View the Video Meet The Padres: Anthony Rizzo

6/12/2011 San Diego , Ca San Diego Padres vs Washington Nationals . | File of Antony Rizzo. | Photo Sean M. Haffey/San Diego Union-Tribune

At Petco Park in San Diego, Padres first baseman Anthony Rizzo (27) rounds the bases after hitting his first homerun. — Nelvin C. Cepeda / San Diego Union-Tribune

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As part of his rookie indoctrination, Anthony Rizzo has been kept busy during his first major league road trip.

The 21-year-old first basemen stood and serenaded teammates on a bus ride. He lugged closer Heath Bell’s wine collection on and off the chartered jet. Other Padres saddled Rizzo with their dry cleaning.

Those burdens, though, pale in comparison to others fans are expecting the 6-foot-3, 220-pound slugger to shoulder.

On a team with little box-office pizazz, a club many fans think will trade Bell in a salary dump, a national writer posed the following question to manager Bud Black :

“Rizzo, he could become the face of the franchise, right?”

“Rizz,” as teammates call him, had played all of three games.

The buzz surrounding Rizzo is simple to understand. He beat cancer at 18. He plays first base, the same position as Adrian Gonzalez . Unwilling to pay the San Diego-born, cross-border icon Gonzalez the money he would warrant as a free agent, the Padres traded Gonzalez to Boston last December.

Rizzo for “Gonzo” is the Padres’ first return on the investment. (The two will oppose each other for the first time today when the Padres play at Fenway Park .)

Then there was Rizzo’s stunning home-run march through the Pacific Coast League . Through 52 games with the Triple-A Tucson Padres , Rizzo swatted 16 homers and led the league with 63 RBI. The stories emanating from the desert began taking on mythical proportions.

Said Bobby Kielty, a 34-year-old Tucson outfielder who has played parts of seven seasons in the major leagues, “Out of all the baseball I’ve ever seen, this is the most exciting player I’ve ever seen hit.”

Kielty, it might be mentioned, played with Manny Ramirez (555 career home runs), Frank Thomas (521) and David Ortiz (366).

“I enjoyed watching Rizzo more,” Kielty said. “He hits the ball just as far as they do. It’s a trip. He’s so young.”

Character no question

Peer into Rizzo’s background and there’s a subject that repeatedly pops up. Teammates, coaches and front-office executives rave as much about his character as his ability to smack a baseball.

“Definitely a born leader,” said Double-A San Antonio pitcher Casey Kelly, who came to the Padres with Rizzo as part of the Gonzalez trade. “Honestly, every team I’ve played on with him, no one didn’t like him. Everyone seems to listen to what he says and watch his work ethic.”

Padres Assistant General Manager Jason McLeod , who was Boston’s director of amateur scouting when Rizzo was selected by the Red Sox in the sixth round of the 2007 draft, recalled when Rizzo visited Fenway Park before the draft.

“Fenway is a special place,” McLeod said. “But sometimes you bring kids there and they have this been-here, done-that cool attitude. ‘Rizz,’ you could tell he was so appreciative and so excited to be there. He was confident, but in a respectful way. He said, ‘I really appreciate you taking the time to see me play.’ I just had this special feeling that this is a very good kid, a good person, a good human being. Just someone who had a big heart and cared about the right things.”

Dean Florio coached Rizzo at Douglas High in Parkland, Fla., near Fort Lauderdale. Florio said 14 of his players have been selected in baseball’s draft. Rizzo, who received a $325,000 signing bonus, is the only player who offered to donate money to support the program.

“The only one that even toyed with the idea,” Florio said. “I was trying to build a clubhouse by the field when he was drafted and he offered $40,000 of his bonus. I had to say, ‘I’m not taking part of your signing bonus. Keep it. You’ve earned it.’ ”

Rizzo’s maturity, no doubt, was shaped by his battle with cancer.

He was 18, playing in Single-A Greenville, N.C., tearing up the South Atlantic League, when his legs began to swell.

Sitting atop the Padres’ dugout bench more than four hours before a recent game, Rizzo said, “I didn’t want to say anything because I was off to such a good start.”

When the pain persisted, the Red Sox flew Rizzo to Boston, where he was diagnosed with limited stage classical Hodgkin’s lymphoma .

“Cancer? All I knew was Lance Armstrong and his big story,” Rizzo said. “I thought chemotherapy was the end of the world.”

For six months, Rizzo underwent chemotherapy every other Tuesday.

“It knocked me out until about Sunday,” Rizzo said. “I’d sit in my room and do nothing. I’d tell my parents I was OK because I knew they were suffering more than me. I lost patches of hair. Every time I showered and rubbed my head, there’d be hair in my hands.”

After six months of treatment, doctors said Rizzo’s cancer was in remission.

“I don’t take anything for granted, ever,” he said. “This game was taken away from me in the blink of an eye. I was hitting .370 in my first full (professional) season, then I’m at my house watching games on TV, wishing I were out there.

“Some days in the minor leagues, you don’t feel like going out in that 105-degree heat. I just look down at my (yellow) Livestrong band.”

Prodigious power

The Double-A Portland (Maine) Sea Dogs play their home games at Hadlock Field. Home plate to the right-field foul line measures 330 feet. The right-field wall stands 16 feet tall. Atop the wall are advertising signs.

Last year, Rizzo smacked a home run over the advertising signs, past the Portland High track lanes that abut the ballpark and onto the football field. The ball landed on the 10-yard line and rolled to the 30.

Recalled Kelly: “Everyone was like, ‘Oh my goodness.’ It was ridiculous.”

The Padres and power have not been synonymous long before the club moved into Petco Park. Nate Colbert is the team’s all-time home run leader with a paltry 163. Only two teams feature an all-time leader with fewer homers, and those clubs, Florida and Tampa Bay, are in their 19th and 14th seasons, respectively. The Padres are in their 43rd year of existence.

“There’s something about power,” Black said. “It’s been that way for 100 years. We’ve all hit a line drive somewhere in our life. We’ve all got a base hit. But we all haven’t hit a ball to the moon.”

Baseball, though, is filled with cautious tales of players who flashed phenomenal numbers in the minors only to fade in the major leagues. Bryan Bullington, the No. 1 pick of the 2002 draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates , posted a 61-38 minor league record. His major league mark with four teams: 1-9.

Even Hall of Famers have struggled out of the gate. Mike Schmidt, considered by many as baseball’s greatest third baseman, batted .196 his rookie season with the Phillies .

Not wanting to put too much pressure on Rizzo, the Padres have preached patience.

“He’s going to go through growing pains,” cautioned General Manager Jed Hoyer .

After getting off to a 3-for-6 start, including his first major league homer, Rizzo went 1-for-21 with nine strikeouts.

The inherent pressure from the expectations?

“I thrive off it,” Rizzo said. “I think I do better when the pressure’s on.”

Good thing, because the spotlight’s not dimming anytime soon.

Asked if he’s witnessed anything resembling the commotion surrounding Rizzo’s arrival during his 39 years as a Padres broadcaster, 86-year-old Jerry Coleman said, “No, nothing even close. The preamble for him coming up is what made it what it is.

“That, and the fact this team can’t hit. So people are saying, ‘This might be the savior.’ It’s ballooned out of sight.”