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| This past July, Adam Lind cleaned out his Blue Jays locker and packed his bags, preparing for a trip back to the Minor Leagues. Before Lind exited the clubhouse, though, Toronto's Frank Thomas walked over to him and offered some words of encouragement. Maybe Lind's batting average wasn't as impressive as it was while he tore through Toronto's farm system, but Thomas saw the outfielder's swing. That was enough for the 39-year-old veteran to remind Lind that baseball's biggest stage would have room for the rookie soon enough. "When I got sent down, Frank told me, 'Hey, you're a big leaguer now,'" said Lind, leaning against a railing at Fenway Park in Boston earlier this week. "That really stuck with me. If he says that to me, then obviously I have the ability to play here, because he's seen quite a bit. That meant a lot, coming from him." With that, Lind headed back to Triple-A Syracuse to sort through what went wrong in his three-month stint with the Blue Jays. For the first time in his professional career, Lind struggled to consistently wield a potent bat, and reminding himself that he still belonged at the highest level proved difficult during his persistent woes. Now, the 24-year-old Lind, who grew up watching Thomas belt homers for the Chicago White Sox from nearby Anderson, Ind., has realized that his inconsistent season can be a powerful learning tool. Lind believes his rough initial tour in the big leagues will help him when tough times inevitably return down the road in his career. "Of course, I would've rather not had to go through this," Lind said. "But it's all part of being young -- dealing with struggling. The thing I need to gain from this is what you have to do to get yourself out of the slump, and to always keep your confidence no matter what. You have to remind yourself that you can still hit, regardless of the situation that you're going through." Lind was the obvious choice to be promoted in April when Blue Jays left fielder Reed Johnson landed on the disabled list following surgery to repair a herniated disc in his back. Between stints at Double-A and Triple-A in 2006, Lind posted a .319 average with 24 home runs and 89 RBIs, earning the Eastern League's Player of the Year honor along the way. Last September, Lind was called up from the Minors and he promptly hit .367 in 18 games, and he tied a Blue Jays rookie record with 15 hits in his first 10 games in the Majors. So the left-handed hitter was the natural pick to fill in until Johnson returned, but that didn't mean Toronto manager John Gibbons didn't anticipate an adjustment period for Lind. "You don't expect him to come up here and hit .350," Gibbons said. "That just doesn't happen. The big leagues, it's the tester. You get knocked down, and the good ones figure it out. He's one of those guys who will figure it out. You never want to see [initial struggles ] happen, but you almost come to expect it." Lind, who had never hit below .310 at any professional level, got off to a decent start in the big leagues in April, posting a .288 average. Over the following two months, though, he hit just .205 as pitchers began to notice his propensity for chasing high fastballs. By the time Johnson was ready to be activated July 6, Lind's average had dipped to .230 -- an unprecedented low point for Toronto's top prospect. "It was all part of learning the strike zone," Lind said. "In the Minor Leagues, they'll throw that high fastball, but they're only throwing it about 88 mph. Up here, it's like 95. That's a little different. Every day, you never get a slouch pitcher. In the Minors, you might go two or three weeks without seeing a big league pitcher." Back with Triple-A Syracuse, Lind said it took more than a month before he finally felt right at the plate again. He put in hours of work with his swing, but it wasn't until consecutive games against Ottawa on Aug. 23 and 24 that Lind -- a third-round pick by the Jays in the 2004 First-Year Player Draft -- returned to form. Over that two-game stretch, he went 6-for-6 for the Chiefs, launched a pair of home runs and collected five RBIs. Thinking about that outburst brings a smile to Lind's face, because that's when he finally felt like the weight of his season-long issues was immediately hoisted off his shoulders. "I struggled the first few weeks," Lind said. "I just kept swinging and swinging and swinging, trying to find that groove and working with the coaches. Then, one day it just clicked and I got that feeling back. My swing finally came back. It was back to the regular me." So, when rosters expanded Sept. 1, it was back to the big leagues for Lind, who will likely be in the running for an Opening Day job with the Jays next season. In the sixth inning against the Red Sox on Monday, he stepped into the batter's box at Fenway Park -- one year and one day removed from his Major League debut at the same ballpark. Lind wasted no time in drilling a 2-2 fastball from Boston's Javy Lopez up the middle for a run-scoring single, displaying the swing that has carried him quickly up the organizational ranks. "The bottom line is the kid can hit," Gibbons said. Just ask Thomas. |