Bryce Harper's Journey to Major League Baseball

If you haven't heard of Bryce Harper yet, you will.

At just 16 years old, he's the number one baseball prospect in

the

nation. And with his parents' blessing, he's planning on giving up his

final two years of high school to become eligible for next year's

Major League draft.

I'm not really skipping anything.

Um, still get to go to prom, still get to go to homecoming,

still get to go do all

that fun stuff, you know? It was, it was a great experience for two years.

Loved it, but, uh, decided I just wanted to get out of there.

While most 16-year-olds are worried about acne and dating,

Bryce and

his father are more concerned with finding him better baseball competition.

He's gonna play a lot of, a lot of older guys, uh, bigger guys,

stronger

guys, um, wood bats, 60 games, and, and he

gets walked quite a bit in high school, and we thought maybe it'd be a better

challenge for him.

I just, I just really wanted to go on the college

level, you know?

Swing that wood bat, that's, that's the biggest thing, you know.

I get two years with that wood, or at least a year.

Some may criticize Harper's family for sacrificing his education

for his baseball career, but his father doesn't see it that way.

He, he's always looking for that next challenge, uh, baseball-wise,

ath-

academically-wise. I mean, he's taking classes,

with the honors classes kids take

nowadays, and I know it's, you know, a computer age and whatnot,

but he's taking

classes that I didn't even take when I was in high school.

At 6'3", 205 pounds, Harper hits 500-foot home runs,

steals bases, and can throw out batters from his knees.

Sports Illustrated even dubbed Harper the LeBron James of baseball.

Like James, he has the talent and the drive.

I love pressure. If, if there's any pressure on me,

I thrive on it, definitely.

Uh, bases loaded, bottom of the ninth, two outs, you know, I wanna be that guy to

get that base hit to win the game.

Few live up to the hype. Bryce Harper thinks he's ready

now. Josh Haley, WRAL Sports, Cary.