Thursday, May 1, 2008

Grienke and Bannister

Bob Nightengale profiles the Royals' yin (Brian Bannister) and yang (Zack Greinke):
Bannister loves to spend his free afternoons checking out art museums or hunting for photography equipment, just as he did Tuesday in Arlington, Texas. Greinke, when unable to find a fishing hole, is content to sit back alone and play video games, trying to be the Billy Beane of Nintendo.

Bannister, 27, appreciates cinematography and wants to make his own full-length movie, dreaming of the day he's standing on stage holding an Oscar. Greinke, 24,
declines to be part of team commercials, let alone sit in front of television cameras for an interview.

Together they are playing a game that fills one man's mind with sabermetrics and the other with demons, neutralized by medication. "We are completely different," Bannister says. "But we share a common bond and have the same goals. It's just that they're derived by different means."

Bannister has gotten most of the press recently due to his affability and affinity for sabermetrics, but for purely dramatic reasons I find Greinke to be the more compelling story. What's more, I also think that, five years from now, he's the one more likely to still be pitching in the Majors.

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