Heyward's dad told strapping son: No football

When each asked about playing the sport, "I told him, I know we live in a democracy, but this is a dictatorship," Eugene said. "No."

The elder Heyward said the edict for his sons was further solidified when he heard that some kids who played Pop Warner League football in Henry County were given diet pills in order to meet weight restrictions.

"I'm like, ‘Nah, I'm not giving you my child,'" he said. "... Football's really a different kind of sport. It's a brutal sport. We threw a football in the yard. But he'd never [be permitted to] play."

What Jason did play was baseball. From an early age, pretty much all year-round.

He loved it and said he still does, even with all the attention and rising expectations that could have smothered him this spring and being pulled in every direction by people who want to be part of the "J-Hey" Braves era that starts Monday at Turner Field.

Pressure? If he's feeling it, Heyward isn't showing it.

"I know everybody's excited," he said. "But I'm playing baseball. It's the same thing I've been doing my whole life."

He was asked by a reporter, this getting to you at all?

"There's nothing to get to you," he answered. "It's just baseball. It's just a game. Just have fun and go do what you do."

But for those too quick to characterize him as simply blessed with ridiculous natural talent, or who would describe his baseball instincts as preternatural, first consider how much work has gone into all this.

Before he became the ascendant star and the talk of baseball this spring, he was a well-mannered kid being carted frequently between the Heywards' McDonough home, Henry County High School, and ball fields around Georgia and the Southeast.

Laura and Eugene, both Dartmouth graduates, were always willing to drive him to Cobb County or wherever he needed to be. Under one condition: Jason did his homework in the car on the way there. It was study hall in their 1999 Chevy Suburban, which has over 300,000 miles, the bulk of those accrued transporting sons to baseball games. (Jacob, 14, is a freshman first baseman/third baseman at Eagle's Landing Christian Academy.)

Be respectful and kind to others, and study hard. Those topped the values and demands instilled by his parents. They emphasized to Jason that people came first, and he said last week that being accepted and liked by Braves teammates, coaches and others at spring training had been important and gratifying.

"People want to be around respectful people," Jason said. "I want to be respected, they want to be respected, and I think that's what it's about. That's how you have good relationships, from high school to minor league and major league level. You want to be well-respected around the game. Around your clubhouse, but also around the game."

Braves teammates and club officials are unanimous in praise of Heyward not just on the field, but off. In the clubhouse or away from the ballpark, they've seen none of the arrogance or sense of entitlement too often associated with hotshot prospects.

"Every day in USA Today, every day on MLB channel, every day on ESPN, it just Heyward, Heyward, Heyward," said Braves relief pitcher Peter Moylan. "But you don't hear him saying anything about it. You don't see him changing the way that he is. He's still the same kid. It's great."

This was the second big-league spring training for Heyward, who was also invited in 2009. Veteran Braves outfielder Matt Diaz has gotten to know him over two springs in Florida and has been surprised by something other than Heyward's immense power and plate discipline.

"Just his self-awareness," Diaz said. "I know at 20 I was not that self-aware. The self-awareness of what he says, how he acts, the at-bats he takes. The maturity is the overall thing. It's unbelievable."

Diaz smiled and told a story from 2009 spring training.

"Last year when he was 19 he was talking to me about his girlfriend and prom, and I said, ‘What are you, like, 19?' He goes, ‘Yeah.'

"I go, ‘Oh, my. I didn't know how old he was. I thought, ‘there's no way this guy's 19.'"

Heyward is the highest-rated position-player prospect for the Braves since the Joneses, Chipper and Andruw. And that's putting it mildly.

"He's so much better than I was, so much more advanced than I was, it's not even a fair comparison," said Chipper Jones, 37, the No. 1 overall selection in the 1990 draft. "I mean, he's more advanced physically, more advanced mentally. When I was 20 years old I was in Double-A, so he's quite a bit ahead of the curve."

Heyward was the 14th pick of the 2007 draft (think there's a dozen or so teams kicking themselves?) He was Baseball America's minor league Player of the Year in 2009 -- his second full season in the minors -- after batting .323 with a .408 on-base percentage and almost as many extra-base hits (46) as strikeouts (51) in 99 games.

When he was invited to spring training this year, he was told he would be considered for the Opening Day right-field job. Then he won it, batting .333 with a .455 on-base percentage in 20 Grapefruit League games before two weekend exhibitions against the White Sox at Turner Field.

"You don't see 20-year-olds who come into big-league camp and not be overmatched in the least," Jones said, "and have the maturity to know what it's going to take to make this ballclub.

"You can see it with his patience at the plate. You know, every 20-year-old I've ever seen has always struck out a lot, always swung at everything. He's as patient as they come. He looks like a guy who could go out there and very easily walk 100 times this year."

Heyward had more walks than strikeouts in Florida, and manager Bobby Cox actually credited the Braves' major league-leading walks and OBP totals this spring to the example set early by Heyward.

"Knowing the strike zone and being patient with it," hitting coach Terry Pendleton said of what stood out to him most about Heyward. "And that's huge."

Jason agrees with his dad that the goal was not just to get to the major leagues, but to become one of the best players ever. Pendleton wasn't surprised to hear that father and son agreed on that.

"That's what's gotten him here this quick," Pendleton said, "that drive. You'll continue to see that because that's just the way he is. That's his work ethic, and that's what his dad's instilled in him."