Bryce Harper is “Baseball’s LeBron”

Sports Illustrated has placed 16-year baseball stud Bryce Harper on their cover this week, by-passing the obvious Kobe/Dwight headline.

Tom Verducci authored the piece, and Harper is quite the story.

At fifteen years old and as a freshman in high school, Bryce hit a 570-foot (not a typo) home run. Now, as a sixteen year old, Bryce is hitting 96 mph on the gun in addition to tearing the cover off the ball at the plate.

The 6-foot-3, 205-pounder hit .626 with 14 home runs and 55 RBIs this spring as a high school sophomore. Truly a man among boys. Even though Bryce is actually the same age as his opponents.

Harper, whose performance has earned him the title of ‘Baseball’s Chosen One’, has a very interesting story about how his parents learned he was better than the rest.

As a twelve year old, Bryce attended a tournament in Alabama that was played on fields with 250-foot fences. His mom could not make the trip, so she called and asked him how he did after his games. He said, “I did all right.” Later she received a phone call from his coach who told her how well Harper did. “He went 12 for 12. Eleven home runs and a double,” the coach said.

Harper has already competed in several competitions that are meant for player above his age. Bryce was on USA Baseball’s under sixteen (years old) team in the Pan Am Championships in Mexico. He was named tournament MVP, batting .571 with four home runs in eight games.

Of course, as a sixteen year old, Bryce’s legitimate talent garners a lot of criticism and doubt from people of his own age group who are jealous of his success and the older generation that ponders why their own offspring could not play at the level that Harper does.

“I love the way people talk crap,” Harper says. “I hear it all the time. Overrated. You suck. I’ll just do something to shut them up, like, I’ll show you. It’s like in regular pregame work. I like to show off my arm. Just so it’s like, There you go. Don’t even think about trying to run.”

In an interview on the Dan Patrick Show, Verducci was asked if the Washington Nationals would take Bryce over Stephen Strasburg over Harper if he were eligible for the draft this year. He said they would still take the San Diego State Aztec pitcher, but that Harper would make them think twice. “His bat speed would be in the top five percent of major league players,” Verducci said.

Because of his talent, Harper’s parents are pushing to have Bryce eligible to be drafted by the end of next season. Then he will be seventeen and he will still be hitting 500-foot home runs with ease.

Hit the jump for a video of him mashing at the Trop.