While his season has certainly had its low and high points, he's earned the starting role he's currently occupying, and it was my first chance to see him on 7/29 vs. Glen Perkins and the Twins.

First impression: holy cow is he skinny!  If you looked at his stat line, you'd think he's a slugging middle infielder type, but he certainly doesn't have the body.  Then you watch him hit.  The young man swings a vicious bat and has nearly perfect body action in his swing.  He did work the count well against Perkins, but none of that resulted in a walk.  When he made contact, the ball just jumped off of his bat.  His swing and running style remind me incredibly of video and photographs I've seen of a young Henry Aaron, most distinctively the wrists on his swing and the arm motion in his running (something Hank smoothed out later in his career).

Alexei had a very impressive couple of hits and took 3rd from first on a routine single to right field, running through the stop sign in the process.  While it's not a good idea to ignore your coaches, he seemed to have a great instinct about him on the basepaths.

In short, I was impressed with my first in-stadium viewing of him.  Clayton Richard would have received the same impression if the game ended after 4 innings.  He simply lost his location completely in the 5th.  Oh, and Delmon Young had a horrible night at the plate, but made a tremendous running catch in the ninth to ensure the victory.