Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Las Vegas’ power hitters slugging their way to the top

Harper and Carter are MLB stars; Bryant and Gallo are on the way

Kris Bryant

AP Photo / Chris Carlson

Kris Bryant, a graduate of Bonanza High School, is the Chicago Cubs’ top prospect, although he’ll start the season in the minors. He played in the spring training baseball exhibition game against the Los Angeles Angels in Mesa, Ariz., on Thursday, March 26, 2015.

Kris Bryant

Chicago Cubs' first-round draft pick Kris Bryant listens to players during batting practice before a game against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday, July 12, 2013, in Chicago. Launch slideshow »

Cheers from the hometown crowd had barely died down when Kris Bryant swung at the first pitch from Oakland’s Jesse Hahn.

The Chicago Cubs prospect drove the fastball the opposite way, and right fielder Jason Pridie drifted back as the ball cut through a slight breeze blowing in at Cashman Field. Pridie ran out of room, stopping at the warning track as the shot from Bryant sailed over the wall — and over the berm behind it.

Bryant thrilled fans again three innings later, homering to left-center to cap an eventful trip home to Las Vegas for Big League Weekend. Not much has changed since Bryant’s high school days.

“He hit balls sometimes that you would watch and they would still be rising as they went over the fence,” said Derek Stafford, who coached Bryant at Bonanza High School. “It was almost like an event when he was up to bat.”

Bryant, 23, the second overall pick in the 2013 Major League Baseball draft, hit 43 home runs in the minor leagues last year and hit nine during spring training this season. The regular season started Sunday.

He once hit a ball over Bonanza’s left-field fence and onto Oakey Boulevard, where it bounced and went through a car’s open window, striking a man in the neck and drawing blood.

“We hit a lot of home runs in batting practice there, and we would never hit cars,” Bryant said. “That’s a pretty busy street, too, especially when school gets out. … It was just crazy that it actually happened.”

    • Profiles of power hitters

      Joey Gallo

      Age: 21

      Size: 6-foot-5, 205 pounds

      Position: Third baseman

      High school: Bishop Gorman

      Drafted: Supplemental first-round pick (39th overall) by the Texas Rangers in the 2012 draft

      2014 stats: 126 games for Class A Myrtle Beach and Double-A Frisco, .271 batting average, .394 on-base percentage, .615 slugging percentage, 42 homers, 106 RBIs, 97 runs, 19 doubles, 7 steals, 179 strikeouts, 87 walks

      Accolades: In 2013, became the first teenager since 1962 to hit 40 homers in a minor league season; won the Joe Bauman Home Run Award for hitting the most home runs in the minors; named MVP of the 2014 All-Star Futures Game.

      Memorable home run: With the United States trailing 2-1 in last year’s All-Star Futures Game, Gallo hit a two-run homer, estimated at 419 feet, into the second deck at Target Field in Minneapolis. The United States won 3-2.

    • Profiles of power hitters

      Bryce Harper

      Age: 22

      Size: 6-foot-3, 225 pounds

      Position: Outfielder

      High school: Las Vegas

      Drafted: First-round pick (first overall) by the Washington Nationals in the 2010 draft

      2014 stats: 100 games with the Nats, .273 batting average, .344 on-base percentage, .423 slugging percentage, 13 homers, 32 RBIs, 41 runs, 10 doubles, 2 steals, 104 strikeouts, 38 walks. Also hit .643 with 4 homers and 11 RBIs during a 5-game minor league rehabilitation stint.

      Accolades: Named Baseball America’s high school player of the year; won the Golden Spikes Award for being the nation’s best amateur baseball player; named National League rookie of the year; two-time MLB all-star.

      Memorable home run: In 2009, Harper hit a 502-foot home run during the International Power Showcase at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla. The homer led Sports Illustrated to put Harper on its cover and call him the LeBron James of baseball.

    • Profiles of power hitters

      Chris Carter

      Age: 28

      Size: 6-foot-4, 250 pounds

      Position: First baseman, left fielder and designated hitter

      High school: Sierra Vista

      Drafted: Fifteenth-round pick (455th overall) by the Chicago White Sox in the 2005 draft

      2014 stats: 145 games with the Houston Astros, .227 batting average, .308 on-base percentage, .491 slugging percentage, 37 homers, 88 RBIs, 68 runs, 21 doubles, 5 steals, 182 strikeouts, 56 walks

      Accolades: In 2008 and 2009, was named the Oakland Athletics’ minor league player of the year; won a Minor League Baseball Yearly Award for being the best overall hitter of 2009.

      Memorable home run: On July 6, 2012, Carter hit a 416-foot, two-run homer off Seattle’s Steve Delabar in the 11th inning to give the A’s a 3-1 walk-off win at O.Co Coliseum. “I don’t know if the ball has landed yet,” Oakland manager Bob Melvin said after the game.

    • Profiles of power hitters

      Kris Bryant

      Age: 23

      Size: 6-foot-5, 215 pounds

      Position: Third baseman

      High school: Bonanza

      Drafted: First-round pick (second overall) by the Chicago Cubs in the 2013 draft. The Toronto Blue Jays selected him in the 18th round of the 2010 draft, but he did not sign.

      2014 stats: 138 games for Double-A Tennessee and Triple-A Iowa, .325 batting average, .438 on-base percentage, .661 slugging percentage, 43 homers, 110 RBIs, 118 runs, 34 doubles, 15 steals, 162 strikeouts, 86 walks

      Accolades: Won the Dick Howser Trophy for college baseball player of the year and the Golden Spikes Award for being the nation’s best amateur baseball player; named minor league player of the year by Baseball America and USA Today; named No. 1 prospect for 2015 by Baseball America.

      Memorable home run: During his senior season at the University of San Diego, Bryant hit a titanic homer against San Francisco on a foggy night. Some say the ball was level with an 80-foot light pole in left field when it left the park. “I couldn’t tell you how far it went,” Bryant told MLB.com. “I just know it’s the farthest ball I’ve hit in my life.”

    Bryant isn’t the only premier slugger produced by Las Vegas schools in recent years. Sierra Vista High’s Chris Carter is the Houston Astros’ top power threat, Las Vegas High’s Bryce Harper is a two-time all-star for the Washington Nationals, and Bishop Gorman’s Joey Gallo is working his way through the Texas Rangers’ system.

    “I seriously think Gallo could be the best out of all of them,” said Nate Selby, who coached Carter at Sierra Vista. “When he hits them, they just go different than the other guys.”

    Gallo hit 67 home runs at Bishop Gorman, including 21 during his senior season, when he had a .509 batting average.

    “He was a man among boys in high school,” Stafford said.

    Click to enlarge photo

    Houston Astros' Chris Carter follows through on a run-scoring sacrifice fly as Texas Rangers catcher Robinson Chirinos, right, watches in the sixth inning of a baseball game, Monday, Sept. 22, 2014, in Arlington, Texas. The fly out scored Robbie Grossman.

    When Gallo was 17, he hit a 442-foot home run during an all-star showcase at Petco Park in San Diego. Last year, during batting practice for the All-Star Futures Game in Minneapolis, Gallo shattered the windshield of a promotional pickup truck on the right-field concourse with a home-run ball.

    “Joey Gallo’s ceiling is unlimited,” former American League MVP Jason Giambi, who has been working with Gallo, told Grantland’s Ben Lindbergh. “I think (he) can be whoever he wants to be. He has the potential to be a .300 hitter. He has the potential to hit 50 homers. He has the potential to drive in 140. He runs really well for a big guy. He can play defense at third base. He’s a pretty special player; you don’t see players like this come along very often.”

    Gallo, 21, might have as much power as anyone in the game, but some analysts have concerns about his ability to make contact. He struck out 351 times in 850 at-bats during the past two seasons. Gallo is starting this season with the Rangers’ Double-A or Triple-A affiliate.

    Harper, 22, drew national attention as a high school sophomore when he hit a 502-foot home run during a national home run derby at the Tampa Bay Rays’ Tropicana Field. He hit the blast with a metal bat, but the baseball world took notice.

    “He was just naturally strong,” Las Vegas High coach Sam Thomas said. “When you mix in his love for the weight room, it’s unbelievable what this kid can do.”

    In 2009, Harper appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated with the headline “Baseball’s Chosen One.”

    Bryce Harper

    Launch slideshow »

    Bryant played against Harper in youth baseball, and they were on the same club team as teenagers.

    “He was always a step above everybody else,” Bryant said. “Just really fun to watch him play. Really fun to watch him now, as well as Joey. They’re doing great things. It’s pretty cool that Vegas has some good players coming up.”

    After hitting .626 with 14 home runs as a sophomore at Las Vegas High, Harper earned his GED and enrolled at the College of Southern Nevada. In 66 games there, he hit a school-record 31 homers and drove in 98 runs.

    “People ask, ‘What was it like to coach Bryce Harper?’” Thomas said. “He was really, really good when he got here and really, really good when he left. I’m just glad I didn’t mess him up.”

    Thomas said the school once got complaints from a bus driver about kids throwing baseballs at buses on Hollywood Boulevard beyond the right-field wall. It actually was Harper taking batting practice.

    Some of the balls even made it across the boulevard to Clark County Fire Station 31, which Thomas discovered when an engine captain showed up at practice with a bucket of balls Harper had hit.

    Click to enlarge photo

    Washington Nationals' Bryce Harper (34) celebrates his solo home run in the seventh inning as he returns to the dugout during Game 1 of baseball's NL Division Series, against the San Francisco Giants at Nationals Park on Friday, Oct. 3, 2014, in Washington.

    Thomas said Harper is the consummate team player who makes everyone around him better.

    “He’s got the best work ethic I’ve ever seen out of a high school kid,” Thomas said.

    The Nationals drafted Harper first overall in the 2010 draft. He has hit .272 with 55 homers in three seasons in Washington.

    Unlike the others, Carter, 28, wasn’t known as a slugger in high school.

    “He definitely had the potential to have a lot of power,” Selby said. “He didn’t hit as many home runs in high school as you might think.”

    Scouts projected Carter could develop into a power hitter, and the Chicago White Sox drafted him in the 15th round of the 2005 draft.

    Carter homered 29 times for the Houston Astros in 2013 and tied for second in the majors with 37 round-trippers last season. He’s a streaky hitter and prone to striking out — he led the American League with 212 whiffs in 2013 — but Selby said Carter’s demeanor keeps him from getting frustrated.

    “Chris’ personality is very laid-back, even keel, and in high school, he was the same way,” Selby said.

    With power numbers down in the majors these days, sluggers such as Carter are anomalies. In 2001, 21 players hit 37 or more home runs.

    Click to enlarge photo

    In this photo provided by the Las Vegas News Bureau, Chicago Cubs' Kris Bryant, right, celebrates with a teammate after hitting a home run in the third inning of a spring training baseball game against the Oakland Athletics, Saturday, March 14, 2015, in Las Vegas.

    “You’re talking about elite power,” Selby said. “With the change in the game, all of a sudden, Chris is one of a very few who can hit it like they hit it.”

    As for Bryant, he will have to wait for his chance in the majors. The Cubs can delay his free agency by a year by keeping him in the minors until mid-April.

    Bryant, who qualified to be his high school salutatorian but stepped aside to let a classmate fill the role, doesn’t just rely on his natural ability. He’s a thinker.

    “If you watch him hit, his mental makeup and approach from pitch to pitch — not at-bat to at-bat, but pitch to pitch — he’s always learning,” Stafford said.

    Still, Bryant said hitting home runs comes naturally to him.

    “I was just blessed with the ability to hit the ball pretty far,” Bryant said. “Playing in Vegas also helps. You get to play outside year-round. … I was able to play a ton of games, whereas guys on the East Coast probably didn’t get to go outside until maybe April.”

    When all is said and done, Las Vegas could produce four of the greatest power hitters of this generation.

    “All those kids are gonna be hitting home runs in the major leagues,” Selby said. “They’re elite guys as far as size and strength.”

    Brian Deka can be reached at 702-259-4073 or [email protected]. Follow Brian on Twitter at twitter.com/briandeka.

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