Bryce Harper: The LeBRON James of Baseball

Some of you may have seen the newest version of Sports Illustrated and looked at the front cover and said, "Who is that?" That is exactly what i asked myself. Well on the front cover of this weeks Sports Illustrated magazine is 16 year old phenomonon Bryce Harper. Bryce Harper is a catcher and pitcher for Las Vegas High School. He is only 16 and is already being called the LeBRON James of baseball. He is already the most coveted draft pick whenever he is elegible for the draft. Scouts are saying he is more advanced than Justin Upton, A-ROD, and Ken Griffey Junior were at this age. Remember, the kid is only a sophmore.

If you are wondering what makes him so great, here is why he is getting all this attention. When Harper was 15 he hit a 570 foot home run over the rightfield fence, two trees, another fence, a sidewalk, five lanes on the interstate, another sidewalk, and then finally landed in a undeveloped desert. At a power showcase at the Tampa Bay Rays field, Tropicana Field, Harper hit a 502 foot home run, farther than any MLB player has ever hit in the Dome. On American League scout says, "If Bryce were in the draft this year, he would go in the top 5 picks." "Wrong", says a National League scout, "he would go in the top 2 picks." Along with his great hitting, Bryce is also a great pitcher. His fastball has been clocked at 96 MPH.

When Bryce was 9 his parents got calls from travel team coaches from California, Colorado, and Oklahoma, asking if Bryce could play in tournaments with their teams. They would pay for him and his parents to fly to the tournaments, stay in hotels, and for all of their food. Bryce and his parents accepted the deal, but sometimes his parents were not able to attend the tournaments. After one of the tournaments that they could not attend, Bryce's mom called Bryce and asked him how he did. He said he did all right. Later that day one of the coaches of the team he played for called his mom and asked,"What did Bryce say about the tournament?" His mom said," he said he did all right." "All right!" the coach exclaimed, "Bryce was 12 for 12 will 11 home runs and 1 double!". That is when Bryce's parents knew he was something very rare with so much potential.

Bryce's parents have hired Scott Boras, one of the most famous MLB agents, to be an adviser to help Bryce get in the MLB draft as soon as possible. Right now Bryce is planning on getting his GED this summer and then enrolling in a junior college where he can face better competition and be eligible for next summer's MLB draft. When asked about is goals as a ball player this is what Bryce said. "Be in the Hall of Fame, definitely. Play in pinstripes. Be considered the greatest baseball player who ever lived. I can't wait."