He was 15 years old when, it is said, he hit a 570-foot home run. At 16, he landed on the cover of Sports Illustrated. At 17, he’ll likely be the No. 1 overall pick in June’s pro baseball draft.
But starting Saturday, Bryce Harper will lead a pack of future stars at the Junior College World Series in Grand Junction.
The tournament, in its 53rd year, plays out at Sam Suplizio Field starting Saturday. The 10 teams, from every region of the country, decide a champion on June 5.
Harper, a catcher for the College of Southern Nevada, is on a fast track to the big leagues. He skipped his senior year of high school to play JuCo ball, so he could enter the MLB draft sooner than later. In LeBron James-style, Harper is a phenom.
“He hits it 400 feet with soft toss, without any collision,” Bobby Valentine said this week on ESPN. “He’s big, he’s strong, he has great athletic ability, as everyone sees. I think he’s just another can’t-miss.
“He’s the best young player I’ve ever seen, and I only saw a glimpse of him.”
The JuCo World Series draws big crowds every year. But this year, it likely will attract a national scouting and media throng.
The Nationals, who landed pitcher Stephen Strasburg at No. 1 in the 2009 draft, likely will pick Harper with the first pick this year.
ESPN baseball guru Tim Kirkjian said on the air this week: “(Harper) is just tearing it up. He is the number one elite player in this draft.”
Harper knocked 29 homers and 89 RBIs this season — in a league that requires wooden bats.
In the regional round last week, Harper hit for the cycle in a semifinal victory over Colorado’s Lamar CC. Then in a championship win over Central Arizona, he went 6-for-6 with four homers and 10 RBIs.
Southern Nevada goes against Pitt CC in a first-round game Saturday at 7:30 p.m., the last game in a full day of action.
Junior College World Series
The 53rd NJCAA Division I Tournament
Where: Sam Suplizio Field in Grand Junction
When: Saturday through June 5
Who: 10 regional champions — Chattanooga State (Tenn.) Tigers; Pitt CC (N.C.) Bulldogs; San Jacinto-North (Texas) Gators; Iowa Western CC Reivers; Temple College (Texas) Leopards; Southern Nevada Coyotes; Faulkner State CC (Ala.) Sun Chiefs; Hutchinson CC (Kan.) Blue Dragons; Crowder College (Mo.) Roughriders; State College of Florida Manatees.
STAY ON THE COUCH
Horsepower heaven.
The Memorial Day weekend is perfect for sports on television. So it’s natural that TV traditions have grown over the years.
In Colorado, the go-to viewing fun extends two ways.
The 94th running of the Indianapolis 500, with pre-race coverage starting at 10 a.m. Sunday on ABC (KMGH-7) and the green flag waving at 11 a.m., should entertain as always. Polesitter Helio Castroneves has a chance to become the fourth four-time winner in the history of the race. If he can stay ahead of the pack, he’d join A.J. Foyt, Al Unser Sr. and Rick Mears as quad-winners.
Spot Castroneves racing the No. 3 car for Team Penske. Joining him on the front row is Will Power and Dario Franchitti.
Then Monday, a local tradition plays out with live coverage of the Bolder Boulder. Channel 7 will air runners and racers from 11 a.m. to noon.
GET OFF THE COUCH
Beyond the Bolder Boulder.
Boulder will be busy with runners this weekend. But that doesn’t mean the state is without any other races.
There’s the the Windsor Pelican Fest Triathlon and a 5K race on Saturday; the Sage Burner 50K and 25K Trail Run in Gunnison on Saturday; and the Narrow Gauge 10-Mile and 5K Run on Sunday.
But for tradition, see the 39th edition of the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic in Durango. The classic features a time trial, criterium, road race, 50- and 25-mile tours and a citizens race. The action starts Saturday at 7 a.m. ().
AROUND TOWN
Get some horse sense.
Arapahoe Park in Aurora opens its 2010 live horse racing season Saturday, and it has scheduled 39 days of races, an increase of three from a year ago.
The state requires Mile High Racing and Entertainment, the track’s owner, to hold at least a 30-day horse meeting in exchange for the right to take simulcast wagers year-round on races around the country at Arapahoe and the company’s other off-track betting sites.
The Arapahoe Park meeting is for thoroughbreds, quarter horses and Arabians, plus Paint and Appaloosas. After Saturday’s opening day, racing will follow on Sunday and Memorial Day, and then every Friday, Saturday and Sunday through Aug. 22.
The Inaugural, a six-furlong sprint for 3-year-old thoroughbreds Sunday, will be the top race of the opening weekend. Bruce Seymore, Mile High’s director of Colorado operations, said Arapahoe increased its purse structure late in the 2009 meeting and will do so again for this meeting.
“By virtue of that, we have more horses on the site at Arapahoe than we’ve had in 19 years,” Seymore said.
He said Arapahoe’s business model — relying on simulcast income to help subsidize the required live racing — has helped the track settle into a comfortable niche as a facility with credible second-tier racing for the regional horse racing community.
“We are a minor-league baseball track, as a basis of comparison,” he said. “But there are a lot of people out there with cheaper horses that can’t compete at a top level. I’m picking up a lot of those people.”
Terry Frei, The Denver Post
WHAT WE’D LIKE TO SEE
So much for playing nice.
After Kyle Busch, above right, threatened to kill Denny Hamlin, above left, last week at a NASCAR race in Charlotte, N.C., — the two got into an on-track fracas when Busch blew out a tire — Hamlin on Thursday retorted.
“Kyle brings this stuff on himself, and he gets mad at the media for asking him questions about his blowups,” Hamlin told The Associated Press. “But he does it to himself. I don’t want to be part of it. Any drama that he wants to create is on him.
“All I’m going to say, and I’m going to be done with it, is that each year I think Kyle’s going to grow and he just doesn’t. Until he puts it all together, that’s when he’ll become a champion, and right now he just doesn’t have himself all together.”
And they’re teammates!
They race again at Charlotte on Sunday, in the Coca-Cola 600 starting at 3:45 p.m. on Fox (KDVR-31).
