The Hype About Heyward: A Legend in The Making?

Before he had seen a single pitch in Spring Training, Jason Heyward was a legend. Signed by the Braves in the 2007 draft, the left-handed outfielder was ranked the No. 1 prospect by Baseball America for the 2010 season. Since then, the hype has only grown.

Terry Pendleton said he had never seen a player with the combination of Heyward's talent, attitude, and maturity.

Jim Leyland drew comparisons to Albert Pujols in his younger days. 

Bobby Cox compared the sound off his bat to that of Hank Aaron's. (Although Cox also said at one point that Andruw Jones had the potential to be a better center fielder than Willie Mays...) 

And in yesterday's game against the Tigers, Tim Hudson remarked that Heyward's home run "just adds to the legend."

Really? A legend already? I will say, he certainly demonstrates a lot of promising qualities that other top Braves prospects have lacked. He's disciplined at the plate (ahem, Francoeur), has strong work ethic (Andruw Jones) and has dealt with all of the expectation and attention with impressive poise for a 20-year old.

And what the hell, it's exciting for the sport. Besides, if ever there's a time for thinking (dreaming?) about the world of possibilities, thinking that maybe "this year could be the year," it's during the first week of March. It's refreshing, and, as Richard Ben Cramer wrote of Joe DiMaggio, "If the writers were gonna try to make him a hero, what's he supposed to do--stop 'em?... If they needed Joe to stand for all the miracles that happen with vision, belief, and good ol' American spunk--well, why not?"

So maybe I'm getting a little ahead of myself. But why not throw DiMaggio into the mix of legendary comparisons too? It's the media's job to sensationalize everything anyways.