Athens — Meeting Gordon Beckham for the first time leaves a lot of folks with the same thought. "Man, that kid has a lot going for him." He certainly does.

Georgia's junior shortstop grew up in Buckhead and was educated at the Westminster Schools. He has always had athletic ability (dad was a quarterback at South Carolina), better-than-average smarts and Abercrombie & Fitch looks.

Now you can add to that a wicked offensive and defensive game that is attracting major league scouts to Foley Field.

Why all the fuss?

Here's how hot Beckham has been at the plate this season: Despite an 0-for-16 slump last week, he is still hitting .435 this season.

And the third-generation Atlantan has more than a little pop in that bat. He comes into this weekend's three-game series against No. 9 South Carolina — which begins tonight in Athens — leading the nation in home runs (15), total bases (105), hits (50) and slugging percentage (.913).

Yeah, but what about defense?

Beckham has two errors in 109 chances for .982 fielding percentage. That leads SEC shortstops.

"He's having a great year," said Jim Callis, executive editor of Baseball America magazine. "He's definitely been the offensive player of the year in college baseball this year, and he may be player of the year before it's over. He's also played himself into the top half of the first round of the draft."

The only question regarding Beckham now might be: Where did all this come from?

Since his days as a standout with the Yankees in Atlanta's East Cobb travel baseball league, Beckham has been an exceptional baseball player. But he went undrafted out of high school and entered this season as a career .291 hitter with nearly twice as many strikeouts as walks.

Beckham has a simple answer.

"I got older," he says matter-of-factly. "It's all about playing. You play this game long enough, I think you start to realize what it takes to be successful. I think I've struggled a little bit these last two years at Georgia, but I think that's attributed to me not being very mature on the baseball field. I grew up as a player."

This year's potential began to surface last summer in the Cape Cod League. The league showcases college talent for pro scouts in Massachusetts each year.

Playing with wooden bats, Beckham led the league with nine homers and 35 RBIs.

Not surprisingly, he emerged as one of the top middle-field prospects in the country and entered this college season as a preseason All-America candidate.

"It started up in the Cape," Beckham said. "I told myself to go out there and have fun and be fun to watch. I think that's what I've been doing all year. Have fun and help the team win."

Georgia coach David Perno and his staff deserve some credit.

Perno worked hard with Beckham to adjust his swing with two strikes.

Too often Beckham was striking out by taking big cuts in big situations. Perno encouraged him to widen his stance and tighten up his swing.

"Now he might be the best two-strike hitter in college baseball," Perno said.

Another key has been getting off to a quick start. Slow beginnings plagued Beckham in his freshman and sophomore seasons, when he hit .280 and .307, respectively. But few might have ever gotten off to as torrid a start as he did this year.

The question for a long while was whether Beckham would cool off. The weekend before last, Beckham was batting .517 — and .556 in SEC action — with a slugging percentage floating well into the 1.000 stratosphere.

His exploits left opposing coaches in awe.

"Gordon Beckham is the best college hitter I've seen in the last 15 years," said Arizona coach Andy Lopez, who saw Beckham go 7-for-13 with a homer in the series against his No. 1-ranked team. "He can hurt you any number of ways and was unbelievable against us."

"He's the best player in America," Tennessee coach Todd Raleigh says succinctly.

Alas, it could not last.

Beckham may have seen the best pitches he's going to see. Pitchers are starting to handle him cautiously. This week's two-game series against Clemson is a perfect example. Beckham was 1-for-7 in the two victories but walked three times and scored four runs.

As for the recent swoon, Beckham just shrugged his broad shoulders and brushed his long, thick bangs to one side.

"The law of averages said I was probably going to go down," he said with a laugh. "But honestly, I haven't felt that bad [at the plate] lately. They just haven't been falling for me. I've probably been trying to do a little too much. But I've been trying to shore it up. And we've been winning, and that's all that matters."

The Bulldogs (17-10, 6-3 SEC) enter the South Carolina series having won four of their past five, including a midweek sweep of No. 19 Clemson and two of three at Mississippi State last weekend. Beckham provided the game-winning, series-clinching homer in the 10th inning on Sunday.

Perno already has written off his star shortstop for next season.

"He's ready," he said. "He's going to be the best shortstop in the country and it's going to be a great opportunity for him to move on and, hopefully, have a long pro career."

Beckham is not so sure.

"The benefits of signing [a pro contract] are going to have to outweigh the benefits of graduating, and that's a pretty big deal for me and my family," Beckham said. "You can't turn down too much money, I guess, but all that's a long way off."

Yeah, the kid has a lot going for him.