The heir apparent.

I had this feeling at spring training with the Chicago Cubs two years ago that a young ballplayer named Jake Fox would be a big star some day. He caught my eye. My attention. He seemed so confident. That he could hit. I heard that he went to Cubs manager Lou Piniella and asked to be given a chance. For Lou to take notice. Well, a whole lot of baseball people are taking notice. Fox is playing for the Cubs Triple AAA farm club in Des Moines and he's leading the league in batting, home runs and runs batted in. He plays first base. The Cubs have a good veteran first baseman in Derrek Lee. But he's aging. Fox is the heir apparent. --Jim Broede