你所不知道的Bryce Harper(下) - 美國職棒

I also love the way he plays, running hard up the line on routine groundouts.
Looking for entitlement? You won't find it in his body language. What you
will find is ridiculous talent. In the three games I saw, Harper played twice
and had the two hardest-hit balls of the series -- laser singles, like he's
swinging an aluminum bat -- and added two outfield assists. One was a rising
fastball he threw from medium left to the plate, the ball getting there
without a bounce, the runner out by three steps. The other was a one-hopper
from the corner in left, where Harper tracked down what looked like a routine
double, played it off the wall and rifled a throw to second for the out. Both
throws had me stifling a scream.

我也愛Harper打球的方式，他對例行的練球從不偷懶。是為了博得好名聲?不，你從他身
上肯定找不到，你唯一會找的的是他那不可思議的天分。在我看的三場比賽裡，Harper打
了兩場且擊出了兩顆最強勁的平飛一壘安打--好像他打的是鋁棒!此外，他還演出了兩次
外野助殺，一次是在中左外野，超快的傳球直奔捕手而去，一個彈跳也沒有，跑者離本壘
還有三步之遙呢!另一次是在左外野的角落，Harper追著一個看似理所當然直擊全壘打牆
的二壘安打，撿起球，傳向二壘，出局!!這兩次精彩的傳球，看得我目瞪口呆。


That, too, Beasley had predicted before the series began.

同樣的，Beasley在賽前早就知道了。


"You're here for all three games? He'll do some things that will make your
eyes pop out of your head," Beasley had told me. "It's no secret -- he's
physically gifted, and he knows that. If he didn't think he was really good,
he wouldn't be here at 18. He'd be in the Gulf Coast League or something. But
he's a special talent, and we have to recognize that."

"你三場球都會來看嗎?他絕對會做出一些讓你下巴掉下來的事情。" Beasley這樣告訴我。
"這不是秘密，他絕對是塊打棒球的料，他也知道他是。如果Harper不知道他那麼優，他
不會18歲就在這裡，而會是在Gulf Coast League(菜鳥聯盟)或其他地方。他是個天才球
員，我們必須認清這個事實。"


And here is where Beasley is about to finish that quote I teased you with
earlier. I asked this baseball lifer if he'd ever seen anyone like Harper,
who skipped his final two years of high school to play in a wooden-bat junior
college league at age 17 -- and hit 31 home runs with 98 RBI in 66 games. In
a postseason game with an aluminum bat, Harper went 6 for 6 with a double,
triple and four home runs.

這些大概就是Beasley說的話。我問他，你有看過哪個可以跟Harper相比的球員嗎?17歲就
跳過高中後兩年，直接跳級打大學木棒聯盟--在66場比賽中打出31轟，98分打點，還在一
場用鋁棒的季後賽裡六打數六安打，包括一支二安、一支三安，還有四轟!


"Seen anyone like Bryce? Not to his degree, his age," Beasley said. "No, I've
never seen anyone like him. People always use the phrase, 'The sky's the
limit.' But with him, the sky really is the limit."

"有誰可以跟Harper一樣嗎?不是指他的程度，而是以他的年齡來說，" Beasley說道。
"沒有，我沒有看過誰可以和他一樣，俗話說，'人有無限可能'，指的大概就是他吧。"


So I'm looking at Beasley and I ask him, "What does that mean? How good is
Harper going to be?"

我望向Beasley問說，"那是什麼意思?Harper到底可以有多好?"


Beasley looked at me for a second, probably pondering whether he should say
what he was thinking. Screw it, he must have thought, I'm going to say it.

Beasley看了我一會兒，大概是在思考該怎麼說出他的想法。"不管了，我要說了，"
Beasley肯定是這樣想的。


"One of these days," Beasley said, "it wouldn't surprise me if he hits 50
home runs and steals 50 bases."

"如果有一天，" Beasley這麼說，"就算Bryce Harper打出50-50我一點也不會驚訝!"


In the big leagues? In the same season?

在大聯盟!?同一個球季裡!?


"Absolutely," Beasley said. "Something like that. It wouldn't surprise me if
he gets up there and just puts up gigantic numbers, numbers that make you go,
'Wow, how did he do that?' "

"對!" Beasley說，"就差不多是那樣。等他升上大聯盟，打出超猛的數據，那些會讓你
覺得，'WOW，他是怎麼做到的?'的數據時，我一點也不會訝異。"


Meantime, there's the other stuff. The attitude, the ego. The kiss to the
pitcher. The kid's a jerk -- that's what people say, but in three days that's
not what I saw. What I saw was Harper catching a routine fly ball for the
final out of an inning, tossing it to a kid in the crowd, then running to the
dugout.

此外，還有些別的東西。態度、自我意識。對投手送出飛吻。這孩子是個混蛋--大家是
這麼說，但可不是我這三天所看到的。我看到的是，只要Harper接到每局的最後一個出
局飛球，都會把球丟向觀眾裡的小朋友，然後跑回休息區。


The kid dropped the ball, and it rolled back onto the field. Harper was long
gone, but somehow he knew what happened. Maybe he heard a few people in the
crowd groan, I don't know. But he stopped running, turned, went back to the
ball and tossed it again to the kid, who held on this time. Nobody cheered
Harper for that -- but he was booed by that one guy in the next half-inning.

有個小朋友掉了球，滾回到球場裡。Harper早就跑走了，但他知道發生了這事。或許他
聽到有些觀眾在呼喊，我不曉得。於是他轉身回去，把那顆球再次丟向那位小朋友，這
次他接到了!沒有人因為這件小事替Harper歡呼--而他在下半局又被那個老傢伙噓了。


After the game, after he gunned down the potential tying run at the plate in
the eighth but still hadn't done enough to meet his meet-the-media standard,
Harper was eating licorice in huge chunks at his locker. He was packing his
stuff into a hot pink backpack, including a small computer of some sort,
probably the one he uses to get on Twitter. Harper sent Akron native LeBron
James two tweets before the series, got no response, then sent a third one
assuring James he loved him anyway.

賽後，雖然他在第八局的時候，長傳本壘，殺掉了可能的追平分，但這或許還不到他那
可以和媒體聊聊的標準，Harper在他的置物櫃前大口的吃著licorice(這啥!?)。然後把
他的東西收進一個大粉紅背包，包括一個類似小筆電的東西，就是那個用來上Tweeter的
東西。Harper在系列賽前傳了2封tweet給是Akron人的LeBron James，但沒有得到回應，
於是他傳了第三封，好讓James確信他是喜愛他的。


"Best of all time!" Harper tweeted James. "Always will be on your side no
matter what! #muchrespect"

"最好的!" Harper傳了個tweet給James說道。 "不管怎樣一定支持你!"


He's such a kid, Bryce Harper. He's 18 going on superstardom, but try to
remember something. Superstardom is tomorrow.

Bryce Harper，就是個這樣的孩子。18歲，在成為超級明星的路上，試著要記得些什麼。
美好的將來正等著你。


Today he's 18.

今天，他只有18歲。




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