Ryan Dempster

It just means that I don't think you're going to see these ups and downs like you maybe saw last year, and I think the overall consistency is going to be better, and that's for me the mark of

of a guy who's finding himself and I think has finally found himself in the major leagues.

This guy's going to be a star for years to come.

Yeah, I do.

I think that there's a common ground in the middle, and I think that it leans towards more what we saw in the first half.

I mean, this has always been the talk of him.

He's been doing this since he was 12 with Team USA.

You know, I just think, A, defensively, he's as good as he gets.

He's a gold-glover.

That's one of the best, if not the best, center fielder in the game.

What he can do on the base pass, you know, maybe there's not 40 home runs every year, but I think 40 stolen bases a year is something very realistic.

I think what you learn from talking to guys and being around guys is sometimes when they get into that home run zone where they're just hitting a ton of home runs and they're not pure home run hitters like Aaron Judge or Pete Alonzo or these guys, is that all of a sudden you start to swing for the home run because you've just hit a bunch.

Like, oh, man, I hit 12 this month.

Cool, here I go.

And it becomes something that all of a sudden you get out of your swing and then you lose your swing and then you're trying to find it and you're

being, you know, let me take a pitch.

Oh, that pitch is right down the middle.

Oh, let me go ahead and be aggressive.

It's like you just get caught in that hamster wheel, and I think he got caught there for a little bit in August, you know, July and August, and I think he got out of it, and this is a guy who's determined to be great.

I think chasing greatness is a really important thing that more guys should aspire to, and I think that he learned a lot last year.