Willie, Mickey and The Dex?
How you gonna keep Dexter Fowler down on the farm after he’s seen LoDo?
How you gonna keep the X-factor down on the farm after he’s played in old Yankee Stadium, the Hawaiian League, the Futures All- Star Game, the Olympics and Casper?
How you gonna keep the switch-hitting center fielder down on the farm after he shook hands with the ex-president in Beijing?
How you gonna keep the five-tool carpenter down on the farm after he paused at the plate in his first game as a starter in 2009 to smile at his parents in the stands, then laser his first major-league home run?
How you gonna keep the kid down on the farm after he singled, and stole second, against the MVP of the 2008 World Series in his first Rockies’ home opener?
How you gonna keep ‘im down on the farm after he’s seen everything but Par-ree?
You don’t.
How you gonna keep Fowler out of the everyday lineup after he reached base five times in eight platings (three hits and two walks), drove in two runs, stole a base, caught every ball in center and is hitting .375?
Manager Clint Hurdle did on Saturday night. The Rockies lost to the Phillies 8-4. Only Fowler, who didn’t play, is undefeated among Rox position players. He’s 2-0 as a starter, 3-0 overall.
Dex. AmbiDexterity. Dexciting. Dexponential. Dexhilarating. Dextraordinary?
Dextra, Dextra, read all about him.
The 23-year-old Georgian won’t be Mickey Mantle, the greatest switch-hitting center fielder of all time in baseball.
The 6-foot-4, 185-pound rookie could be the next Willie Wilson (6-3, 195) or Ken Singleton (6-4, 213), switch-hitting center fielders who had long, exceptional careers.
The Dex will be the best switch-hitting — or any kind of hitting and fielding — center fielder in Rockies history.
Got milk? Got pressure?
Fowler was a prep All-America right-handed hitter at Milton (Ga.) High School on the state baseball champions in 2004. However, baseball is not the school’s strongest activity. Milton has won every state lacrosse championship, and the boys and girls tennis teams and the gymnastic teams have won multiple state titles. The Milton debate team won a state title, and the theater department was second in state competition. Milton is one of the top academic schools in Georgia.
Milton prepared Fowler well.
He received a full scholarship and was committed to play baseball at collegiate power Miami, so major-league teams backed off picking him in the first round of the 2004 draft.
The Rockies took a flier with the 410th overall selection in the 14th round. When they traded Larry Walker on Aug. 6, 2004, the Rockies freed several million dollars in payroll and, 11 days later, signed Fowler with a $925,000 bonus offer. In the instructional league that fall, Fowler, at 18, decided to become a switch-hitter. Mantle began switch-hitting when he was 3.
The X-Kid has been on a fast track for five years — Casper the first, Asheville the second. Joe Mikulik, the Asheville Tourists manager, was quoted as saying Fowler “has it all. . . . He’s got height, speed, range and arm strength. He’s got power. He’s an exciting guy. . . . He makes center field look easy.”
Fowler broke his hand on the outfield wall in 2007, was out a month and finished with a .273 batting average. But at Double-A Tulsa last year he hit .335, played in the Futures Game at the major leagues’ all-star event, was selected to the U.S. Olympic team (and earned a bronze medal), was photographed in Beijing with George Bush and was called up by the Rockies on Sept. 2.
He made his first appearance in San Francisco in the 10th inning and was hit by a pitch.
Fowler was promptly picked off first. Inauspicious beginning. He hit only .154, didn’t draw a walk and struck out five times.
The Rockies planned to send Fowler to Triple-A Colorado Springs this season, but couldn’t keep him down on the farm after his impressive spring training. The Rockies have gotten rid of Willy Ta- veras, Cory Sullivan, Choo Freeman, Jeff Salazar and, finally, Scott Podsednik because Dex was coming . . . and quick as you can find a restaurant by looking in Dex.
Ryan Spilborghs was proclaimed as the Rox 2009 starting center fielder and leadoff hitter. Spilborghs moved to left Wednesday in the third game of the season. Fowler hit a leadoff home run. In the home opener Friday, playing in front of the largest crowd of his life, Fowler again started and went 2-for-4.
Spilborghs said Fowler could become one of the best center fielders in baseball.
And he will be better than some two dozen predecessors. You must see the X-Kid play center. He is a natural.
Unfortunately for the sizable audience at Coors Field on Saturday, Fowler sat. But, as Hurdle will learn, the Rockies’ optimum lineup, offensively and defensively, has Spilborghs in left and Fowler in the center of attention.
The Dex and the Rox go together.
Woody Paige: 303-954-1095 or wpaige@denverpost.com
