Derek Stafford is talking about Kris Bryant. Actually, gushing is more like it.
Stafford, who coached Bryant at Bonanza High School in Las Vegas, is talking so fast and telling so many anecdotes about the Rockies’ new, $182 million left fielder that he barely has time to catch his breath.
For example, there’s the first time he met Bryant, in the summer of 2006 when the then-14-year-old started playing American Legion baseball in Vegas.
“He was already 6-foot-2 with hands like frying pans. And the kid could rake! I knew right away he was something special,” Stafford recalled, quickly adding that Bryant went on to mash 47 home runs in high school while playing at a home ballpark that was a graveyard for flyballs.