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Astros have another superstar in Alex Bregman – and he's going to take baseball by storm

Alex Bregman, the Houston Astros' All-Star third baseman, has captivated all of baseball with his performance.

HOUSTON — Alex Bregman was a batboy. He was 9, maybe 10 years old. He was helping out his favorite team, the University of New Mexico Lobos, in his hometown of Albuquerque.

The Lobos were playing the powerful Arizona State Sun Devils that day, a traditional powerhouse, and Bregman couldn’t keep his eyes off their 5-10 shortstop Dustin Pedroia. He was small, like Bregman. He was feisty, like Bregman. He was even cocky, like Bregman.

Then, the episode happened, before his very eyes, changing his life forever.

“They were up by about 15 runs, and he hits a ground ball to the shortstop," Bregman tells USA TODAY Sports, his voice rising. “He was busting his butt down the line, and the throw was a little high. The first baseman jumped. He would have to tag him to complete the play.

“Pedroia dove head-first into first base. He was safe. Right then and there, I said, 'I want to be play like that. I want to be that guy.' "

Well, about a decade and a half later, here we are in the American League Championship Series, Bregman is all grown up at 24, and this 5-10, Jewish kid from New Mexico has turned Major League Baseball’s postseason into his own personal showcase.

Bregman, the Houston Astros' All-Star third baseman, has captivated all of baseball with his performance. He has stepped to the plate 24 times this postseason, and reached base 17 times, becoming the first player in 108 years to draw three walks in consecutive playoff games. He has turned into Brooks Robinson with his dazzling glove at third base, with future Hall of Fame pitcher Justin Verlander calling him a “human vacuum cleaner."

The only thing more exciting that watching him perform on the field, is listening to his game off the field, a must-stop for anyone with a camera, pen or microphone.

Who else would sit in front of a packed pressroom before the opening of the ALCS against the Boston Red Sox, Pedroia’s team, calmly answer questions with former MVP teammate Jose Altuve, and as he walks off the stage, tell Altuve, “I’ll be seeing them later tonight."

Yes, guaranteeing he’ll be returning to the podium, as the star once the Astros won. The Astros did indeed won the opener, Bregman reached base four times, and spent the postgame regaling the media in the middle of the clubhouse.

“He cracks me up, all day, every day," Astros starter Gerrit Cole says. “That guy is a bang for your buck, man, a special cat.

“This guy is so confident, but it’s not like it’s a mean confidence. He’s not a mean cocky. He just likes to keep things loose. His way of keeping guys relaxed is by going over the top."

Credit: Ken Blaze
Houston Astros third baseman Alex Bregman (2) celebrates and rbi single in the ninth inning against the Cleveland Indians during game three of the 2018 ALDS playoff baseball series at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

Indeed, just like moments after the Astros swept the Cleveland Indians in the first round, playing every game during the afternoon with the prime-time spot filled by the Yankees and Red Sox, and Bregman took his shots.

“Does Tiger Woods tee off at 8 a.m. when he’s going to win a Masters?" Bregman snorted. “Does Floyd Mayweather fight the first fight of the night? No, he’s the main even, right?’

“So the ‘Stros need to be playing on prime-time television."

Well, he certainly got his wish, with the Astros playing in prime-time the first two games of the ALCS, with the series tied at 1-apiece, with their lone afternoon game scheduled this series Tuesday [5: 09 p.m. ET] at Minute Maid Park.

“Thanks a lot, Alex," Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “I was loving having dinner with my wife every night. Now, we don’t get to eat until midnight."

Bregman cracked up when hearing Hinch’s response, and teammate Carlos Correa still laughs just being reminded of Bregman’s braggadocio.

“I was in the hotel room watching TV with my fiancé when I saw it," Correa said, “and I lost it. I just lost it. He’s always making jokes and statements like that. He’s got so much confidence, so when he says something like that, we all crack up.

“He loves this time of year. He was born for it. He loves the spotlight and embraces it."

There’s not a soul in the world, Hinch is convinced, that worships baseball more than Bregman. It doesn’t matter if it’s the postseason in October, a summer afternoon game in Seattle, or a spring-training game in West Palm Beach.

“He is baseball," Hinch says. “I’ve never been around someone who loves baseball more than Alex Bregman. And at this level, when you’re around so many different people, that’s saying something."

Oh, yes, and when you toss in that personality, you’ve got a combination of Pedroia, Jason Giambi and Manny Ramirez.

“The swagger, the fun-loving side, the showman in him," Hinch says. “Alex is going to be himself. He’s comfortable in his own skin. He loves the camera, especially the one at the end of the dugout.

“And he loves the moment."

Bregman, who should finish in the top five in the MVP voting this year, is about to take this sport by storm. He was the MVP of the All-Star Game this summer. He was the youngest player in Astros history to hit 30 homers, the first third baseman to hit at least 30 homers (31) and 50 doubles (51), and he joined Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig as the only player to produce 50 doubles, 30 homers, 90 walks and 10 stolen bases in a single season.

Bregman may be headed to Cooperstown one day too, becoming the fourth-quickest player to produce 100 doubles, 50 homers and 200 RBI in history, surpassed only by Ted Williams, Chuck Klein and Hank Greenberg.

You think he loves pressure? Bregman hit .368 this season with two outs and runners in scoring position and .538 with the bases loaded.

“He describes pressure," Hinch said, “as a privilege."

He caused the sellout crowd at Fenway Park to gasp in horror Sunday night when he nearly hit a game-tying twp-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning, only to fall two feet short of the Green Monster.

“Nah, I knew I missed it," Bregman said. “If I got it, it would have been on the street behind Fenway Park."

That’s Bregman, the guy who personally called MLB vice president Joe Torre to volunteer his services the winter of 2016 when he was about to assemble his roster for the World Baseball Classic. Bregman was the first player to call. And he had only 49 games of big-league experience.

“Hey, I wanted to represent my country," Bregman said. “Keep on signing me up."

Why not, what else is Bregman going to do? He’s got no hobbies. When he called his teammates the night before playoffs started, they were playing Fortnite. Bregman was headed to the batting cage. It was 11 at night.

Bregman’s desire for greatness is so intense that when he played at LSU, the coaches gave up, and simply gave him his own key to the facility. He was drafted second overall in the 2015 draft and is still livid that the Arizona Diamondbacks made the mistake of instead drafting shortstop Dansby Swanson with the No. 1 pick, who they eventually traded away to Atlanta.

The head of Arizona’s baseball operations at the time happens to be Red Sox special assistant Tony La Russa. So, yes, Bregman is fully aware that he gets his sweet revenge every game he plays against the Red Sox now.

“He lives for baseball, this is his life," Astros outfielder Josh Reddick says. “He doesn’t have life outside baseball. This is it.

“He loves the game so much that’s it’s almost annoying."

Bregman isn’t about to apologize. It’s true. He loves two things in life: his family and baseball. Just don’t make him take a polygraph which one he actually loves more.

“Baseball is all I care about," Bregman says. “Baseball. Baseball. Baseball. What else is there?"

Now, if the Red Sox would only pitch to him, instead of giving him the Barry Bonds treatment and walking him at every opportunity, he’d really be having a blast. He has already walked 10 times in five games this postseason, last accomplished by Jimmy Wynn in 1974. To understand the absurdity of the feat, it’s one more walk than Seattle Mariners speedster Dee Gordon drew this entire season in 588 plate appearances.

“It doesn’t matter," Bregman says, shrugging his shoulders. “Just trying to win at all costs here. That’s what makes baseball the best.

“Nothing matters but winning."

The Astros are winning, and this time in prime-time, just three victories shy of a return trip to the World Series, vying to become the first team since the powerful Yankees in 1998-2000 to repeat as champions.

“Those are the teams that are remembered forever," Bregman says. “That’s what we want. We want to go down as one of the greatest teams, too.

“Crazy, isn’t it?"

Well, not as outrageous as a batboy who grew up idolizing a collegiate player that became a future MVP , who was drafted in the 19th round out of high school by the Red Sox, was discussed in a potential trade for Chris Sale before he was traded to Boston, and he now could be the guy sending all of them down memory lane.

“This is what you dream about," Bregman said. “This is what you live for.

“That will never change. Until I’m dead."

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