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I’ll be honest, if a player like Alex Bregman were on any other team, he would annoy me. I would think him an arrogant showboat:

I’ve always liked the ballplayers who put their head down and grind it out day in and day out. I’ve got to say though, having him on my favorite team makes me re-think all that. I start to think, maybe Ken Griffey Jr.’s right, it’s “time to let the kids play.” Let’s do a quick recap of a guy who has more confidence in his pinky finger than most people have in a lifetime.

He gets a game-winning hit in the World Series, MVP of the All-Star game and that’s still not enough for him so he starts a new viral craze, the Dugout Stare, that started as this:

And then this:

And finally morphed into this:

Bregman not only hit a home run, but made bobsled relevant in the summer time.

In a world in which we expect our athletes to give the same modest clichés, Bregman breaks the mold. When asked by a reporter if he ever thought he’d hit 30 homers. Bregman said simply, “Yeah.”

He blatantly stole from James Harden and I don’t think anyone minded.

And now he has thrown down the gauntlet. When being interviewed about their recent dominant 3 game sweep of the Indians, Alex Bregman had an interesting coda to the interview.

He said he was upset that he got sunburnt… Sort of an odd thing to just throw out there…and then said that wouldn’t have happened if they had been playing in prime-time. To drive his point home, he had this humorous exchange with Scott Van Pelt on SportsCenter:

“Does Floyd Mayweather fight the first fight of the night or is he the main event? I mean, does Tiger Woods tee off at 8 a.m. It’s about time the ShowStros play on prime-time television.”

And you know what, I love it.

I love it because this guy backs it up. Bregman hit over 50 doubles and 30 HR’s this season. That’s something even Derek Jeter never did in a season. In fact, Bregman is only the 19th player to hit 30 home runs, 50 doubles and knock in 100 RBIs in MLB history. He’s the guy the Astros want up to bat with the season on the line, and the guy the other team doesn’t want to see.

Astros manager AJ Hinch has said Alex Bregman sweats confidence and after th 3 game sweep of the Indians, I’ve gotta say, it’s rubbing off.