Young Slugger Burgess Powers Way Through SAL

Michael Burgess began playing tee-ball, at the urging of his grandfather, in his native Tampa when he was about five.

He grew up watching games at nearby Hillsborough High, a school that has produced major leaguers such as Dwight Gooden, Gary Sheffield, Carl Everett and Elijah Dukes.

And now the barrel-chested Burgess, 19, is trying to join Dukes as the Nationals' second Hillsborough alumnus.

Burgess has spoken in the past with Dukes and saw him during spring training in Florida this year. "He said just go out and play your heart out. Make sure and stay focused and don't let the outside stuff get to you," Burgess said.

So far, so good for Burgess, who was taken 49th overall by the Nationals in the 2007 draft.

The power-hitting right fielder, listed at 6 feet, 185 pounds, made the jump to the full-season South Atlantic League with the Hagerstown Suns in his first full pro season.

Burgess hit .262 with 13 doubles, three triples, 14 homers and 45 RBIs in the first half of the season. He had an on-base percentage of .338, a slugging percentage of .512 and an .850 OPS.

"He is a tremendous talent," Hagerstown manager Darnell Coles said. "He is gifted, with a good arm. He will play in the big leagues for a long time. He has the potential to be a star there."

He not only hits homers, but he crushes them. Delmarva slugger Joe Nowicki still marvels at the shot Burgess hit toward South Cannon Street behind the right-field wall in Hagerstown earlier this season.

Burgess' performance landed him in the South Atlantic League's all-star game in Greensboro, where he was hitless in three at bats as his North team beat the South 13-4. The lefthanded hitter put on a show as he won the home run derby before the game as he had 16 homers in 38 swings. Four of the homers went over a net beyond the right-field fence.

"Something in my mind popped back to my junior year (of high school) when I was hitting at the University of Tampa. They have a net there, too, and it's just as high. I just got in a groove and kept going," Burgess told the Greensboro News-Record.

He began the second half by hitting a home run in his first at bat against Delmarva's Tony Butler, who was acquired by the Orioles in the trade that sent Eric Bedard to Seattle. It was the 15th homer of the season for Burgess, who led Washington farmhands in homers and was second in the South Atlantic League.

Burgess led the Gulf Coast League in on-base percentage (.442), slugging (.617) and OPS (1.059) in 2007. He finished fourth in homers with eight, sixth in batting at .336 and ninth in RBI with 32 on his way to being named the league's top prospect. Burgess also hit .286 with three homers and 10 RBI in 70 at-bats for Vermont in the New York-Penn League in 2007.

"He is adjusting well to his first full season. We challenged him by putting him the South Atlantic League as a 19-year old and he is handling the challenge fine," Nationals farm director Bobby Williams wrote in an e-mail. "He has swung the bat well. He is an aggressive hitter. He has shown impressive power so far and has shown that he can drive the ball out of the park to all fields.

"His strikeouts are high but not a huge concern. He should cut down on his strikeouts in the second half as he continues to improve. He has a pretty good idea of the strike zone and very good plate coverage. Like any young hitter though, he will chase pitches out of the zone at times. He has tremendous bat speed and special power. He tends to overswing at times, which creates swings and misses but he is learning that he doesn't always have to swing as hard as he can for the ball to go out."

Coles said before a recent game that Burgess could improve on his two-strike approach. In his first at-bat that night against Delmarva, Burgess fouled off the first two pitches before taking an 0-2 curveball down the left-field line for a double against Shorebirds righthander Sean Gleason.

The Nationals expect Burgess to continue working on cutting down his swing with two strikes and staying short to the ball. He has a tendency to reach back for something extra when an easy swing would be enough.

"He uses the whole field and will drive the ball the other way, something you don't always see in young hitters," Williams said.

Burgess played center field for two years in high school before moving to right for his senior season. "Defensively he is making progress," Williams said. "Though his routes to the ball and jumps can always get better, he has shown improvement. He is blessed with an arm and not afraid to use it. He has shown impressive arm strength to cut down a number of base runners trying to stretch base hits. This kid is very talented and exciting to watch."

Perhaps the biggest adjustment for Burgess this season is playing in Hagerstown, a town of about 37,000 in western Maryland, not far from the Appalachian Trail.

"It is no comparison. Tampa is way funner," he said.

Burgess said there are few things for him to do in Hagerstown except bowling, something he tries to do once a week when the Suns are in town. Strikes are a good thing in the lanes, but Burgess hopes to cut down on them in the batter's box. If he does that, it shouldn't be too many more years before Hillsborough High has yet another big league alum.