When Mike Restovich was growing up in Rochester, Minn., he would play one-on-one baseball against his older brother in the back yard. His brother, George, insisted on pretending he was a Twin. Mike had to be a Tiger.
Years later, the Tigers drafted George, and the Twins drafted Mike.
'Strange, how that happened,' Mike Restovich said.
These days George, having decided a promising baseball career was not as secure a future as an attorney's, is attending law school in St. Louis. Mike, the Twins' second-round draft pick last year, is studying in baseball's school of hard knocks - the Appalachian League.
'I played with my brother last summer for a couple of weeks, until I broke my wrist,' Restovich said. 'That was one of my biggest thrills in baseball, to play with him.'
Restovich admits he hasn't had many career highlights. He looks more like a power forward than a power hitter, and he concentrated on basketball at Rochester Mayo. 'High school baseball in Minnesota really isn't that big a deal,' he said. 'Baseball really only lasts a couple of months in Minnesota, and half the games are canceled. I really haven't played that much baseball in my life.'
Which is why Restovich is both a raw and undeniable talent. After playing third base in high school, he's being converted to right field at rookie-league Elizabethton. He's considered a 'five-tool' player, meaning he should be able to hit for average and power, run, field and throw.
After a batting-practice session in which he pounded balls far over the fence at Joe O'Brien Field, Twins minor league fields coordinator Larry Corrigan said: 'That was un-be-lievable. Hitting them out to left field isn't that big a deal here, but anyone who can backspin the ball over the 414 sign in center is doing something.'
Restovich is batting .357 with five homers and 31 RBI since Elizabethton's season started in mid-June. He has a strong arm, although he has yet to master an outfielder's footwork. At this level, scouts look for raw ability and 'coachability' - and Restovich has both.
'You ask who my favorite players have been here, well, he's already up there,' Elizabethton general manager Ray Smith said. 'He's got all the ability and he's got outstanding work habits and a quality head on his shoulders. He's very mature for a 19-year-old. He'll give the people in the Twin Cities a lot of enjoyment one day.'
Elizabethton manager Jon Mathews put it this way: 'He's going to be a PR person's dream.'
Said former Elizabethton general manager Carmon Dugger: 'I think he's going to make it.'
High school players can take four or five years to reach the majors. Restovich knew that when he signed with the Twins instead of accepting a scholarship to Notre Dame.
'I basically went all summer thinking I'd go to Notre Dame,' Restovich said. 'That had always been my goal. Before I realized I might get drafted, Notre Dame was a lock. But once I was drafted, that made things difficult. The more the summer went on, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that what I wanted to do with my life was play baseball. And signing would give me the best chance to succeed.
'I know some people think they need to go to college as a part of the maturing process, but I've always been around older people. I thought I could handle it.'
On a recent weekday, Restovich sat at an aluminum picnic table in Elizabethton's clubhouse, eating lunch out of a Styrofoam container of grocery-store food. As he talked, an old movie played on the television stacked on top of the lockers and he handed out morsels to teammates, who were dressing quietly.
'This is a strange life,' Restovich said. 'You usually don't know if it's Tuesday or Saturday, because the routine's the same. Education is very important to my family, and my parents worry that I'm not reading enough. My dad got me the Kirby Puckett book, and I'm starting to read it now.
'Sometimes I talk to them on the phone, and start talking the way I talk in here, and I must sound like I've never spoken the language before.'
Restovich worried about spending his first four years out of high school in the lower minors, not high education. So far, he has been happy with Elizabethton, the Twins' organization, and teammates.
'I really checked it out, went looking for negatives, when I was considering signing,' Restovich said. 'I wanted to know what could go wrong. People told me that playing every day can be tough, that fighting off slumps can be tough. But I think I made the right decision. I've really enjoyed it all so far.'
