Prodigy wants to play for the Yankees
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Jun 05, 2009 
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If you haven’t read the story Tom Verducci did on Bryce Harper, here you go. The 16-year-old from Las Vegas is the LeBron James of baseball, a high school sensation.
His goals?
“Be in the Hall of Fame, definitely. Play in Yankee Stadium. Play in the pinstripes. Be considered the greatest baseball player who ever lived. I can’t wait.”
The story reads like a fairy tale and perhaps Harper is the real deal. But before you dream of Harper someday playing for the Yankees, you should know that SI once decided a high school guard from Maryland, Tamir Goodman, would be a huge star in basketball. Goodman came to Queens to play in a tournament in 2000 and a kid from Mount Vernon, N.Y., put 52 points on him.
Goodman went on to play at Towson State for two years before he quit. The kid from New York was Ben Gordon, who led the Chicago Bulls in scoring this season.
Trying to predict which 16-year-old will be a star is only slightly less difficult than winning the lottery. At best, it’s an educated guess.
Still, it’s fun to try and the story is an interesting one.
This kid is a sure thing.
If he doesn’t make the Hall of Fame, I will stop commenting on LoHud.
During off days.
The kid seems like a helluva player, but she sure thinks a lot of himself. The part about him getting upset about a commentator calling Strasburg the LeBron of baseball makes you wonder how he would even deal with riding a bus in the minors.
If you ever wondered what would happen if Todd Marinovich and Sidd Finch had a son…
Hype em out now, destroy him later. Way to go Tom.
out=up
i’d hate to see this kid fail.
it might be a very sad ending unless he is mentally tough.
SI just hyped this kid up way to much.Just like Joba,Hughes and Kennedy the Yankees don’t have “Sure Things” in the farm.
We have to wait two years + to see if Joba is a good starter.SI is hyping this kid who won’t fall in the draft to the Yankees like Joba(injury and Weight issues) did.
if I were this kid I wouldn’t want all this pub right now… I mean he’s 16 so much could happen… LeBron is one thing basketball is so much more pure athleticism than baseball… LeBron, while he has lived up to every expectation and beyond, let’s say it turned out he wasn’t as skilled as he obviously is… let’s pretend… he still prob could have been an All-star just based on his athleticism and pure power… Baseball drafting is a much more inexact science and considering baseball is the most mental sport out of the bunch it’s not surprising. Combine injuries, etc, so many ppl never pan out. Who knows, the guy could be in the hall of famer or he could end up another bust. All i know is that he’s put a lot of pressure on himself already…..
2009-Win a world series
2010-Promote the Trenton team to the Bronx
2011-#1 Pick in the draft
can’t we find a spot for shelley duncan off the bench (50rbis)??? berroa???
There you go pete huffing and puffing and being wrong yet again. You may want to read the article again because it doesn’t say tamir would become a big star. He is called the “Jewish Jordan” (let’s face it it’s not that hard to be the best jewish ball player) he was a sensation in the jewish community, but i did not hear stories of tamir being a hall of famer and best basketball player ever. Please retract your inaccurate commentary. By the way even the article says he wasn’t very good at defense.
there is a huge difference with joba & this kid.
joba did not live a protected,shielded life.
his success happened quickly & recently.he battled weight problems,quit baseball to get a job.
this kid is not being allowed to fail in any sense & if he ever has to face it i hope he is strong enough to handle it.
Certainly not the first to be anointed the chosen one by SI:
http://deadspin.com/5277668/sp.....hosen-ones
Pete,
Funny you mention Tamir Goodman. When I was in high school, his school played against our high school (I went to a boarding school in Washington, DC). The hype around Tamir was so great that my school had to relocate the game from our tiny 1,000 seat gym to a local college’s 6,000 seat gym and that game attracted more than 2,000 fans. He put on a show, swishing treys after treys from way beyond the arc and his team defeated ours.
I followed Tamir for a while and knew he fizzled out, but never knew about the Ben Gordon story.
Ahhh typical Pete always looking at the negative.
Anyone who’s been paying attention has known about this kid for over a year. You don’t have to wait for SI to know that this kid is talented. He’s an ARod… at catcher, in terms of physical tools.
Will he succeed? Time will tell. But ARod and Ken Griffey Jr. were ‘sure things’ that succeeded.
You can’t fake that bat speed.
he can hit 500 feet bombs all he want’s but still has to hit ml pitching,play defense & stay healthy.
there is no guarantees in life about anything.
Ah yes, the Jewish Jordan, who among our tribe could ever forget that great white hope.
I think 16 is too young to project a player as the next great MLB player. Even in basketball there are probably as many (or more) failures as there are success stories. We remember LeBron, but we forget the history of hyped players – and success in basketball is much more predictable than in baseball. Just look at how many 1st round picks never made it to the show in MLB.
Oh yeah, and Tamir Goodman was never destined for a star NBA career. No team is going to sign a player that won’t play a Friday night or Saturday game. I respect his religious dedication (as a fellow Jew), but this isn’t like avoiding playing on Passover – this is a weekly issue.
Good luck to the kid, and there’s nothing wrong with dreaming big. But there is nothing sure in life but death and taxes, so if you get a big bonus, salt it away somewhere safe, such as a local bank or credit union or a coffee can in a hole in your back yard.
Oh, and remember the name “Brien Taylor.”
Here’s Harper’s path to Yankee stardom:
1 – Marry a Dominican hottie.
2 – Move to the Dominican Republic.
3 – Get Dominican citizenship.
4 – Sign as an international free agent.
That just happened!
Hey Nick in SF, do you think the Internet will even exist when Harper is ready for the Hall?
The internet may exist, but the Hall of Fame may be defunct by then.
Mike R –
You forgot ‘drink Domincan milkshakes’.
Pete,
Since when are you so negative? What position does this kid play?
As for Tamir Goodman, he did get screwed over by Gary Williams and Maryland. They told him he would not have to play friday night and saturday day games because of religious observance. When Maryland figured out what that meant, they pulled his scholarship. He currently plays basketball in Israel.
His mom said they are not moving out of the country. Could we hope that Pete goes the kung fu guys way? I mean come on, we’ll even let you listen to springsteen on the ipod in the closet when t he maid finds you dangling.
Goodman doesn’t seem like a very good analogy. According to his wikipedia page, he was ranked the 25th best high school player in the 11th grade. That’s great, but it’s not off-the-charts great. I’m sure a lot of other kids in the top-25 never played a minute in the NBA.
Also, the hype surrounding Goodman seemed to have a lot to do with his Jewish faith, certainly unusual in the NBA.
Harper isn’t just advanced for his age. He already has both the bat speed and the fastball velocity to make him an elite slugger AND elite pitcher in the majors. That doesn’t mean has all the skills and attributes needed for the bigs, but it’s a heck of a good start.
You want to know the first thing I thought of when I saw this post?
Sidd Finch.
But in all seriousness, putting a 16-year-old who’s never been tried in professional ball, never mind the major leagues, on the cover of Sports Illustrated seems almost idiotic. I’m amazed SI would do it. They’re just asking to look like complete fools if the kid fizzles in A-ball. Not saying he will, but there’s probably at least as much chance of that as there is of his succeeding in the major leagues.
Regarding previous topic:
Easy to get confused when two of the Carradine brothers played folksingers in the movies, both did their own singing, and one did his own songwriting.
David played Woody and sang Woody’s songs, while Keith played a fictional folksinger in Robert Altman’s ‘Nashville’ and won an Oscar for best original song for his ‘I’m Easy’. Two excellent performances in two excellent films.
good call about tamir goodman. SI completely jumped the gun on him- nice guy and i remember him playing against by son in a tourny in NY in the 90′s but certainly not the best jewish-religious ball player of all time.
too bad SI wasnt around when stu poloner was playing ball…
Saw this kid play in a scouting showcase last year. He was a man among boys.
Only kid his age I’ve seen better was Arod.
If he was in the draft this year, he would be the second guy taken after Strasburg.
That said, its a LONG road to superstardom.
If he goes through with his plan to get his GED and try and get in the 2010 MLB Draft, I would expect MLB to put up a fight. They will lose but, they will fight it.
Going to the Yankees? Highly unlikely. Somebody will take him long before that and sign him if he’s eligible for the 2010 Draft.
I think a better analogy could be Josh Hamilton. Wasn’t he hyped like crazy out of HS, then once all the success hit… well, we know what happened to him in terms of lifestyle. Hamilton has showed the skills are legit, but also that you can’t hype someone like this because other factors could happen.
That said, I’d love this kid to come out and say “I’ll only sign with the Yankees, no one even bother drafting me”
Why not draft the kid as our # 1 pick this year? So what, that he is still in high school. We draft 16-17 year old international players. Why not our own. GOFERIT-Yanks
People are missing the sub-text of this story, assuming SI is projecting him to be a sure-fire HOFer.
The POINT of the story is that he is going to make himself draft eligible next June and command (and get) an 8 figure bonus along with an 8-figure major league contract.
That’s a cover-worthy sports story if there ever was one.
And any comparisons to a basketball prodigy is irrelevant.
This kid is going to make more money NEXT than most NBA players make in their career, SI story or not. The kid was well-known in baseball circles well before this.
And if ANYONE suggests its not in the kid’s best interest to become wealthier than anyone’s wildest dreams at the age 17 if the opportunity presents itself, I’d ask you to ask yourself WHOSE interest it really serves for him not to.
He’s not eligible for the draft this year.
Sony,
I thought of Sid Finch too.
If anyone is interested, here’s some Bryce Harper video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liS3kGvQ9Bk
“But before you dream of Harper someday playing for the Yankees”
———
For me, it’s not so much that one particular players wants to be a Yankee. It’s the idea that the Yankees are still “the team” that players dream up wanting to be a part of.
The Yankees need to continue to be the class of MLB that litle kids grow up wanting to be a member of.
That makes guys like Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, Joba and Phil, Robinson Cano, a little more important than just the #s they put it.
They are representing the best team in sports. It’s up to them to keep it that way.
It’s possible that he basically tells teams that they’d be wasting a pick on him like Betences did. He could just demand to be picked by the Yankees next year or he’ll go to a junior college
Sure this kid is great right now, but he’s still only 16, who knows what could happen. Frankly, it seems the publicity has already gone straight to his head and his ego is just gonna get bigger and bigger. Keep your feet on the ground there kid.
Ironically, I read this story on my way to Vegas. It is a pretty incredible story but Verducci makes him out to be some folk hero or super hero. Verducci also forgot to mention that the 502 and 570 foot home runs were hit with a metal bat, it is still pretty amazing but just something that was left out.
I don’t think I am a huge fan that his parents are attempting to let him not finish high school and become eligible for the draft next year. I understand that many athletes do not go to college and the ones that do don’t get an education but leaving high school and getting your GED so you can play junior college ball is too much for me. Like Pete said, perdicting his future is like winning the lottery and what happens if his career is derailed and he does not even have a high school degree.
he wants to play for the Yankees because they have the most $$
The Jewish Jordan, Tamir Goodman, is swishing and dishing, creating havoc in the paint, for the Haifa Heat in the Holy Land. Bryce Harper is playing against little leaguers. Let’s see him handle a MLB curve. The Yanks or Red SOx will probably give him 100 Mil to sign.
When I got the magazine in the mail and read the story, I immediately thought of Sidd Finch.
Who makes his major league debut first – Montero or Bryce ?
Montero.
Great. Now tell this kid to move to Venezuela or the DR, or something, so he doesn’t have to enter the draft. New York could just sign him with a nice, large signing bonus.
Funny how that works. How bad it is for the American amateur baseball player.
2011 the year of two huge deals in New York