His locker is ready. His plastic nameplate is back up on the wall, white with red letters, "DEION SANDERS." Some of his personal gear is on the seat in his cubicle awaiting his arrival.

In 10 days, on May 1, when the Cincinnati Reds open a six-game homestand against the Los Angeles Dodgers, not only will Sanders be wearing a Reds uniform, it isn't unlikely that he will bat leadoff and play center field, a spot vacant because of the absence of Junior Griffey. Michael Tucker has been fine, Ruben Rivera has been fine and Donnie Sadler has been fine.

Deion Sanders, though, has been scorching for the Class AAA Louisville RiverBats. It is Prime Time every night for the RiverBats. It is Neon Deion leading the way every night for the RiverBats.

In a doubleheader Wednesday in Indianapolis, Sanders had six hits — 3 for 4 each game — and Louisville manager Dave Miley, who should be lying about Sanders so he won't lose him — is poetic.

"I haven't seen anybody this hot with the bat in the last two years," he said. "The guy is on fire. He is hitting the ball with authority, hitting it hard to right center and hard to left center."

Sanders is leading the International League in hitting at .422. The man with the flying feet leads the league in triples. He is tied for third in stolen bases with five and Miley said, "He should be six for seven because the umpire blew one call. And the other time he got caught I thought the pitcher, a left-hander, balked."

Deion took a six-game hitting streak into Friday night's game in Louisville against Norfolk. He is fourth in the league in on-base percentage at .458. And when he gets on base, he is as disruptive as a streaker at a revival meeting.

Ben Sheets, the U.S. Olympic team star who beat Cuba in the Gold Medal game in Australia last summer, started one of the doubleheader games in Indianapolis. He didn't see anything like this on Fidel's team.

"First pitch of the game, Deion drops a bunt and beats it for a hit," Miley said. "Sheets never had a chance. We're not firing on all cylinders offensively, but Deion causes all kinds of problems for the other team on the bases. He just disrupts everything. I had him last year and he wasn't healthy. He is healthy this year and, man, he is something."

Sanders, of course, is a media star, even in Triple-A, but he is disruptive only on the bases, not in the clubhouse.

"He has been tremendous," Miley said. "He is great with the press. He is great in the clubhouse, gets along well with all the players. And I've listened to some of his interviews and he says all the right things. He says he just wants to do what he can to help the team win. He says he is having fun and going out every night to do what he can, to play his best and help us win."

The question remains if Sanders wants to be a major-league baseball player or a defensive back for the NFL's Washington Redskins. Will he leave for football camp in August, as he did during his last tenure with the Reds? He says not. He says summer football camp is a drudge, "That all they do is try to kill you and I don't need it."

True, Sanders is one of those rare mortals who can walk onto a football field and throw a quilted comforter over any receiver on the planet without participating in pre-season football masochism. And he also says he can't do that in baseball, that the game isn't natural to him and he has to work at it.

That's what he did during spring training. That's what he is doing at Louisville. He failed in his last try at baseball, the one thing in his competitive life at which he failed. He wants to wipe that off his plate.

Manager Bob Boone said that Bo Jackson may have gone from first to third faster than Deion, maybe, and that LA's Tom Goodwin might go from second to home faster than Deion, maybe. "Goodwin may be quicker, but I know one thing, no doubt, Deion is special. He is crushing the ball. I haven't had time to think about what we would do with him, but it's fun when you have to make tough decisions."

Deion promised this spring he would be batting leadoff for the Reds as soon as he joined the team.

"There is one thing in my life I haven't done that I want to do," he said early this spring. "I want to show people I can do it. I won't say what it is, but you know me . . . I don't shoot for the sky, I shoot for the stars."

And the bright light that shines on Deion Sanders is about to burst again in Cincinnati.