Like Father, Like Son?

(Scotiabank Field at Nat Bailey Stadium - Vancouver, B.C.) - When Ken Griffey Sr. took to the field as part of the Big Red Machine in the mid-70's it wouldn't be uncommon to see his son Ken Jr. shagging fly balls in the outfield and taking the odd swing or two in the batting cage as some of the greats in baseball history surrounded the younger of the Griffey's.

Being brought into such circles would make most assume that when the child grew older - that he would likely try a similar route to stardom even if the shadow and expectation to be "just as great" became filled with peril and humility.

Griffey was one of the few to exceed the expectation - remembering that Ken Sr. played 19 big league seasons and was a part of back-to-back World Series Championships with the Reds in 1975 and again in 1976. 

Griffey would slam 152 career home runs (21 in 1986) and hit .300 or better in 12 seasons - playing in 2,097 games for a combination of four teams (Cincinnati, New York AL, Atlanta and Seattle). His final season would see him suit up alongside Junior who had gone from young boy shagging fly balls in the outfield to becoming one of baseball's brightest young prospects in the blink of an eye.

Junior would eclipse his father's numbers, in some instances smashing them. 

22 seasons, 630 home runs, 2,671 games played. The statistics Junior amassed will surely find him enshrined in Cooperstown seconds after the first ballot of case next summer. Both Griffey's had terrific careers, but Junior did something that few who follow in their father's lofty footsteps can ever do - be better.

The Vancouver Canadians have had a number of players who were second generation hopefuls. In Shane Keough's case, it was a three-generation expectation that saw the outfielder from Los Angeles, CA try his hand at professional baseball.

Shane's father Matt, played in the Major Leagues for nine years going 58-84 over his time under the brightest of lights for five teams (Oakland, New York AL, St. Louis, Chicago NL and Houston). Matt would get tapped as an All-Star in 1978 following in his father's steps as Marty Keough would play parts of 11 seasons as a journeyman outfielder for the likes of the Red Sox, Indians, Senators, Reds, Braves and Cubs between 1956 and 1966.

Simply put, both Shane's father and grandfather had tasted life in the Major Leagues, and in 2007 the third generation Keough would begin his ascent. The road however was marred in fame as his mother Jeana was also a star in her own right as a charter member of the TV show phenomenon "The Real Housewives of Orange County" seen across North America. Cameras followed the family's every move including Shane's antics in the minors and it would cost him as teammates and coaching staffs would struggle to cope with the reality TV stars sideshow which eventually came to an end alongside his minor league career in 2010.

Shane would flame out in 2010 after playing in 67 games with the Stockton Ports of the California League hitting a career .232 (284-for-1361) with nine home runs in 347 games.

Keough wasn't the only one in 2007 that was pursuing a career in baseball while attempting to follow in his father's footsteps. Justin Frash played his first pro season with the Canadians hitting .244 (47-for-193) in his 56 games at third base. His father Roger could be seen at any number of games cheering on his son who started his time in Vancouver going 0-for-13 and doubting whether or not he belonged. 

Roger was a 1^st round draft pick by the New York Mets and although he never lived up to the hype (Frash would top out at Lynchburg of the Carolina League), the stigma of being a first-round selection, second pick overall was something the younger Frash aspired to live up to. After just two seasons, the younger of the Frash's would get released by the Oakland A's and never set foot on a affiliated field again.

Brent Lysander pitched for the Canadians in 2007 and at 6'7" tall had the body of a potential big league star. His father Rick had played four MLB seasons mainly with Minnesota going 9-17 with a 4.28 ERA in 137 games primarily as a reliever. The younger Lysander would pitch for two seasons within the Athletics organization before getting released and playing a season in independent baseball with Lake Erie before retiring.

2008 brought the Canadians another son of Big League DNA as Jeremy Barfield would patrol the outfield hitting .271 with three home runs and 17 doubles. His father was Toronto Blue Jays great Jesse Barfield who played for 12 years with the first nine north of the border. Jesse's legacy was his strong throwing arm combined with his power as in 1986, he would hit an American League high 40 home runs, becoming the first Toronto player to hit that plateau.

Jeremy didn't only have to fight the shadows of his father being a Major League standout, but his brother Josh had also found his way to the big leagues playing four seasons with the San Diego Padres (2006) and Cleveland Indians (2007-09).

The road toward the bright lights continues for Jeremy through the 2014 season despite a winding road through injuries, switching from an outfielder to a pitcher and back to an outfielder once more. 

His numbers?

Offensively, Jeremy is a career .261 hitter with 67 home runs and 370 RBI and 125 doubles. On the mound, the strong armed native of Texas is a career 4-1 in 25 games with 43 strikeouts in just 36.2 innings of work. Will either translate to the Major Leagues? 2015 may be his last shot to find out.

Shortly after the Vancouver Canadians switched affiliations from the Oakland Athletics to the Toronto Blue Jays we once again got a taste of the father-son connection with Dwight Smith Jr. who's father Dwight played eight seasons in The Show (Chicago NL, Angels, Orioles, Braves).

Dwight Jr. played with the Canadians in in 2012 and got off to a rough start as the soft-spoken son of the former Major Leaguer hit a paltry .175 in Vancouver with no home runs and eight RBI in 18 games. Sometimes patience is a virtue as in his 3^rd season within the Blue Jays organization, things started to look up as Smith Jr. hit .284 (134-for-472) with 12 home runs and 60 RBI en route to being named team MVP for the Dunedin Blue Jays of the Florida State League. 

Some within the organization say that the 22-year old outfielder not only looks a lot like his father but plays like his father as well which could come in handy with Toronto looking for position playing prospects to push through the system.

It's not easy being the 'next big thing' within the family - and not everyone gets to become a Ken Griffey Jr., but as we can see from the fair amount of players that have come through Vancouver - there will always be one shadow that a player is trying to come out from.

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