MESA, Ariz.Brett Jackson looked him over and wondered: Who is this dude? Does he play soccer?
This was last fall at SPARTA Performance Science near San Francisco, before Jeremy Lin made the cover of Sports Illustrated two weeks in a row. The SportsCenter highlights didnt run every night and Linsanity hadnt yet taken over Twitter.
All of a sudden, hes like (the) hottest ticket in town, Jackson said Wednesday. Its unbelievable.
The Cubs think Jackson could be the next big thing, but it wont happen overnight. Baseball America just named him the No. 32 overall prospect in the game, and the projection is that the 23-year-old outfielder will be in Chicago sometime this season.
The new front office will have an Ivy League influence and be driven by data. Jackson went to Cal-Berkeley and trained in Silicon Valley, hoping to fit into Theo Epsteins vision.
You want to take yourself as far as you can, Jackson said. You want to be the best player you can be. If Im a special player in the big leagues, then Ive worked hard enough and Ill continue working. You dont want to settle for anything. You dont want to settle for average.
Lin was searching for an edge during the NBA lockout, which brought him to the high-tech gym that counts Philadelphia Phillies All-Star second baseman Chase Utley among its clients, and helps train players for the NFL combine.
MLB
Using proprietary software, SPARTA tracks and monitors the athletes body, and designs workout plans around that. A recent Bloomberg television report said it helped Lin add almost 15 pounds to his frame and 3.5 inches onto his vertical.
Then again, Lin bounced around from the Golden State Warriors to the Houston Rockets to the New York Knicks last December before exploding into a global star. There is an element of timing or luck involved, even for a Harvard graduate.
Jackson only saw Lin a few times at the gym, and can only hope hell also be in the right place at the right time.
Since taking over baseball operations, Epstein has traded away recent first-round picks Andrew Cashner and Tyler Colvin, and everyone in the organization has been looked at in a different light.
It didnt faze Jackson, the 31st overall pick in the 2009 draft, and untouchable from the start of the Epstein compensation negotiations. Jackson was actually roommates with Boston prospect Lars Anderson this offseason and learned all about the Red Sox Way.
Jackson may never hit 30 bombs a year in the big leagues, but he can run, hit and field, and has a .393 career on-base percentage in the minors. That is the type of across-the-board player Epstein likes to target. As manager Dale Sveum said: That guy just bounces around with athleticism.
After Wednesdays workout, Jackson sat in a corner of the clubhouse joking around with Anthony Rizzo, Matt Szczur and Josh Vitters. You wondered if it was a glimpse into the future.
Rizzo (No. 47) and Szczur (No. 64) also made Baseball Americas top 100 list, while Vitters is still only 22 years old, waiting to fulfill his potential as the third overall pick in the 2007 draft. Instead of making a late push for Prince Fielder, the Cubs traded for Rizzo to be their first baseman.
Great dude, Jackson said of Rizzo. Hes texted me the last couple weeks before we got here, saying, We got to make this team.
That probably wont happen out of camp. More likely, theyll be ticketed for Triple-A Iowa. But if all goes according to plan, pretty soon theyll both have to find a way to handle the insanity of playing for the Cubs, and all that goes with it.
Figure it out as you go along, Jackson said. But when it comes down to it, its just about playing baseball. Its about being a good teammate, having fun and thats why I play. Theres a lot in it here with this club and the history and everything. So its easy to work hard when theres a cause, something to believe in.