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JOHN C. COTEYOutfielder who gave up pitching is likely a top-six pick in the MLB draft.
At first glance, it seems almost crazy.
To take a kid who won 10 games for one of the best baseball teams in the country, a kid who threw 93 mph before he beefed up over the summer, a kid whose father watched him beat Venezuela in the Senior Little League World Series in 100 degree heat and knew he was going to be a major-leaguer after he strolled off the mound his index finger raised to the heavens ... to take that kid and insist he give up pitching?
At second glance, it makes perfect sense.
While Dunedin's Ryan Harvey is all that on the mound, he is much more off it. He is a five-tool phenom who scouts say is a prototypical, cannon-armed, power-hitting rightfielder with wheels.
So why buy a Ferrari if you're just going to drive it in a school zone.
"The scouts all told us when he was a junior, no one would draft him as a pitcher and take the bat out of his hands," said Bill Harvey, his father.
In one head-spinning year, Harvey went from being drafted in the early rounds to wondering if he'd ever play again to being, potentially, the top overall choice Tuesday.
Give up pitching?
What a great idea.
"We had one scout tell my dad upfront, "I'm coming to see your kid and if he walks out on mound, I'm walking away,"' Harvey said.
Now the only scouts walking away are those whose teams do not have one of the first six draft picks.
Barring some Day 1 weirdness, Harvey will become the highest drafted player in Pinellas County history. In 1986, former Dunedin catcher Scott Hemond went No. 12 to St. Louis after a college career at USF. In 2001, Seminole first baseman Casey Kotchman went No. 13 to Anaheim.
But neither had the meteoric rise that Harvey did. Tom Hilbert remembers in November going to a showcase at USF to watch Harvey play with some of his assistants. They made the game, but missed all the fun.
"We got there after batting practice," Hilbert said, "and all everyone was talking about was how he had just hit 15 out of 20 pitches over the fence."
Two days later, Harvey collided with another outfielder chasing a ball and tore his ACL. He worried that he would never play again.
Then an amazing thing happened - Harvey may have become the first athlete to have his stock rise after a torn ACL.
Maybe the scouts remembered that USF batting practice. Perhaps they could predict that during rehab, exclusively working his upper body, he would grow from 195 pounds to 220. Quite possibly, his work ethic assuaged any fears about the effects of the injury.
"It was kind of weird," Harvey said, "because I went over to that showcase over at USF where I injured my knee, and I think I was sixth. Two days after hurting my knee I was third."
Harvey can't remember the exact date, but his dad walked into his room one night and tossed something on his lap. It was a newspaper article printed off the Internet, and it said that Ryan Harvey might be the top pick in Tuesday's draft.
"How does it feel to be No. 1," Bill Harvey said.
Though he has worked out for the Devil Rays, and impressed them with his power, Bill Harvey doesn't think his son will be their choice. According to newspaper and Internet reports, the Rays are deciding between high schooler Delmon Young and Southern second baseman Rickie Weeks.
That's fine with Bill, who wouldn't mind his son not bearing the burden of being the top choice.
In the past few weeks alone, Ryan has worked out for Cincinnati, Boston, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Kansas City and the Rays, while others have canceled workouts knowing Harvey will be gone.
All the workouts were in Florida, with his lone trip to Kansas City for a workout May 27.
The Royals, perhaps most likely to select Harvey at No. 5, were impressed. Scouting director Deric Ladnier told the Kansas City Star Harvey has "huge power." GM Allard Baird said he had "the best big-time power" of any first-rounder.
It cut his high school season in half, but Harvey's knee injury was, oddly enough, the best thing to happen to him. He showed no ill effects upon his return, hitting four homers in 41 at-bats for Dunedin his senior season, and the injury completely buried any thoughts of him pitching for the Falcons.
As for that once promising pitching career? In his rearview mirror.
"I pitched every week for my whole life, but once I took a break, I realized I didn't miss it too much," Harvey said. "I'm an outfielder now."
Makes perfect sense.