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Former general manager Al Campanis once described a 20-year-old Candy Maldonado as “another Roberto Clemente” and declared “the first of 3,000” after the uber-hyped Dodgers prospect collected his first major league hit in 1981.
Similar lofty expectations were cast upon Kris Bryant and Javier Baez nearly a decade ago when the Cubs started to generate publicity toward their wave of talent that included the likes of Junior Lake and Albert Almora Jr.
The Cubs are careful not to place lofty expectations on Matt Mervis, but the timing of the left-handed slugger’s first promotion to the majors and the ensuing hoopla was curious, to say the least.