Justin Frash reminds me a lot of Isaac Omura. The two share a lot of characteristics – they’re both infielders, they both played for the C’s (Omura in 2005, Frash this season), they’re both short (in pro ball terms, at least), they both attended the University of Hawaii, they both wear/wore the number 4, and they both struggled with their first taste of life as professional baseballers.

Hopefully, that’s not where the similarities end, as Omura followed his weak debut season with the sort of en fuego form that earns you a couple more seasons in the system, and Justin Frash has just recently been getting a whiff of the same sort of comeback about him.

But what causes a kid who hit .340+ in college to struggle at the below-Mendoza level? Well, if you believe what Frash told his hometown Camarillo Acorn newspaper today (and there’s no reason not to), the wear and tear of everyday ball is a prime factor:

"I’ve talked with everybody on the team, and most of us say that we never thought pro ball would be like this when we thought about playing," Frash said.

"It’s a grind on your body every day. It’s hard. You’ve got to get your sleep and eat right because it’s difficult to be ready to play day after day. You really have to get yourself physically prepared. That’s what I’m trying to get used to."

After playing in all 59 games for Hawaii as a senior, Frash only had a little bit of time off before joining Vancouver. All told, the Canadians will play 76 games in 79 days this season, with their campaign wrapping up on Sept. 5 against the Everett AquaSox.

"You look forward to the offdays," he said.

You know, truth be told, if you told me I could sleep with a supermodel every day but I could only miss three days in 79, I think I’d be pretty much destroyed at about day 18. To lift weights, train, and play ball at a high level, every single day, for almost three months straight… no matter how much you love the game, no matter how hard you’ve trained for it, that’s going to be brutal.

Frash said he’s eager to improve while in Vancouver, with the hopes of being invited to Oakland’s instructional camp during the winter. In a perfect world, he’ll spend the early part of 2008 at the Athletics’ spring training complex, working out with the big leaguers.

"A lot of people don’t get to play pro baseball," he said. "I’m going to take as much as I can out of it."

Good luck, Ham.