If so, he could be to his fellow Guamanians what Dennis Martinez was to adoring Nicaraguans, who called him, "El Presidente".

"That would be great," Hattig said. "I might end up owning the whole island. Right now, I'm kind of like a king there. You never know. Making the big leagues might make me governor, or something."

The only other of Guam's native sons to even play professional baseball was Keith Hattig, John's uncle.

Keith Hattig, a former Angels' prospect, was once dubbed the "Michael Jordan of Guam baseball". He might have made it to the bigs himself if not for a serious groin injury that forced him to leave the game before he could get out of Single-A ball.

The elder Hattig did manage to put Guam on the baseball map, even if it is only represented by a very tiny dot.

"Baseball is actually our number one sport," said John, who stands 6-feet 2-inches and weighs 200-pounds. "But it's just very tough, because we lack size. Our average height is about 5-7. A lot of guys are small and don't have enough strength. I guess I'm lucky."

Red Sox scout Wally Kamatsubara, who had originally signed Keith Hattig, made his way to back to Guam to work out John and liked enough of what he saw to write a positive report.

"He called up the same scout that signed him, and said 'Come take a look at my nephew'," John said. "At the time, I was only a right handed hitter and I was playing shortstop. He came out, I had two tryouts, and he liked what he saw."

In 1998, the Sox made Hattig a 25th round selection in the June draft. He had already one-upped his uncle, who was an undrafted free agent.

For Hattig, who had just one year of high school baseball under his belt, the education was about to commence.

"It wasn't a culture transition," he said. "It was basically facing a lot better pitching. No one threw hard when I was back home. Here I face a lot of it and I've adjusted to it. I kept working at it, trying not to let it beat me."

Hattig's climb through the Bosox system has been a slow, but steady one.

He has shown improvement at each stop, particularly in the past two seasons, when he earned team MVP honors at Augusta (Low A) and Sarasota (High A).

"That's a good minor league system developing a player the right way," said Portland manager Ron Johnson.

Johnson got his first good look at Hattig last season, when Hattig was promoted to the Sea Dogs for the final eight games of the year.

Now with five seasons behind him, Hattig has not only reached Portland, he's thriving there.

In his first full month in Double-A, Hattig reached base in 25 of his first 26 games, and has made just two errors at the hot corner.

An unexpected bonus has been his power numbers.

He has already set a new career mark in homers (eight and counting). Six of those came in one dizzying week, which earned him Eastern League Player of the Week honors for May 3-9.

"He comes with the M.O. of being able to put the bat on the ball," said Johnson. "The power numbers are going to start coming, because he's got good life in the bat. When you get out of the Florida State League, where the parks are like the Grand Canyon, and you come to ballparks that are more conducive to hitting, you're going to have those things happen."

For Hattig, it's just a matter of taking a confident approach to the batter's box, every time up.

"I've just been going out, playing hard, and not worrying about the results," he said. "Obviously my results are pretty good. I got my pitches and I was hitting them. That's what you're supposed to do."

Though Hattig's baseball sojourn is far from finished, he may have finally figured out how to reach his destination.

"I'd have to have a career year," he said. " Make them say 'Wow, let's not leave him down there'. Just give them a reason to get me out of here."