At its most basic form, baseball is just a game. No Augusta GreenJacket has displayed that more this season than Angel Villalona.

The 18-year-old power hitter will take the field with the rest of his teammates tonight when the South Atlantic League playoffs begin. The GreenJackets will play host to the Asheville Tourists in Game 1 in a best-of-three series that, no doubt, will be considered serious business for both teams.

Villalona said he always takes a professional approach to games, but he can't help but smile when he thinks about playing.

"I'm just trying to have fun here," the Dominican Republic native said through an interpreter. "When I'm in a game, it's all business. But you have to have a little fun, too."

If there's any GreenJacket with reason to lose sight of the fun side of the sport, it's Villalona. The pressure is overwhelming for the 6-foot-3, 240-pounder who signed with the San Francisco Giants as a 16-year-old for $2.1 million.

In 2007, he left his home and family and moved to an unfamiliar country where he faced cultural and language barriers. He had to deal with expectations after being named the Giants' top hitting prospect in April.

"When you're that young and you have all those expectations placed on you, that's tough on a kid," GreenJackets manager Andy Skeels said. "I'm proud of him. I'm proud of the way he's worked this year. He wants to play and succeed and do well, and you can't fault anybody for that."

Villalona has overcome more than curve balls. The dramatic growth on and off the field was witnessed by Giants roving infield instructor Jose Alguacil.

"Last year was hard because everything was new. It was a big battle for him," Alguacil said. "There was the different culture and language. The talent was there, but it's still a hard transition."

Villalona spent most of the 2007 season playing in the Arizona Rookie League. He hit .285 with 37 RBI in 52 games.

"Last year was definitely really hard," he said. "It was my first time being out, and it was hard to face some of the situations on and off the field. I wanted to do well every time, and it got frustrating."

With a year of experience under his belt, Villalona was assigned to Augusta for the 2008 season. He wasn't an immediate success, but his offense came around in the second half of the season and his personality broke through as well.

Villalona leads the team in home runs as well as pranks. He completely rearranged the inside of teammate Charlie Culberson's locker while Culberson showered after a game. After Nick Noonan's game-winning home run on Aug. 11, Noonan came off the field from the postgame celebration with his head covered in chalk from the first-base foul line.

"Villa," Noonan said, shaking the chalk dust from his hair. "Big surprise, huh?"

Villalona insisted the stunt was payback for similar treatment he received after an earlier walk-off homer, but he couldn't make the accusation with a straight face.

"He's probably one of the funniest guys on the team," GreenJackets third baseman Andrew Davis said. "He's always up to something. When he's on the field he's here working hard, but he finds time to mess around a little bit. You have to have fun out here, or it'd be horrible."

Skeels said he doesn't mind letting a teenager be a teenager, but there is a fine line.

"He's not a shy kid. That's not his personality," Skeels said. "I don't mind him having fun, but I do mind when you see his temper and he loses control. He's a little temperamental, and that doesn't have a place in being a professional athlete."

Playing in majors could be in the near future for the young prospect.

"He's an athlete with a tremendous future," Skeels said.

"A lot of people are banking on him going far and fast in this organization. You never know what's going to happen, but the talent is there."