Jason Heyward to be featured in Sports Illustrated

Baseball fans if you want to learn more about the brightest young star in baseball today, run out and get yourself a copy of the Sports Illustrated issue that hits shelves tomorrow. This issue will feature an article on the Braves’ Jason Heyward.

It’s written by baseball’s best writer, Tom Verducci. An excerpt from the article says the following:
Verducci writes about how Heyward’s father, Eugene, ran up nearly 300,000 miles on the family’s SUV transporting Jason to all the stops on his youth baseball schedule. Jason tells Verducci: “When I was 10, I saw a couple of big league games, and I said, ‘I want to do this the rest of my life.’ They had a plan, my parents. I appreciate that they did everything they could to get me in front of all the right people. But my dad said, ‘Without you saying you wanted it, it wouldn’t have happened.’ Every year he asked, ‘Do you still want to play baseball?’ By my senior year I looked at him like he was stupid. And he said, ‘All right. I will never ask you again.’ “

The more I hear about this kid, the more I like him. He seems grounded. He seems like no matter what level of stardom he reaches, he’s the furthest thing from Barry Bonds.

I’m glad that Verducci has written a nice story about him. It’s a high compliment to have that guy sniffing around you as a rookie. It should be an outstanding read.