Braves prospect Pastornicky inherited desire from his father

Nobody has to explain to Braves shortstop prospect Tyler Pastornicky how hard it is to get to, and stay in, the majors.

His father, Cliff Pastornicky, made it to the big leagues as a third baseman with Kansas City in 1983. He played 10 games. That was it. That’s what happens when you play third base behind Hall of Famer George Brett, who needed only a couple of weeks to heal a broken toe.

So it’s easy to understand the excitement of both father and son when Tyler Pastornicky was named to the Rising Stars all-star game in the Arizona Fall League this week. The game is scheduled for 9 p.m. Saturday on MLB Network.

Just to be invited to play in the fall league, which features some of the top prospects in baseball on the brink of making the majors, was big enough for the Pastornickys.

“When he told me he got invited to go to the Arizona league, I said, ‘Tyler, do you understand what an honor that is?’” Cliff Pastornicky said. “And he goes ‘Yeah, Dad. I do.’ He went after it 100 percent.”

The Rising Stars game is named as such for a reason. Among the “Rising Stars” a year ago were Giants catcher Buster Posey, Nationals right-hander Stephen Strasburg, Mets first baseman Ike Davis, and Reds right-hander Mike Leake.

Tyler Pastornicky might not be as close to the major-league cusp now as they were, but it bodes well for a player the Braves are high on at a position where they lack depth in the upper levels of their system -- middle infield.

“He’s got good hands, a good arm, runs well and he’s continuing to develop with his bat,” Braves director of player development Kurt Kemp said. “He loves to play every single night. He’s a baseball player.”

That comes from his upbringing and tagging along with his father, a longtime professional scout who spent one year as a hitting coach for the Royals’ Single-A affiliate in the Midwest League. As an area scout for the Royals, Cliff Pastornicky signed such players as Zack Greinke and Billy Butler.

Pastornicky was a few months into his new job as an area scout for the Toronto Blue Jays last July when the Blue Jays traded Tyler, whom they drafted in the fifth round in 2008, to the Braves in the Yunel Escobar deal.

Tyler was on a bus trip with the Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays to Port St. Lucie, Fla., when his manager woke up and told him to come to the front of the bus.

“Not only was I trying to wake up, it caught me off guard,” Pastornicky said of the trade that sent Escobar and Jo-Jo Reyes to Toronto for Alex Gonzalez, Pastornicky and minor league pitcher Tim Collins. “It was shocking. I had mixed emotions at first, but as soon as I got to thinking about it and got settled in, it was awesome. I was really happy with the opportunity, and I couldn’t be happier to be with the Braves.”