Before Bryce Harper was the top pick in the Major League Baseball draft, before he signed the sport�� biggest contract ever for a first-year pro, he gambled his future on one make-or-break
season.
The Las Vegas High School sophomore already had dominated the competition like Mickey Mantle on the playground and appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated, which�dubbed him the
��ost exciting prodigy since LeBron James.���eeking greater tests as a hitter, the precocious phenom got his GED and enrolled at the College of Southern Nevada, where he could�face pro
prospects in a challenging�wooden-bat league that prohibited the hitter-friendly aluminum bats used throughout college ball. Harper shattered the school�� home run record with 31 (the
previous mark was 12) and compiled a startling 1.513 OPS while leading his team to the Junior College World Series. For his heroics, the 17-year-old became the only position player from a
junior college to win the Golden Spikes Award, given to the nation�� best amateur baseball player.
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Las Vegas sportswriter Rob Miech was ��mbedded��with the Southern Nevada Coyotes team and brings us along for the ride��nto the dugout and�locker room and on team buses and in motel rooms, from the scorched fields to the snow-capped horizons of the Scenic West Athletic Conference��o deliver a warts-and-all account of a boy among men playing like a man among boys. Amid the media circus that descended upon team and town, we read fascinating personal stories including the dynamics between veteran coach Tim Chambers and Harper�� protective father, the camaraderie with��nd jealousies of��ther players, the fans and autograph seekers (and girls) who all want a piece of the young star, and how Harper is suspended from the World Series after protesting an umpire�� call, and the role his faith plays in his life.
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The Last Natural shows us a season in the life of baseball�� top rising star, culminating in a dramatic conclusion when Harper is drafted #1 by the Washington Nationals and, after tense negotiations that go up until just seconds before the midnight deadline, signs a ＄9.9 million contract. Even more than this, Miech�� book is the story of a team and its community, the hopes and aspirations of its players and coaches, and the spirit of pure baseball that lies at the heart of the American dream.
