Jose Contreras does not remember who told him, just that he first learned of Carlos Gonzalez on a spring training field in Arizona and never forgot the name. Gonzalez was only a prospect, but Contreras was told he would be the game's next great superstar, like Miguel Cabrera with speed. 'I said, 'Hold on, Miguel Cabrera's on another level, you're crazy,'' said Contreras, the Phillies' veteran reliever. 'But look at him now. He does everything. Maybe the MVP.' Contreras was speaking last week in Philadelphia's clubhouse, where Gonzalez's playoff performance last October still reverberates. Contreras pitched for the Colorado Rockies then, and the way he remembers it, Gonzalez bashed five home runs in the four-game series loss. Actually, he hit only one, but with 10 hits in 17 at-bats, Gonzalez did seem superhuman. He has continued that tear all season, leading the National League in batting average (.337), hits (177) and total bases (320) through Monday. He was tied for fourth in homers, with 32, and third in runs batted in, with 101. 'It was very important when I had a chance to play in the postseason -- you concentrate more, you want to do the best you can,' Gonzalez, a left fielder, said on Monday, before batting practice at Coors Field. 'I keep the same mentality this year: 'OK, I played really well because I was concentrating. So I'm just going to try to do the same thing every night, no matter what, like it's a World Series game every night.'' Recognizing the importance of daily concentration -- and his lack of it in the past -- says a lot about Gonzalez's maturity. He has been traded twice and played professionally since 2003, but he is only 24. With the Rockies' surge into the pennant race, Gonzalez is a strong candidate for the Most Valuable Player award. 'When young players get to play in the playoffs early in their careers, they really recognize why they're playing the game,' said Dan O'Dowd, the Rockies' general manager. 'When young players don't get that chance early in their careers, there's a tendency at times to play for other reasons.' O'Dowd was quite familiar with Gonzalez when he traded his best hitter, the pending free agent Matt Holliday, to Oakland for him and closer Huston Street in November 2008. Gonzalez had played less than a year for the Athletics, who acquired him in a deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks for the All-Star right-hander Dan Haren. The Rockies and the Diamondbacks both trained in Tucson, so the Rockies had seen Gonzalez often. They shopped Holliday around and were prepared to accept another team's offer unless the A's included Gonzalez. When they got him, the hitting coach Don Baylor quickly noticed a subtle but major flaw. Gonzalez, a left-handed hitter, jammed the bat too far back in his top hand, toward the meaty part of his palm. Baylor encouraged him to hold the bat looser in his hands, closer to where the fingers meet the top of the palm. His bat speed improved, his swing snapping through the strike zone, and Gonzalez ripped through Class AAA for two months before the Rockies called him up -- for good, it would seem. 'The ball comes off of his bat as loud and as hard as Larry Walker and Andres Galarraga,' Baylor said, referring to the Rockies' first two NL batting champs. 'I mean, there's a different sound. You always listen for that, and with him, it's been that way since he came up from the minor leagues.' But while Gonzalez had better mechanics, he said he worried too much after his promotion last season. He arrived at the All-Star break hitting .202 with one homer and five runs batted in. When Manager Jim Tracy assured him he was still an asset on defense and would not return to the minors, Gonzalez came alive. 'You put pressure on yourself,' Gonzalez said. 'I think that's why I was struggling at the beginning in Oakland and here. I want to be the same kid who has fun every night, just trying to do something special for the team to win.' The Rockies return to that word -- special -- over and over when discussing Gonzalez. He steals bases (23), and he hits left-handers well (.316). He hit a game-ending home run to complete a cycle July 31, and since then has batted .380. He feasts at Coors Field (.385 with 25 homers) and thwarts opposing runners on defense. 'I've been in this game a long time, and he's one of the few guys I have seen that uses all five tools, night after night,' said the veteran first baseman Jason Giambi, who added, 'He'll steal a bag, throw guys out at home, plays great defense, hits for average, hits for power. He's legitimate, doing it all every night.' Gonzalez acknowledged he could still learn a sixth tool: plate discipline. He laughed when explaining that he has five more home runs this season than unintentional walks. Giambi, a famously picky hitter, has urged Gonzalez to get better pitches to hit, especially now, when fewer pitchers challenge him, even with the NL's second-leading hitter, Troy Tulowitzki, batting behind him. 'I can't let him beat me,' said Padres closer Heath Bell, who broke Gonzalez's bat on a game-ending groundout Monday. 'If I make my pitches and end up walking him, I'll face Tulo. Even though Tulo's a great hitter, too, Gonzo's a little hotter right now.' Tulowitzki and the ace starter Ubaldo Jimenez, who reached the World Series as rookies in 2007, were also shaped by early team success. O'Dowd, who built the Rockies around those three, said they all had desire and confidence to match their talent. Gonzalez showed that to O'Dowd after the trade, when he asked for No. 5, which Holliday had worn with distinction. Gonzalez explained that he was replacing a great player and wanted to be great, too, impressing O'Dowd with humility to go with self-assurance. If Gonzalez ever doubts himself now, he can look at the word he had tattooed on his inner left forearm just after the playoffs last fall. It is the only tattoo visible on his body when he plays. It says, in script, Faith. 'If you don't have that faith when you play, you're not the same player,' Gonzalez said. 'When you go out there, knowing that you work hard every day and you're well prepared, there's nothing to be afraid of.' 