First his former coach, Andy Van Slyke:
“He’s almost too good to be true,” Van Slyke told The Post yesterday about the newest Yankees star. “I’ve got four boys. If I had a daughter, I’d want him to be the guy first on line to marry my daughter.”Van Slyke did say that Granderson may be better suited to play a corner outfield spot:
“I don’t think he’s a pure center fielder. He would be a great corner,” he said. “He needs to cut down on the strikeouts and walk more. But there are no perfect players. You always want more from guys with talent.”While that may be true, he's still better than any center fielder on the Yankees except maybe Brett Gardner, but he's a far superior hitter than Brett.
Former teammate, Sean Casey:
“He’s a mentally tough guy. He’s out to beat you,” Casey told The Post. “He plays the game hard all the time. You’ll never see Curtis Granderson jog to first base . . . You’re going to get full-tilt baseball.”And MLB Network analyst and former all-star shortstop Barry Larkin:
Casey, who calls Granderson “the epitome of a great teammate,” added, “Character-wise as far as being a teammate and being a team guy, he’s a workaholic. He’s always hitting. That’s why he’s going to be successful in New York because he’s always looking to get better . . . New York’s gonna love Curtis Granderson.”
Fellow MLB Network analyst Barry Larkin, who coached Granderson with Team USA during the World Baseball Classic last spring, added that the number of superb players around Granderson will be a blessing for him and “he will absolutely flourish.”These are all the things you want to hear about a guy your favorite team just acquired. Hopefully he can live up to this praise.
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“I look for him to have some big, big years,” Larkin told The Post.
