SAN DIEGO _ St. Clair, Mich., lies about an hour's drive north of Detroit, roughly on the knuckle of the "thumb" that sticks into Lake Huron. The closest movie theater to this bedroom community requires a 12-mile drive north to the county seat. Outside the annual powerboat races during the St. Clair Riverfest, there's not much for kids to do but "get yourself in trouble," Detroit Tigers bullpen coach Jeremy Carrell said with a laugh, "or be really good at what you do."
He and his friends certainly were.
Carrell's path eventually led him to Wayne State's baseball program. One friend played as high as Triple-A in the Oakland Athletics organization. Another is in the second round of the NHL's Western Conference playoffs with the Vancouver Canucks.
And a third friend, Padres second baseman Jake Cronenworth, has seemingly come from nowhere to become a buzz-worthy pick as the NL Rookie of the Year favorite.
Carrell knows better.
If Tommy Pham was the headliner in the Padres' December trade with the Tampa Bay Rays, the 26-year-old Cronenworth was an afterthought with one good Triple-A campaign. He was on the bubble before the COVID-19 pandemic expanded opening day rosters and still something of an unknown commodity earlier this month when the Dodgers' A.J. Pollock referred to him as "that Cronenworth guy" while marveling at all the hits he took away as an injury fill-in at first base.
Three weeks later, the day after Cronenworth's first grand slam, the Astros' Zack Greinke muttered Pollock's phrasing after the Padres' rookie sensation delivered a key hit in his club's seventh straight victory.
Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado and Eric Hosmer have danced their way into the limelight, yes.
But "that Cronenworth guy" is far from an afterthought now that he's forced his manager to write his name into the lineup every day.
What else do you do with a player leading NL rookies heading into Tuesday in OPS (1.034), batting average (.356), on-base percentage (.411), slugging (.624), RBIs (17) and runs scored (20) and tied for the lead with four homers? What more is coming?
"Jake was born for this," Carrell said. "These are the moments he's been preparing for his entire life. It's all been like one dress rehearsal after another and once he has a hold of something he doesn't let go."
