[jimmydasaint]

Every once in a while, the sports world presents us with a feel good story. Maybe it’s the nature of baseball that makes their stories seem that much better.

Teenagers are drafted and often spend several years fighting their way through the minor league levels, praying that they will one day get the call. Hoping that they can call themselves a Major League baseball player.

Recently, we’ve heard a couple of stories that made most of us instant fans of these players.

We all watched as a promising young pitcher named Rick Ankiel made his debut in the bigs and seemed to have his whole career going in the right direction. As quickly as he arrived, he appeared to be on his way out of baseball, when he couldn’t seem to hit the strike zone and sometime he wasn’t even able to hit the catcher. Now you can’t help but be happy for the guy, as he’s renewed his career as a homerun hitting outfielder with a rocket arm.

Last year also marked a turning point in the career of former #1 overall pick, Josh Hamilton. After a string of bad luck and a bit of getting tied up with the wrong crowd, the kid who seemed destined for stardom found himself out of baseball and in and out of rehab. Now he’s finally got his life on the right path and is a perfect example of why you never give up on a kid when he’s got something special. Hamilton continues to improve in his 2nd year back and has 19 HR as we approach the All-Star Break. It’s scary to think of how good he could have been.

This year, we’re seeing another success story in the making.

If you’re in Chicago, you know the name Carlos Quentin very well, but if you’re a casual baseball fan, it’s possible that you’ve never heard of him.

The 25-year-old outfielder was a 3-sport star in high school and went on to attend Stanford University, where he led them to 3 postseason appearances and collected plenty of personal hardware along the way. He ended his college career with a .350 batting average, 35 HR, 170 RBI and 26 SB.

He was a first round selection of the Arizona Diamondbacks, but had his career put on hold when he underwent Tommy John surgery on his right elbow. When he returned, he dominated minor league pitching and became one of Arizona’s top prospects.

The Diamondbacks called him up halfway through the 2006 season and Quentin recorded a .253 batting average, 9 HR and 32 RBI in 57 games.

The start to Quentin’s 2007 season was delayed when it turned out that he had a partially torn labrum. Through 81 games, he was hitting .214 with 5 HR and 31 RBI before he was sent back to Triple-A. Arizona decided that he wasn’t working out and traded him to the White Sox in December.

As it turns out, a change of address was exactly what Carlos Quentin needed, as he’s been the best hitter for the White Sox through the first half of the 2008 season.

In 80 games this year, Quentin is hitting .284 with 19 HR, 61 RBI, 54 Runs and 5 SB. He currently ranks first on the White Sox in HR, RBI, Runs, OBP and OPS. He’s 2nd in SLG and SB.

I think that it’s a safe bet to say that the Sox can attribute their division lead to this latest resurrection.

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