In the aftermath of the birth, major league baseball scouts were already comparing the boy to relief pitcher Antonio Alfonseca, the relief pitcher who won the 2000 NL Rolaids Relief Man of the Year Award and who closed games for the 1997 World Champion Florida Marlins.

The presence of extra appendages, known as polydactyly, is reported in about 2 per 1000 children. Usually, polydactylism presents as an extra piece of non-functional tissue, typically occurring as an extra finger with no bone. Most of these cases are easily treated at birth by tying a string tightly around the base. This causes the extra appendage to eventually fall off over time.

When Antonio Alfonseca was born in the Dominican Republic, in 1972, with 6 fingers on each hand, no effort was made to remove the extra appendage. While some professional scouts joked about Alfonsecas six-finger sinker, and teammates nicknamed him El Pulpo (The Octopus), his success pitching in the majors speaks for itself.

However, because Antonios 6th finger is quite small in comparison to his other digits (it looks much like a stump), it doesnt actually touch the baseball when hes pitching -- and therefore his sinker is really just a conventional -- albeit very effective -- pitch.

Scouts who are looking into this California birth have high hopes that the 6th finger will develop fully -- and that this young man may one day be able to pitch a true six finger sinker.