A few words on the greatness of Gordon Beckham

''He's playing well,'' Jeter said. ''I got a chance to talk to him a little bit because he's been on second base the whole series. He can hit, that's the bottom line. You throw him in, he pulls it; you throw him away, he hits it the other way. It looks like he's got some pop.

''He hasn't been playing third base very long, but he's been doing a good job there, too, so I'm sure he's going to be here for a long time.''

''He's going to be a superstar,'' Yankees left fielder Johnny Damon said. ''We couldn't get him out. He's a star in the making, and the White Sox should be proud.''

"I know he was a great player and a first-round pick, so I'd have to say he would have been successful, but I marvel at the success he has had this early because that's really difficult to do,"

Beckham was a left-center gap away from going every direction on Sunday.  Along with the double down the right-field line, he ripped a single over third base, hit another ground-rule double to right-center and hit a pair of groundouts to second and first. The last one came on his first-ever experience against Mariano Rivera, and he made great contact. It just happened to be right at Mark Teixeira, who is a Gold Glove-caliber first baseman.

Beckham's having the kind of impact I thought might be possible next year. Though he's not close to qualifying for the batting title yet, Beckham is already second on the Sox in doubles with 17.

Another way to summarize just how much Beckham is mashing: Through his first 52 games, Evan Longoria -- like Beckham, a 22-year-old rookie -- hit .250/.329/.451. Beckham's at .311/.374/.486.

In Gordon Beckham the White Sox absolutely have a major piece to build around for the next ten years. And while significant contract decisions must be made regarding Jermaine Dye, John Danks, and a possible renegotiation of Mark Buehrle's deal, the White Sox will no doubt try to buy out Beckham's arbitration years and lock him up long-term just like the Rays did with Evan Longoria and like the Brewers did with Ryan Braun. Yes, Beckham has done enough to prove that he is in the class of those two young stars, and he and Longoria could be competing for starting All Star slots at the AL's hot corner for years to come.

What makes Gordon Beckham truly intriguing is that he seems to have that "it" star quality about him. Whereas Carlos Quentin's intensity and focus make him appear, at least to an outside observer like me, more aloof and less charismatic, Beckham seems to revel in the attention that his phenom status brings. Beckham always seems to be smiling and having fun, with the fundamentals of baseball appearing to come easily and naturally to him.

Adding his minor league numbers to those amassed with the White Sox, numbers which are strikingly similar, by the way, Beckham has already reached 40 doubles in less than 400 at-bats. It's not hard to imagine him hitting another 10, 15, or even 20  to give him (well) over 50 for his season. And when you start talking about a 22 year old who may hit 50 doubles while spending most of his season in the majors, well, you can start to dream a little bit.

Now let me list some rather large caveats before I dive into the next couple paragraphs and the accompanying table. Beckham has yet to actually hit 50 doubles, and nearly half of those will have been accumulated in the minors.