Teen slugger takes baseball fast track
July 13, 2009 North Carolina
By Stephan Allen
Raleigh News and Observer
CARY - At a lanky 6 feet 3, 205 pounds, Bryce Harper does not project the aura of a star baseball player who has drawn comparisons to basketball's LeBron James as a young, hyped sports prospect.
But when Harper steps into the batters' box, only a few pitchers dare throw strikes to him. It's because they know he hit a 570-foot home run as a 15-year-old freshman at his Las Vegas high school and a 502-foot home run at Tropicana Field, a stadium record in the Tampa Bay Rays' home.
Harper, a catcher, almost always finds himself on first base -- often because the opposing pitcher, leery of putting the ball where he can hit it, winds up walking him.
He didn't really get pitched to, and that's not a lot of fun for him," said Ron Harper, his father. "It's a frustration of wanting to play the game."
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