Rome — Throw out first-round draft pick Jason Heyward's name in Braves circles these days, and the words "great kid" will surely be spoken.

Whether it's Bobby Cox in the dugout at Turner Field, Skip Caray's son Josh around the radio booth at Rome Braves games, or Braves general manager Frank Wren, who spent several days this week watching the Rome Class A affiliate. What's more likely to come up than the fact Heyward is leading Rome in hitting, won player-of-the-month the first month of his first full season, and has actually grown an inch to 6 feet 5 since he was drafted No. 14 overall last year, is the kind of person he is.

Allen Sullivan / Special (ENLARGE)

"He wants to get better, and he's willing to do whatever it takes," Braves GM Frank Wren says of top prospect Jason Heyward.

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"One of the great things about Jason is he loves to play the game, and you can see that in everything he does," Wren said.

Wren gets daily reports from minor-league managers and player-development staff. With Heyward, the reports all sound the same.

"You hear good things about players from time-to-time," Wren said. "With him it's consistently the same things being said. Great attitude. He wants to get better, and he's willing to do whatever it takes. They don't say that about every player."

So what makes them say that about Heyward? Rome manager Randy Ingle said the right fielder runs out every ball hard, backs up bases, and doesn't mind taking on the outfield wall. He's not happy if he gets four hits and the team loses. He's respectful of his coaches. Asked if there's something Heyward needs to improve, Ingle paused three seconds before saying "No, he's on the right track."

Asked where he thinks the 18-year-old's maturity comes from, Ingle was quick to respond: "His parents should feel very proud. They've got a good young gentleman there."

Eugene and Laura Heyward are Dartmouth graduates. He is an electrical engineer for ITT Technologies, designing electronic warfare systems for Robins Air Force Base. She was an insurance underwriter for Life of Georgia before taking a job at Georgia Power to work closer to their McDonough home. What's been smart about their parenting is how they've guided Heyward while giving him freedom to make his own choices.

"I wouldn't be anywhere if they didn't let me do what I said," Heyward said. "They said: 'You choose. If we choose it for you, you're not going to be doing what you want to do.' "

Eugene Heyward, who played basketball at Dartmouth, wishes he had chosen baseball. He makes no pretenses about that with Jason. Baseball was the first sport Jason played, the one his dad coached him through age 13, and the one his dad insisted he stick solely to at Henry County High, if he wanted to get the exposure he needed. But Eugene Heyward also made sure to ask his son over and over if he was having fun.

"I asked him every year 'Do you want to still play this game?'" Eugene Heyward said. "You make the decision. Eventually, he looked at me like I was crazy one day, and I said 'Well, I won't ask you again.'"

Heyward was 16, playing some 90 games for the East Cobb Astros. Heyward credits supportive parents and a father who would drive 75 miles home from work, pack up the Suburban with Jason and his buddies and drive to East Cobb. Eugene rolled up 250,000 miles on that suburban.

"Growing up it was: yes ma'am, no ma'am, yes sir, no sir, treat people with respect," Heyward said.

Eugene, raised in a military family, still uses ma'am and sir when he goes home, at age 50. "We were taught, before 12, good morning, after 12, good afternoon, after 6, good evening," he said. He and Laura, who is from New York, have exposed Heyward and his brother Jacob, 12, to all sorts of lifestyles.

"We've traveled from New York to South Carolina where my brother lived in a trailer, and he's met friends who lived in the Waldorf," Eugene said. "I think it helped him understand, 'Who are you?' Just because you may have more than this person doesn't mean your life is better."

When Heyward signed for $1.7 million last summer, he bought a Chevy Tahoe, a new cellphone and helped pay some family bills. It sounds like the bigger thrill was working out with Braves players at Turner Field this winter and playing in his first big-league spring training game. He went 0-for-2 with a strikeout.

"He said 'Dad I had so much fun, I had stupid fun,'?" Eugene Heyward said. "It should be against the law. I said 'Hey, man, that's what I want to hear.'?"

JASON HEYWARD FILE

• Position: Right field

• Team: Rome Braves

• Acquired: No. 14 pick overall in first round of 2007 draft

• Stats: Leads the Rome Braves in batting average (.325), hits (49) and runs (29). He's played in all 39 games, hit four home runs, driven in 19 runs and stolen eight bases.

• Interesting tidbit: Was the highest draft pick by the Braves since 1991, when they took outfielder Mike Kelly with the No. 2 pick.

• Honors: He was named South Atlantic League player of the month after hitting .330 with three homers and 16 RBIs in April.