Raimel Tapia has the same electricity of a young Carlos Gonzalez

DENVER – In 2009 my high school baseball coach called a team huddle he said, ‘go home tonight and watch this Carlos Gonzalez kid, he has speed, pop and can field, he knows how to play the game.’ My coach Jack Clark soon thereafter named his second dog after the Colorado Rockies stud outfielder, his first was named Tulo. If he were to get a third dog today, he might just have it after Raimel Tapia.

The new Rockies young stud outfielder, called up during a stretch of good play, is reminiscent of Gonzalez. When CarGo became a full-timer—about this time in 2009—he could play all three spots, bunt, hit a bomb and throw someone out from anywhere on the field.

Tapia has all of that, except the pop. Each tabbed around the same numbers in prospect rankings as they came up through the minors and the two had similar stats upping their respective OPS by about 100 points at each level.

I asked CarGo if he saw the somewhat striking similarity between his locker neighbor.

He laughed.

“He’s a left-hander, plays in the outfield like me,” the three-time All-Star said chucking. “He has great speed it’s better than what I used to have, he’s one of those electric players, it’s fun to see him get on because he’s always a pain, the power is not there but over the years he’s going to develop some occasional power.”

“He’s a really good player and can put the ball in play,” a more serious Gonzalez said. “He can find the holes he’s always hitting the ball where nobody is.”

It was almost as if Gonzalez laughed off the notion just to talk himself into it being somewhat true moments later.

CarGo then realized something else, Tapia’s hair—which Bud Black said, “I like his hair, I am in on the hair!’—was similar to that of which he had as a youngster.

“No, I didn’t have my hair dyed,” the now veteran right fielder said. “I had it a little crazy though, that’s when I got my little pony nickname.”

But for CarGo, it’s about leading his fellow Latin American in his first extended stay in the bigs.

“It’s only been a few weeks, we’re trying to make this guy feel comfortable but once he does we’re definitely going to go after him,” Gonzalez responded to how the guys have treated the 23-year-old.

There’s no debating that Tapia has found his footing in the show after a slow start to his career. Now with a several game hit streak and a season average above .300 there is little doubt that his batting average might stay there (above .300) for the rest of his career, let alone season.

“Tapia is great, the thing with Tapia is he’s a major league baseball player that’s just what he is,” Rockies superstar Nolan Arenado said. “He’s played so well in the minors wherever he’s played, he’s ready for this, this is where he needs to be. I’m really happy for him… we’re not surprised we know that’s in there, it looked like he may have been doing too much at the start, now he’s staying within himself.”

Arenado isn’t just impressed with his talent, he’s impressed with his mentality.

“He was 0-fer-for-whatvere to start, that can tear someone down and he’s going up and down. That can have an effect,” he followed. “But he’s the same guy every day, he works, he competes, he’s old-school, he dives everywhere, makes plays and wants to do his job. You can tell the mental game is good because he gets over the bad pretty quickly.”

The same reason my high school baseball coach told his ballplayers that Gonzalez is who they should model their games after, is the same reason why Tapia is successful, and will be for many years to come.