WHEN THE Phillies went down to Georgia to scout Griffin High School's Cornelius Randolph, the scouts wanted to know who his hitting instructor was.
A swing that pretty - one Phillies director of amateur scouting Johnny Almaraz says produced the "best bat in the country" among high schoolers - must have been through hours of training and mastering with a professional, right?
Not really.
Randolph never had a professional lesson. He did, though, spend countless hours in the batting cage with his father, Cedric.
"He's been through it all with me," Randolph said on a media conference call yesterday.