(Shhh... Brandon Boggs is coming. Don't tell anyone.)

By the end of the first inning and a half of the July 29, RoughRiders game against Corpus Christi,  it seemed that there was one player on the field who was notably smarter, quicker, and aware than anyone else in the game.   

Corpus Christi's veteran 1b/DH Todd Self launched a Luis Mendoza offering deep to left-center with one out in the top of the first.   It was anything but lazy and seemed certain to carom off of the electronic ad board that adorns the left-center wall, but as Self's missile zeroed in on its target in the final few yards,  Frisco center fielder Brandon Boggs, who seemingly had broke towards the gap with the pitch instead of contact, was waiting for it, turning a double into a very loud second out.

Moments later, after Frisco leadoff hitter Anthony Webster had singled on a bloop into short left, the switch-hitting Boggs stood in from the left side -- his weak side -- and took strike one.   Ball one squirted away from Corpus catcher Louis Santangelo, and Boggs waved Webster on to second.   Boggs then took two more pitches, giving the speedy Web an opportunity to draw attention to himself darting back and forth from the keystone, drawing Corpus third baseman Drew Sutton towards his bag at the hot corner.   And with that, Boggs dropped a bunt in no-man's land between Sutton and pitcher Brad James, allowing Webster to advance to third.   Meanwhile,  Boggs took advantage of his speed and the left-handed box to beat the throw to first.

In the top of the second, Corpus shortstop Thomas Manzella smoked a liner into short right center and as the ball whistled over the head of Frisco's diminutive but powerful second baseman German Duran, I wondered if Boggs could somehow cut it off to hold Manzella to one base.   And as soon as that thought popped into my mind, I see a red jersey and white pants speed in from the left side of my peripheral vision to pick it out of the air for the second out of the inning.

Boggs capped the evening by blistering his 18th double of the year (again from his weaker, left side) and scoring Frisco's second run of the night in the eighth frame.

You can study the numbers that Brandon Boggs has put up this season and come away suitably impressed with his progress but seeing him ply his trade -- becoming aware of the difference-making nuances to his game -- leaves you convinced that this is a guy with a big league future.   

He's an above-average center fielder by Texas League standards and his tools suggest that he can carry his defensive game all the way to Arlington.  His instincts and baseball IQ are undeniable and immediately evident.   But how about the bat?   How projectable is the stick?

Boggs, a 2004 fifth rounder out of Georgia Tech, is the rare player whose numbers have improved each time he is promoted.    After beginning his pro career with a .235 / .373 / .369 line in 149 at-bats with Spokane in the short-season Northwest League the summer after he was drafted, Boggs moved on to low-A Clinton in 2005 where he hit .246 / .353/ .437 before posting a .261 / .352 / .444 line at high-A Bakersfield in 2006.

Making what many have called the most difficult step on the minor league ladder, Boggs has posted his best core numbers ever with double-A Frisco:   .279 / .399 / .538 / .937 in just over 300 plate appearances.  His power is up and his average is up, but what is really impressive to me, and the thing that bodes especially well for his future, is that Boggs has become even more selective:   his always strong BB/K ratio is improved, and his always strong  BB/PA is improved.

I'd been keeping an eye on Boggs all along, noting how he never seemed to give in to the often control-challenged pitchers in the lower levels of the minors.  He seemed to be content to walk and walk and walk and walk even if the hits weren't coming his way.   Often, it seems, minor leaguers in the lower levels will expand their zones too frequently because they aren't seen enough strikes and they want to swing the bat anyway, but Boggs never seemed to fall into that trap.   

This year at Frisco, Boggs has an incredible walks-per-plate-appearance ratio (BB / PA) of .169  which is a figure surpassed by only six big leaguers:   Barry Bonds, Jim Thome, Pat Burrell, Todd Helton, Nick Swisher, and Ryan Howard.  His cumulative minor league career BB/PA is .139, which is surpassed by only 16 big leaguers.   His BB/K ratio of 0.75 is also a solid figure (similar to Alex Rodriguez, David DeJesus, J.D. Drew, Lance Berkman and Ichiro).   Putting the two figures (BB/PA & BB/K) together, the most similar big league hitters are Swisher and Berkman.

The switch-hitter absolutely murders lefties (1.251 OPS), but he's good enough and patient enough against righties (.240 / .379 / .423 / .802).    Only six big league center fielders (Granderson, Rowand, Hunter, Sizemore, Ichiro, and Beltran) have an overall OPS better than the .802 that Boggs has posted from his weaker left side.

I'm a big believer in guys who send out obvious signs that they are getting better with time, regardless of the competition.   Boggs is obviously one of those guys and, I suspect, it is in large part because his approach at the plate is so disciplined and advanced.   

He's still a longshot.  He doesn't show up on any prospect lists published by experts like the Baseball America gang or Kevin Goldstein at Baseball Prospectus, but he's on my list and I'll go ahead and recommend that you stick him on your own watch list...just don't tell anybody.  Brandon Boggs can be our own little secret.