New York Hopes Dreifort is its Future

By KYLE KEOUGH
Double Day Daily

For a baseball city used to throwing locker-room champagne parties, the New York Highlanders have been whiskey-sour since the birth of Double Day. For an organization with champagne dreams, Robinson Dreifort remains their best hope.

There won't be a parade route through Times Square--again--this season. Fans would be happy to celebrate even a third-place finish. But it is Dreifort who remains a tantalizing glimpse into what could be awaiting the Highlanders in the future.

New York has its share of good young players on the Major League club. RF Dingo Randall (.319, 17 HR, 88 RBI, 22 SB) has been one of the break-out rookies of season three and will likely be named a finalist for the AL Rookie of the Year award. After crushing Rookie League pitching, CF Albert O'Brien made the leap all the way to the ML and has not disappointed (.310, 17 HR, 66 RBI). Despite his struggles, SS Harry Polanco (.234, 52 RBI, 53 R) remains one of the best young shortstops in all of Double Day. And 2B Domingo Rose (.281, 20 HR, 70 RBI) has provided run production for the Highlanders in his rookie year, and could also be a Rookie of the Year finalist.

In fact, the majority of the Highlanders' lineup is made up of first- or second-season players. Even 22-year-old RP Harold Hernandez is learning on the jobs, going 24-for-28 in Save opportunities and posting a 3.77 ML ERA in his rookie season.

His setup man? 22-year-old Pat Kim (4.27 ERA). Then there's another 22-year-old--SP Ralph Washington--who is 8-13 on a bad team, and is a guy the Highlanders expect to long be their #2 starter.

But alas, this team, flooded with Gen-X'ers that have put 30-somethings on the ballclub on the endangered species list, counts the most on Dreifort, who is all of 21 years of age and has a world of potential. Dreifort, 13-5 with a 4.44 ERA for a bad team with a rookie lineup in his first ML season, has done an outstanding job and been everything the Highlanders could ask for. For a team in transition, he has been their rock-solid ace, and in his strong performances, Highlander fans have seen the future of an organization on the up-and-up.

Dreifort's mythic status during his time in High A has made him the stuff of legend within New York's lower-level locker rooms:

Two seasons, two All-Star teams, two Cy Youngs.

His promotion from High A to the ML was marked with heightened expectations. He was always the blue-chipper preying on inferior competition while dwelling in High A, the guy every team secretly feared. Now, in the ML, he's just another pitcher - for now.

Dreifort could join his teammates in the AL Rookie of the Year discourse by season's end. Whether he makes it or not, expect awards discussions to swirl around his name for years to come.