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http://www.projo.com/redsox/content/sp_ ... a2ffe.html
Life as the top prospect in what may be the best organization in baseball isn’t always easy, even when baseball has come as naturally as breathing your entire life.
Lars Anderson has always dealt with the expectations that come with being genuinely and obviously gifted. At 6-foot-4 and 215 pounds, scouts have salivated over the big Californian since he starred for the Team USA juniors in 2005.
When the Red Sox picked him in the 2006 draft, and he immediately hammered minor-league pitching, the murmurs started, with fans gleefully speculating that by 2010 the first baseman would be handling big-league pitchers, and could even be ready to replace Red Sox icon David Ortiz.
This fall, the Red Sox named him the organization’s minor-league offensive player of the year.
Soon after, more accolades followed, such as Baseball America ranking him as the organization’s No. 1 prospect.
Anderson finds it tough to know what to make of the prognosticators.
“Those are just numbers. I think some people put too much stock into that. I don’t even know who the people who make those rankings are. I don’t know if they’ve ever seen me play or if they’re just going on hearsay,” he said.
It’s a lot for a 21-year-old to process, even a thoughtful, cerebral one who passed up a scholarship to Cal-Berkeley to ride buses around South Carolina in the low minors.
So what does the anointed future of the Red Sox do in the offseason, to make sense of a world where he’s suddenly the Next Big Thing?
Unplug.
“Get out in the wild a little bit,” Anderson said. “Get out there and read and write a little bit.”
When the season ended this year, Anderson went on a hiking trip by himself in woods near his West Coast roots. He plans to visit his brother in Hawaii, and try his hand at surfing. He often loses himself in his solitary guitar playing — “I’ve been on a Grateful Dead kick lately” — anything to keep things in perspective, and remember that he is more than a performer putting up statistics on a box score.
“There are expectations; I think it’s important to keep it close,” he said.
And those expectations are?
“I’m sure they’d like to see me hit about 900 home runs and bat .1000,” Anderson joked.
Fortunately, the Red Sox are known as an organization that is less concerned with results, and more interested in seeing its prospects develop as players. So far, the Red Sox have been more than pleased with Anderson’s development, said farm system director Mike Hazen. While Anderson will likely start the season in Portland, or possibly Pawtucket, there is a chance that he could see the majors in 2009.
“He’s talented — I certainly believe he’s going to have every opportunity to put himself in a good position in 2009,” Hazen said.
Fans need not worry that Anderson is taking too much time to figure it all out, however. His work ethic is well-known throughout the organization, and the Carmichael, Calif., native spent a week in Fort Myers, Fla., early this month blasting his body at a strength-training camp.
Anderson has also committed to addressing some of his flaws this offseason: “some of the weaker points in my game — defense, just overall growth,” he said.
Anderson grew up playing baseball, but mostly of the catch-with-his-dad variety. As a child, he skied and played some basketball, but didn’t enter an organized baseball league until he was 9. It was clear right away that he had ability most of the other kids didn’t.
“I always had something, I never really felt overmatched,” Anderson said.
With that knowledge came a quiet confidence.
“I think I always thought I could do this professionally. I always wanted to be a pro baseball player growing up,” Anderson said.
After he drove in 11 runs at the Pan Am Championship in Mexico in 2005, pro scouts were believers, too, and Anderson was all over many teams’ radar screens.
Talent-wise, Anderson should have gone in the draft’s first few rounds, but conflicts over his price and the system caused him to fall to the 18th round, where the Red Sox signed him for an $825,000 bonus and convinced him to forgo college.
Starting out in A-ball in Greenville, S.C., Anderson quickly showed his power, hitting 10 home runs in 458 at-bats, with excellent plate discipline, before being promoted to High-A Lancaster.
Adjusting to life in the minors is much like any major change, Anderson said — and he would have had to handle life changes if he had chosen college, as well.
“Sleeping is sleeping and walking is walking,” Anderson said, though he allowed that the minor-league life is an unconventional one, and most outsiders don’t understand exactly what that world is like.
“It hasn’t been what I expected — has it been what I wanted it to be? It’s hard for people to see what this lifestyle is going to be like,” Anderson said.
And the long bus trips, the small motels, the tiny stadiums? The news that Major League Baseball recently denied a request to increase minor-leaguers’ meal money per diem from $20 to $25? True, “It’s not as glamorous as one might think,” Anderson said with a slight chuckle.
But the camaraderie, and unified purpose, he found with his teammates has overshadowed all of that.
“People have made too big a deal of it — there are tough parts, but not as much as one would think. I felt the transition to be fairly easy; everybody has the same struggle, and everybody has the same ultimate goal,” he said.
Clearly the time on buses didn’t affect his swing. Despite missing time with a wrist injury, he roared through high-A Lancaster, hitting .317 and clubbing 13 home runs in 306 at-bats. That earned him a promotion to Double-A Portland, where he continued to show off his offense, hitting .316 with 5 home runs in 133 at-bats against Double-A pitching.
With numbers like those, the awards and the rankings soon followed. And to be sure, they’re nice to have. But Anderson — the future of the franchise, the heir apparent, the masher, the on-base machine, the player of the year — judges himself by a different set of standards.
“I just want to have fun, man — that was my goal last year, and I was a success from that standpoint,” he said. Scouts’ forecast for young slugger
Scouting Report
•STRENGTHS: Has all the ingredients to hit for a high average with a lot of power . . . Has quick hands and wrists . . . Draws plenty of walks and doesn’t strike out excessively . . . Has a smooth, left-handed swing . . .Keeps the barrel of the bat in the hitting zone for a long time.
•WEAKNESSES: Can do a better job of attacking hittable pitches early in the count . . . Mindset is to drive pitches on the outer half to the opposite field . . . Will have power to all fields when he starts turning on more inside pitches.
•OUTLOOK: The Red Sox’ preference is for him to spend the bulk of next season at Pawtucket, but one scout thinks he could hit major-league pitching in 2009.
Scouting report from Baseball America
Life as the top prospect in what may be the best organization in baseball isn’t always easy, even when baseball has come as naturally as breathing your entire life.
Lars Anderson has always dealt with the expectations that come with being genuinely and obviously gifted. At 6-foot-4 and 215 pounds, scouts have salivated over the big Californian since he starred for the Team USA juniors in 2005.
When the Red Sox picked him in the 2006 draft, and he immediately hammered minor-league pitching, the murmurs started, with fans gleefully speculating that by 2010 the first baseman would be handling big-league pitchers, and could even be ready to replace Red Sox icon David Ortiz.
This fall, the Red Sox named him the organization’s minor-league offensive player of the year.
Soon after, more accolades followed, such as Baseball America ranking him as the organization’s No. 1 prospect.
Anderson finds it tough to know what to make of the prognosticators.
“Those are just numbers. I think some people put too much stock into that. I don’t even know who the people who make those rankings are. I don’t know if they’ve ever seen me play or if they’re just going on hearsay,” he said.
It’s a lot for a 21-year-old to process, even a thoughtful, cerebral one who passed up a scholarship to Cal-Berkeley to ride buses around South Carolina in the low minors.
So what does the anointed future of the Red Sox do in the offseason, to make sense of a world where he’s suddenly the Next Big Thing?
Unplug.
“Get out in the wild a little bit,” Anderson said. “Get out there and read and write a little bit.”
When the season ended this year, Anderson went on a hiking trip by himself in woods near his West Coast roots. He plans to visit his brother in Hawaii, and try his hand at surfing. He often loses himself in his solitary guitar playing — “I’ve been on a Grateful Dead kick lately” — anything to keep things in perspective, and remember that he is more than a performer putting up statistics on a box score.
“There are expectations; I think it’s important to keep it close,” he said.
And those expectations are?
“I’m sure they’d like to see me hit about 900 home runs and bat .1000,” Anderson joked.
Fortunately, the Red Sox are known as an organization that is less concerned with results, and more interested in seeing its prospects develop as players. So far, the Red Sox have been more than pleased with Anderson’s development, said farm system director Mike Hazen. While Anderson will likely start the season in Portland, or possibly Pawtucket, there is a chance that he could see the majors in 2009.
“He’s talented — I certainly believe he’s going to have every opportunity to put himself in a good position in 2009,” Hazen said.
Fans need not worry that Anderson is taking too much time to figure it all out, however. His work ethic is well-known throughout the organization, and the Carmichael, Calif., native spent a week in Fort Myers, Fla., early this month blasting his body at a strength-training camp.
Anderson has also committed to addressing some of his flaws this offseason: “some of the weaker points in my game — defense, just overall growth,” he said.
Anderson grew up playing baseball, but mostly of the catch-with-his-dad variety. As a child, he skied and played some basketball, but didn’t enter an organized baseball league until he was 9. It was clear right away that he had ability most of the other kids didn’t.
“I always had something, I never really felt overmatched,” Anderson said.
With that knowledge came a quiet confidence.
“I think I always thought I could do this professionally. I always wanted to be a pro baseball player growing up,” Anderson said.
After he drove in 11 runs at the Pan Am Championship in Mexico in 2005, pro scouts were believers, too, and Anderson was all over many teams’ radar screens.
Talent-wise, Anderson should have gone in the draft’s first few rounds, but conflicts over his price and the system caused him to fall to the 18th round, where the Red Sox signed him for an $825,000 bonus and convinced him to forgo college.
Starting out in A-ball in Greenville, S.C., Anderson quickly showed his power, hitting 10 home runs in 458 at-bats, with excellent plate discipline, before being promoted to High-A Lancaster.
Adjusting to life in the minors is much like any major change, Anderson said — and he would have had to handle life changes if he had chosen college, as well.
“Sleeping is sleeping and walking is walking,” Anderson said, though he allowed that the minor-league life is an unconventional one, and most outsiders don’t understand exactly what that world is like.
“It hasn’t been what I expected — has it been what I wanted it to be? It’s hard for people to see what this lifestyle is going to be like,” Anderson said.
And the long bus trips, the small motels, the tiny stadiums? The news that Major League Baseball recently denied a request to increase minor-leaguers’ meal money per diem from $20 to $25? True, “It’s not as glamorous as one might think,” Anderson said with a slight chuckle.
But the camaraderie, and unified purpose, he found with his teammates has overshadowed all of that.
“People have made too big a deal of it — there are tough parts, but not as much as one would think. I felt the transition to be fairly easy; everybody has the same struggle, and everybody has the same ultimate goal,” he said.
Clearly the time on buses didn’t affect his swing. Despite missing time with a wrist injury, he roared through high-A Lancaster, hitting .317 and clubbing 13 home runs in 306 at-bats. That earned him a promotion to Double-A Portland, where he continued to show off his offense, hitting .316 with 5 home runs in 133 at-bats against Double-A pitching.
With numbers like those, the awards and the rankings soon followed. And to be sure, they’re nice to have. But Anderson — the future of the franchise, the heir apparent, the masher, the on-base machine, the player of the year — judges himself by a different set of standards.
“I just want to have fun, man — that was my goal last year, and I was a success from that standpoint,” he said. Scouts’ forecast for young slugger
Scouting Report
•STRENGTHS: Has all the ingredients to hit for a high average with a lot of power . . . Has quick hands and wrists . . . Draws plenty of walks and doesn’t strike out excessively . . . Has a smooth, left-handed swing . . .Keeps the barrel of the bat in the hitting zone for a long time.
•WEAKNESSES: Can do a better job of attacking hittable pitches early in the count . . . Mindset is to drive pitches on the outer half to the opposite field . . . Will have power to all fields when he starts turning on more inside pitches.
•OUTLOOK: The Red Sox’ preference is for him to spend the bulk of next season at Pawtucket, but one scout thinks he could hit major-league pitching in 2009.
Scouting report from Baseball America
