MILWAUKEE -- The king of the 2001 draft so far has been Cubs right-hander Mark Prior, who signed late last season and only spent a month and a half in the minor leagues this season before getting called up to the majors.

But Prior was expected to quickly become an impact player. Chad Tracy, a sweet-swinging third baseman in the Diamondbacks system, could possibly make a name for himself very soon and turn out to be the biggest steal of the entire 2001 draft.

Since being selected by Arizona in the seventh round out of East Carolina University all Tracy has done is hit -- to the tune of a .352 batting average in 140 career minor-league games at three different levels.

After signing with the D-Backs early last summer, Tracy appeared in 10 games for Yakima in the Class A Northwest League. He was quickly promoted from there to Class A South Bend in the Midwest League, where he hit .340 in 54 games.

Tracy began this season at Double-A El Paso in the Texas League and in 80 games he is hitting .368 with five home runs. Seventh-round picks aren't supposed to have such success so quickly in their professional careers.

"I really didn't think I would be doing this good this fast," says Tracy, who was a member of the U.S. team in Sunday's Futures Game at Miller Park. "But hey, I'll take it."

One of the reasons why Tracy dropped as low as the seventh round in last year's draft was the concern over how he would be able to adapt to swinging a wood bat after using an aluminum bat in college.

"It wasn't a huge transition for me going from the aluminum to the wood as I spent two summers playing in leagues where I used wood," said Tracy, who played the final two innings in Sunday's game, but didn't bat as the U.S. team was limited to just three hits. "The biggest transition for me was adapting to better pitching on an everyday basis. As I've moved up from college to A-ball to Double-A the pitching has increasingly gotten better. Pitchers are able to throw more pitches for strikes and that makes it much tougher for me as a hitter."

But if you look at his offensive numbers, you wouldn't think it's been anything close to a struggle for the 22-year-old Tracy, who hits left-handed.

"What I need to concentrate on is using more of the field," said Tracy, who is a classic line-drive, gap hitter as evidenced by his 25 doubles this season. "So much of hitting is having a good mental approach at the plate and getting yourself into good hitting counts -- 1-0, 2-0, 3-1."

While Tracy has been a pleasant surprise as he steadily moves up the ladder in the World Champion Diamondbacks' farm system, could he find himself in the majors in short time? That will depend on how he progresses the remainder of this season and also how much the D-Backs remain committed to keeping together their veteran-laden team and what happens with Matt Williams and Craig Counsell.

"I'm hopeful of getting a chance to make the big club out of spring training next year, that's the main goal," Tracy said. "But that's a ways off and I need to keep improving."

Hey, if Tracy continues improving it's possible to see him someday become an even bigger name than Prior. Check back in five years at the major league All-Star Game.

Karp remains in limbo
The rumored trade between the Expos and Marlins, featuring Cliff Floyd and Ryan Dempster heading to Montreal, had a unique twist to it for one player in Sunday's Futures Game. Prized right-hander Josh Karp, the Expos' first-round pick (sixth overall) in last year's draft, is the rumored main prospect who would go to Florida in the deal.

Karp, who played collegiately at UCLA, is currently 4-1 with a 1.59 ERA for the Expos' Class A team (Brevard County) in the Florida State League.

"To be even mentioned in this deal is very interesting as I never expected it," said Karp, who was on the U.S. team, but did not pitch. "But to be honest with you, there's nothing I can do about it. I just have to go out and pitch and worry about my own game.

"It's interesting though, because it must be a pretty big deal as (ESPN analyst) Peter Gammons came up to me in the dugout prior to the game and was talking to me about being included in the deal. And, you know, Peter Gammons is a pretty big guy in the business."

Since Karp didn't sign until last September, he would have to be included as a player to be named later if the deal goes through. A player can't be traded for one year after his signing date.

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