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Before anyone had a clue he was a special pitcher — before his fastball ticked up into the 90s and well before he learned his signature cutter — Mariano Rivera nevertheless impressed his minor league teammates and Yankee bosses.
He was so fast, position players in the minors just flat out stopped racing against Rivera. On the rare occasions when pitchers were allowed to take batting practice to break up the monotony, Yankee coaches believed Rivera was better than some of the lineup regulars. But it was in shagging flies with grace and instinct Rivera most wowed those around him to the point where Brian Butterfield, his Single-A manager at Greensboro in 1991, declared: “This guy is our best outfielder.”
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