Will the real Bryce Harper please stand up?

This archived article was written by: Alexandro Church

Who is this kid? At 19 he is on the verge of making the big leagues with the Washington Nationals after being the first-overall pick of the 2010 MLB draft, he is Bryce Harper. Which brother you might ask? Harper was deemed “Baseball’s Chosen One” by Sports Illustrated when he was featured on their cover at just 16. He is a phenomenal athlete with fantastic abilities. To some he is a cocky kid with a bad attitude and zero care for others. They say he doesn’t deserve to be where he is now.
He dropped out of high school to get his GED and play at the College of Southern Nevada for a year so he could get drafted sooner, that’s the definition of cocky right? Wrong! Harper would have just graduated this past June, but instead he was already playing minor league baseball. Haters can do nothing but hate and to him, they are just fuel to the fire. I’m here to tell you from a friend’s perspective what Bryce is really like.
I won’t talk too much about baseball stats, what he has done in the games and why he should have a significant shot at making the Nationals squad out of spring training. I will focus instead on my interactions with Bryce and my observations of him. First off, Bryce is one of the hardest working people I have ever known. My senior year in high school he was in 8th grade and would come to our practices all of the time.
His brother Bryan was one of my really good friends and was a junior that year. So Bryce would come after school with his dad Ron, but you see he wouldn’t just practice with us, he would then go and hit with his dad for hours after our practices, and they weren’t short by themselves. He loves baseball and was always showing that he wanted to be. He was in short, fueled by pure passion. Bryce Harper has earned the spot that he is in right now.
Before Bryan had his license he would ride with me everywhere we went. We would hang out constantly and have fun with our group of friends. From baseball practice to football games to just weekend fun, wherever we could find it.
Of course like any little brother would want, Bryce wanted to come along too and we would often go through that Bryan doesn’t want Bryce to come because I only had a single-cab truck which made three guys a tight fit. But Bryan would name his conditions after a little convincing from Bryce and I and off we would go. All Bryce wanted to be was part of the group, and for someone in 8th grade, he always fit in with us. Always respectful and had fun just like the rest of us.
Bryce played with us in December 2006, in our annual red and black series, and he excelled. Facing a senior pitcher, he hit a ball about 380 feet, as it soared over the right-field fence I remember thinking I’m glad I’m on his team and glad that wasn’t me pitching.
Bryce was dominant from a young age, but was always just one of the boys off the field. He once hit a ball when he was younger that hit a car and shattered the hub cap, the problem was the car was in what everyone thought was a safe spot especially for little kids. Again though he earned it then always working hard and staying close with his family who has great values and a strong work ethic.
These days Bryce is still going on that same path. He is close to his friends and family and works even harder. To introduce you to his family his parents Ron and Sheri are like parents to anyone who comes in to their home they are the kindest people especially to their children’s friends, and they always make you feel like a million bucks no matter who you are. His sister Brittany now Brittany Peterson is her brothers’ biggest fan always supporting them and cheering for them. His brother Bryan, well the two go great together both are in the Nationals system and are just an undividable team. You can follow the real Bryce Harper on Twitter and see what he does for others and how he speaks his mind he is @bharper3407. That’s all for now but we’ll have more later.