Lastings effect

Pop keeps close eye on Mets minor-league star

Call it keeping an eye on the family investment, if you will. Or just chalk it up to going along for the ride. Whatever, the idea of following Junior off to the pros is catching on.

When hotshot baseball prospect Lastings Milledge arrived on the team bus for a series last weekend in Rome, Ga., his parents, Tony and Linda, rolled in shortly after in their 2004 Ford Santara camper. Nothing new about this. The family camper is a fixture in the stadium parking lot beyond right field in Columbia, S.C., where the 19-year-old Milledge is the star center fielder for the New York Mets' Class A affiliate. And when the Capital City Bombers leave town, the Milledges often trail behind en route to South Atlantic League outposts like Asheville (N.C.), Greensboro (S.C.) and Augusta (Ga.).

Mom and dad try to keep a careful distance with their teenager, of course. The kid even has his own apartment in Columbia, though his roommate is older brother Tony, himself a former minor league player.

This close-tabs treatment isn't usually associated with minor-league baseball, but it was a topic of conversation during last week's NBA draft, which saw No. 1 pick Dwight Howard and a record seven other high schoolers guaranteed millions after landing in the first round. Money is the biggest difference between NBA and MLB draftees, although Milledge himself received a $2.075 signing bonus after being taken 12th overall by the Mets last year.

If Milledge pans out like scouts think, he could be on his way to being a fixture in New York or some other big-league city. He's billed as a five-tool prospect, a kid who can throw, run, field, hit for average and for power. What catches your eye first is his speed and raw athleticism. On a recent night, with the family watching, he pushed a bunt down the first-base line and beat the first baseman to the bag with amazing ease.

And make no mistake, dad is watching. His father is a baseball guy who rarely misses a day at the park, from spring training to his kid's rehab from a broken hand at extended spring training. He can offer up an insightful scouting report on his son and most every prospect in the Mets' minor league system.

"We don't hang out with him," cautions Milledge's father, a retiring Florida highway patrolman. "When we go to games, we speak briefly. Just basically acknowledge the fact that we are there.

"We're not there to keep an eye on him, but you still got to remember they're just coming out of high school. I can recall when I was 18 or 19. Oh, man, you were still a baby."

Milledge, in his first full season of pro ball, is all for having his family around. Before home games, he routinely parks his black H2 Hummer next to the family camper and arrives with his older brother, Tony, who he describes as an advisor.

"He talks to me about what I need to know," Milledge says. "Stuff to look out for. Just to watch out and make sure nothing goes wrong."

The teenager got off to a rocky pro start a year ago when the Mets halted contract negotiations while the club investigated allegations that he had sexual contact with under-aged girls while in high school. The Mets signed him last August after an investigator found that he was neither arrested nor charged.

Dad suggests the allegations affected the kid's draft status. The son isn't as certain, though admits the very public situation made him grow up in a hurry.

"Yeah, it helped me in a serious way, cause it let me know who is behind me," he says. "I found out who my true friends are. My family and just a couple friends."

The kid acts and sounds, at least, well beyond his 19 years. He might be the youngest player on the Columbia roster, but Lastings Milledge has been groomed for the big leagues since he was driven to his first T-ball game. His dad and two older brothers all had minor-league flings. Growing up in Bradenton, Fla., Milledge led his team to the Little League World Series and his reputation grew as he played on elite national teams.

Milledge, a tad over 6-foot and solidly carrying 185 pounds, weighs every word rather than blurt out answers to questions. Facially, he bears a resemblance to Olympic sprint gold medalist Michael Johnson, and also has a deep voice and no-nonsense manner.

Handling the pressures and scrutiny of New York? No problem, he says.

"New York is not a tough place to play," he says. "It is all mental. I know how to handle the media and I played in front of 35,000 fans when I was 12 years old. So New York is not going to be tough.

"Where some people have difficulty is when they're failing and the fans are all over them. I know how to get myself back into gear. No matter how many people in the world tell me I'm not good, I have confidence in myself. I know how good I am."

How good is that? After 35 games at Columbia, Milledge is hitting .314 and driven in 31 runs from the leadoff position. The toughest adjustment has been getting used to the speed of the game and realizing that, after tearing it up as an amateur, there's no shame in going 1-for-3.

Some compare his rare combination of power and speed to future Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson, while his dad says he's a spitting image of 15-year veteran Marquis Grissom. Milledge says he patterns his game off of what he's learned from his dad, adding "I don't really compare myself to a major league player, cause I want to be more special than somebody else. I want to be my own player."

The Mets only hope he develops into something close to Henderson or Grissom. The same goes for his family, which is doing its part to make it happen.