Many writers and commentators seem determined to classify him as a streaking, early-season fluke, but he's much more than that now. Nady has become a complete hitter, with a newly developed understanding and command of the strike zone. He has 12 walks already this season compared to 23 all of last year.

While it is admittedly not the norm for a player to suddenly and naturally become a top tier player at age 30, when examining Nady's career one can see that the potential to put up productive power numbers was always present in his skill set. As with any ballplayer, that fundamental ability must be combined with health and opportunity for potential to see total fruition; a realism that is wholly demonstrated by Nady's start this season as all of those factors have gelled together thus far.

It is entirely possible that Nady's 2008 may also be inevitably cut short in some way, keeping true with past trends. But even if this were to tragically occur, the early season exhibition by Nady is truly a vivid demonstration of the immense talent that this player possesses both at the plate and in the field (he currently has committed only one error this year totaling a meager 22 in his entire 485 game career, resulting in a .984 career fielding percentage).

Throughout Nady's hot start it has been the fad, the statement of a writer's elitist and enlightened ability to see through the hype of a player's early "hot" numbers, to write off Nady's production as simply another of the ever so common seasonal flukes that populate the early months of every baseball cycle.

Upon closer inspection of Nady's career numbers — including Xavier's 2007 stats which have him at 28 home runs when projected over a full 600 at bat season — Nady is simply fulfilling the potential that has laid forcibly dormant inside him for his entire career.

With Xavier finally acquiring a consistent Major League starting job and adding a strong dose a plate discipline to his power dominated repertoire there is no reason to believe that Nady can't maintain his high rate of production all year, especially considering his previous seasons' disrupting injuries were more of the medical emergency classification as opposed to that of chronic physical aliments.

It seems for Xavier Nady, it is no longer "too early" to recognize that there is a new elite threat in the National League, and he finally suites up for the Pittsburgh club once again.