He has been blessed with certain abilities to play the game and he understands what they are. He has the ability to play a winning type of baseball and he stays within those parameters. If you talk to the managers he's played for, I'm sure they'll all tell you the same thing. I can't say enough about the way he approaches the game. Which explains why the Rays were willing to give up a proven starting pitcher such as Steve Trachsel to pry Abernathy away from the Toronto farm system last summer.
Scouts talk about prospects in terms of tools.
Speed, power, arm strength. Those are tools. Abernathy's tools are mostly modest. He does not excel in any one area, but he does perform well across the board. In 1998, he was named to the Florida State League All-Star team and was the Dunedin Blue Jays Most Valuable Player.