Lastings Milledge reported to camp a different guy from the one who arrived last season with both expectations and a sense of entitlement so outsized that teammates posted a sign in his locker: "Know your place, Rook!" Now the 22-year-old says he's all grown up, and he looks it. He shed the dreads, hit the weights and gained 13 punds over the winter while cutting down to one burger a week. On his first day of BP, the righty hit a homer over the right-centerfield fence. "I couldn't go that way last year," he says.
To me, that's even better news than the lofty stats he's put together this spring. My problem with Milledge last year wasn't his numbers, it was his attitude. If he's going to approach the game the right way, he's got the talent to be a solid (and maybe better than that) major leaguer. I don't know if it will take him 1 year or 3 years to progress to the point where he's an everyday player, but if he works, it will happen.
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