It?s a safe bet no high school athlete in the history of Columbus has made more front-page headlines than Columbus High?s Kyle Carter.
?He has been kind of like a rock star in Columbus since he was 12,? says his high school baseball coach, Bobby Howard.
That?s when Carter was the centerpiece of a team that won the Little League World Series. Before he was 14 he had already played more than a half dozen games on ESPN.
Last week, Carter was at it again. He won a home run derby at Chase Field, the Phoenix home of the Arizona Dimondbacks. The high school senior hit 14 home runs out of a big-league park. In the finals, he hit seven. The other four finalists -- all prep All-Americans in their own right -- hit a total of four. One of his homers was 487 feet.
That is impressive, even if you don?t follow baseball.
Last summer, Carter was the Most Valuable Player for East Cobb Baseball, one of the nation?s premier youth leagues that has produced major leaguers like Jason Heyward, Brian McCann and many others.
In East Cobb?s biggest tournament, Carter was the MVP.
As a high school freshman, Carter hit three home runs in his first state championship series game.
Turn the lights on, and he turns it on.
?He?s been on a lot of big stages, and he is not afraid of the moment,? Howard says. ?He is just a different animal when the bat is in his hands.?
And he doesn?t turn 18 until Thursday.
Carter?s father Richard saw the ability and desire to perform at early age.
When he was about 5, little Kyle would spend hours swinging at pitches from a machine that would toss pitch after pitch.
?He burned out two motors,? Richard remembers.
By the time Kyle was 8, he was setting the machine on 10 -- the highest speed it would go -- and pounding the ball.
Howard has coached a lot of players, including future Baseball Hall of Fame player Frank Thomas, and is careful when he compares players.
?I don?t like to do it,? the coach says. ?But Frank was never exposed at this age in the way that Kyle has been. ... Kyle has this knack when he crosses the line, the game of baseball just comes easy for him.?
The exposure is only going to intensify this year in that fish bowl Carter has lived in since he was a little kid.
Carter has signed to play at Georgia but will likely be a high pick in the pro draft in June. If that happens, Carter and his parents have a decision to make.
It is no secret that some big league scouts love Carter, and others question if his 6-foot, 193-pound frame is big enough.
Richard tells this story from East Cobb this summer. Two scouts were talking and didn?t know Kyle?s dad was near them.
?One was telling the other he didn?t think Kyle was big enough,? Richard remembers.
Then, Carter hit a bomb off a house past the outfield wall.
It didn?t take the second scout long to dryly respond, Richard says.
?He looked at the other scout and said, ?Imagine how far it would have gone if he was two inches taller.??
Source: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2012/01/03/1878379/baseball-comes-easy-to-carter.html
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