Notes: Sizemore Fitting The Bill

07/27/2004 7:46 PM ET
Rookie impresses with natural talent, temperament
By Justice B. Hill / MLB.com

CLEVELAND -- It would be putting too much of a burden on Grady Sizemore to call him "Roy Hobbs" or link him in any way to "The Natural."

A handful of games into a Major League career, Sizemore hasn't done all the magical things Hobbs did in that popular movie of the 1980s.

But the 21-year-old center fielder is surely proving he's a natural in his own way. He's quickly making a name for himself in the bigs, and doing so without the personal bombast or the high-voltage temperament.

"He has an even-keel about him," manager Eric Wedge said. "He's got a pretty good perspective on what he's doing out there. Everybody loves the way he goes about his business."

Indeed, everybody does. People have seen enough to know that the 21-year-old Sizemore, whom the Tribe acquired in the Bartolo Colon deal, has the intensity and the talent to make an impact in the game. Whether that impact will be here immediately or down the reader is a question without a concrete answer.

But from what he's shown in seven games, the answer might be concrete after all. Sizemore has looked good -- very, very good so far. He's had a couple of key hits, gotten his first homer out of the way and is getting acclimated to the Major Leaguer's life with ease.

"That'll give him way more confidence, and he'll feel more like he belongs and is accepted," Omar Vizquel said of Sizemore's early success. "He wouldn't be here if he couldn't do that, but, as a personal thing, he'll have a lot more confidence."

He might already posses that confidence; after all, early success has a way of breeding it. But Sizemore, who started again in center Tuesday night against the Tigers, seems as if he's not going to get caught up in all the hoopla that surrounded his arrival. He's playing in the moment, which is a professional's approach to take.

"I've enjoyed it," said Sizemore, who said being the big leagues is about what he had expected. "Everybody has made it real nice and comfortable for me."