 1998 season for pitcher Dave Burba. Casey got hurt two games into the season and didn't return to the Reds until May. Soon after arriving, he got a lecture from manager Jack McKeon, who told him to stop hitting singles to the opposite field, be a man and pull the ball.

It hurt Casey, who explained that hitting to all fields was how he hit, and that eventually he would start to pull the ball. He was sent to the minor leagues, returned later in the year and showed only limited power. But this year, he has hit with authority to all fields. Through Wednesday Casey was hitting .333 with 40 doubles and 23 home runs, helping the Reds become surprise contenders.

ESPN The Magazine's Tim Kurkjian writes a column each Thursday for ESPN.com.

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