Maddux redux. (Insider: Baseball).

Cloning supposedly is (a) not perfected, (b) untried on humans, (c) highly unethical or (d) all of the above. So surely Kirk Saarloos is not a laboratory reproduction of the Braves' Greg Maddux. Still, you have to wonder.

Saarloos, the Astros' rookie righthander, has been walking around in Maddux's long shadow the past two months, drawing so many comparisons one might want to check DNA.

"He has great stuff" the Reds' Adam Dunn said after striking out twice against Saarloos. "He moves it around and changes speed. He reminds me of Greg Maddux."

It was not the first time Saarloos had heard that, but it still was music to his ears. "That's the most praise I could ever get" Saarloos says. "I grew up idolizing (Maddux). I didn't have his poster up or anything like that. But I always looked to see if he was pitching on TV and would watch him and follow him in the paper. I loved the way he approached pitching."

Like Maddux, Saarloos has a modest fastball that forced him to learn early how to change speeds, move the ball around and out-think hitters, setting them up for his off-speed stuff and making them chase low, outside pitches. Some of that he got directly from Maddux--Greg's brother Mike, the pitching coach for Class AA Round Rock. That's where Saarloos, 23, found himself at the start of the season, just one year out of Cal State Fullerton.

"He taught me an awful lot," Saarloos says. "He kind of took me under his wing, especially after I had a rough first outing. I don't know if I'd be ...