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Nevada baseball phenom Harper leaving high school after 2yrs

sportsillustrated.cnn.com — A 16-year-old baseball phenom dubbed the game's "Chosen One" by Sports Illustrated plans to skip his final two years of high school in hopes of entering the Major League Baseball draft earlier, his father said.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jun 30, 2009

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  • JoeParanoid, on 06/30/2009, -4/+60All it takes is one injury and he's just another high school dropout.
  • mgd4, on 06/30/2009, -3/+26high school and college are two different leagues... hope the kid is ready
  • meed, on 06/30/2009, -4/+21WTF? At the least get your High school diploma. What happens when you injure yourself and can't play anymore? Go to college, get a degree in something, even if you stay healthy and play for 20 years, it is always good to have a base of general knowledge and the social experiences that college provides.
  • Kelden21, on 06/30/2009, -1/+16The opportunity cost for not doing this would be absurdly high. If he dislocates his arm after 4 years, he'll never have the chance to make that kind of money again, and going back to high school is far easier to do these days. I don't want to encourage dropping out, but in situations like this, it's foolish not to. Exactly the same situation as Lebron was in a few years back.
  • designashirt, on 06/30/2009, -1/+13Give him his Washington Nationals hat now
  • inactive, on 06/30/2009, -1/+13lets see him hit those numbers against even a minor league pitcher. doood needs a reality check.
  • nobleexperiment, on 06/30/2009, -0/+11If he's "chosen" by Scott Boras, there's really no need to worry about the kid.
  • gimmeslack12, on 06/30/2009, -0/+11Well, if he gets his GED then I don't see a big problem with this. But hitting .626 in HS is nothing compared to the Bigs. Hell, I hit .515 when I was 17.
  • Stumpie2012, on 06/30/2009, -1/+12He is going to hit the majors, have to bat with a wooden bat and face REAL pitching. He is going find that it isn't High School. S.I. can take credit for giving this kid a head much too big for his persona. The "Chosen One" LOL! You have a better chance of being an astronaut then a pro baseball player. I wish him luck, he is going to need it
  • gentlemanjack, on 06/30/2009, -0/+11All it takes is one injury in high school and he's just another high school graduate.
    Not saying its the right choice but can't blame him if he can get a huge signing bonus.
  • joshdale, on 06/30/2009, -1/+11wasnt this reported on yahoo about 2 weeks ago
  • inactive, on 06/30/2009, -3/+13yeah if ignorance was redeeming you'd be a saint right?
  • mysportsrumors, on 06/30/2009, -1/+11why do I have a feeling he's going to wind up the next Brien Taylor
  • acknotSW, on 06/30/2009, -0/+8If he gets injured, he can always finish his GED, and go to college.
  • FreddieD, on 06/30/2009, -0/+8And his Yankees or Red Sox hat six years from then once he is eligible for free agency.
  • lblitzer, on 06/30/2009, -0/+7I hear this kid hit a ball 500 some feet. Some players and scouts have watched him and said that they were quite impressed. How this will pan out for college and pros? Who knows? If the kid's got a shot at furthering his education AND making his shot at the bigs, why not take it?

    It's astounding to see the amount of negativity brought on by this site.
  • smackydoodle, on 06/30/2009, -0/+7Not that I agree with what he's doing at all, but all the people saying "Well what if he gets injured" take into account he's just as prone to injury in college, without a contract, than he is in the minors, with a contract. Unless something in his contract says "You agree to never increase your education" what's the problem?
  • Kelden21, on 06/30/2009, -0/+7True, but statistically speaking the odds are very low. Whereas the odds of him being a fairly successful ball player making even at league minimum, far more than he ever could. It's a gamble, but the cost is relatively low and salary of hype is huge, even if he doesn't pan out long term.
  • delusionz, on 06/30/2009, -0/+6I like how places compare high school diploma's to GED's that always pissed me off, like why did I waste my time getting a diploma then....
  • KittySpark1es, on 06/30/2009, -0/+6I hit .450 in men's slowpitch softball! What now??
  • Kbriggs, on 06/30/2009, -1/+7high school and professional ball is an even larger jump so lets hope this kid is really ready.
  • xtc46, on 06/30/2009, -0/+5If he takes his equivalency, what does it matter?

    He will have the same paper as a high school graduate, and he will have it 2 years sooner...
  • BassMastr, on 06/30/2009, -2/+7He's going to make more money than you and I in our entire lives in the next three years. He's still going to school it's just a JRCO and he's going to get his GED. Why exactly shouldn't this be legal? Kids drop out for dumber reasons all the time at least we won't have to support this guys and his kids for the rest of his life like half the losers who drop out.
  • dafragsta, on 06/30/2009, -1/+6You don't spend all your initial contract money and you live off the guaranteed money.
  • The_Mule, on 06/30/2009, -1/+6You tell 'em! School is for dummies!
  • TexasShiv, on 06/30/2009, -1/+6...no, it's really not.
  • xtc46, on 06/30/2009, -0/+5I agree. It would be stupid if he had no intention of completing his education, but he is taking his High School equivalancy exam (in my state you actually get the same diploma for this) and then going to college.

    Had my school allowed me to do so, I would have left at the end of my junior year as I only needed 2 more courses and could have done those durring summer school, but the school wouldnt allow me to grad early and just skipping the whole next year would have disqualified me from a grad ceremony and screwed my GPA.

    And he is leaving for a good job (assuming he gets a contract) I wanted to leave becasue it was boring.
  • smackydoodle, on 06/30/2009, -0/+5Yeah, because him making a bagillion dollars wouldn't score him any piece of ass he wanted..... only being broke and living in your parents' house will you get any tail...
  • jba68, on 06/30/2009, -3/+8This kids dad is failing him
  • smackydoodle, on 06/30/2009, -2/+6"A high school dropout worth millions really isn't a high school drop out now is it."

    Yes. That is exactly what it is.
  • MWeather, on 06/30/2009, -0/+4I prefer education to schooling.
  • xtc46, on 06/30/2009, -0/+4making millions at 17 makes it ok to have that high school cheerleader orgy since they are all the same age...his plan seems sound.
  • howdareyou, on 06/30/2009, -1/+5Education is nice, but it isn't all that necessary if you have a mutli-million dollar contract with an MLB team.

    I'm sure he's more worried about injuries before he signs with a team.
  • TexasShiv, on 06/30/2009, -1/+5You're saying this guy has the same average of being an MLB player as the average person on the street(which is where I am assuming your getting your astronaut stat)? Are you kidding me?

    Don't you think that this kid, along with his father, and along with numerous other coaches he has, REALIZE that he has to switch to a wooden bat, and face tougher pitching? The kid is putting .600 something, what more do you want? Using your logic, no one would succeed when getting to the majors, and that failure is imminent.

    Stop bashing the guy, and assuming he will fail without any just cause.

    You probably had your sports dreams destroyed, didn't you, stumpie?
  • darknecross, on 06/30/2009, -0/+3I agree. Why wouldn't you want to get a free degree out of some university while having fun and being in college for four years?
  • greenrider04, on 06/30/2009, -0/+3In sports, age is everything. If he feels like he's ready to go to the next level, why not? He can always go back to get his degree after he retires. Will have plenty of time for that, whereas his time to play baseball or any other sports are very limited. By doing this, it gives him a head start on making millions when he gets to the majors.
  • macromorgan, on 06/30/2009, -0/+3I think he's the next Sidd Finch...
  • Alli3388, on 06/30/2009, -0/+3And then he has a career ending injury before he's 21 and ends up as a ditch digger who bored his co-workers about his fleeting baseball career.
  • pLuhhmm, on 06/30/2009, -1/+4People always talk about how college athletes shouldn't leave school after 1 or 2 years b/c they wont experience the life in college. But, the whole point of college is to further your education to get a better career. This kid has the chance to make millions before he even gets to the 11th grade. If he stayed in high school and the college, he has to worry about injures of every kind and a bunch of other problems. If he wants hes still very young, go to the MLB, make millions, be set for life, and then go to college and have the experience. He still can probably go to prom and everything later as well if his schedule allows and his old school allows aswell. This is the right choice bar none.
  • mwerb6, on 06/30/2009, -0/+3If he gets his GED, hes technically done HS.
  • bigbadgoat, on 06/30/2009, -1/+4I have an engineering degree. High school did jack ***** to prepare me for university. I had a 94 average throughout high school without ever opening a book or putting in any effort. I found math and science boring because the ***** was too easy. Homework was a waste of time. Why do 50 problems to learn a math concept when you know you've grasped the concept by the 2nd or 3rd problem?

    What I learned in 3 years of high school I could easily have learned in 4 months, because that was the work load and information I had thrown at me in one term of university. High school is dumb. It's made so that dumb people can pass, not so that gifted students can excel.
  • inactive, on 06/30/2009, -6/+9Kid, thats a baaad idea.

  • jba68, on 06/30/2009, -1/+4not if he isnt mentally capable...
  • ne0codex, on 06/30/2009, -0/+3http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/p ...

    At first, I thought it incredulous of him, but face it, he goes to Las Vegas High School, it's a sports-oriented school, they ARE glad as hell that he's decided to make this decision.
  • Ajajadude, on 06/30/2009, -1/+4He's only worth millions if he actually ends up making the millions. He hasn't made *****. Hell, he could slip and fall getting out of his shower tomorrow morning and he'd be nothing more than a high school drop-out who-could've-been.
  • mrdude4290, on 06/30/2009, -0/+3I hit 1.000 with Ken Griffey Jr. in "Major League Baseball Featuring Ken Griffey Jr." on the n64, beat that!
  • JoeParanoid, on 06/30/2009, -1/+4Those who know child stars or lottery winners know how quickly one can go through money and become a screwed up loser when one has little education but a whole lot of sycophants.
  • cyoder, on 06/30/2009, -0/+2Look at the date on the article. This is from over two weeks ago.
  • CaffieneMan, on 06/30/2009, -0/+2big mistake kid, you should reconsider, although it wouldn't surprise me to hear that his dad is pushing him to do it
  • bigpappapunk, on 06/30/2009, -0/+2considering what advantages HS has to offer VS. obtaining GED, ensuring no injuries occur during his last 2yrs in school and the money he'll receive for going pro.......it's a pretty baaaad ASS idea.
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