Chadwick First Baseman Harris Is a Real Outsider : Prep baseball: He has the build of a basketball player, but indoor sports are not his game.

At 6-foot-5 and 210 pounds, Mike Harris of Chadwick School has the bulk of a power forward.

But Harris, who played first base at Chadwick, will attend Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., next year on a partial baseball scholarship.

Harris loves baseball for sentimental reasons.

“You’re outside on the grass, and the sun is shining,” he said.

He dislikes basketball, because of similar sentiments. “You’re cooped up inside, on wooden floors,” he said.

Much to the disappointment of Chadwick basketball Coach Tom Maier, who tried to persuade Harris to come out for basketball when Harris was a gangly sophomore.

Every time Maier asked, Harris simply said sorry.

“The coach tried so hard to get me to play,” Harris said. “I think he’s still mad at me.”

But even if Harris was part of the basketball coach’s frustration, he turned into the baseball coach’s dream.

“Mike is just totally in love with baseball,” Chadwick Coach Jim Drennen said. “He’d play baseball every minute of the day if you’d let him. He’d play every day, 12 months a year.”

A three-year starter, Harris beefed up in the weight room over the summer and hit .400 this season, with five home runs. He drove in 22 runs.

Harris specialized in math and science at Chadwick, a challenging academic prep school. His grades were good enough that he was accepted to engineering programs at Northwestern, USC, Dartmouth, California, Notre Dame and Cornell.

Since Chadwick is off the beaten path for most baseball scouts, Harris did a bit of self-promotion. He sent letters to college coaches around the country, made phone calls and weighed the responses.

Northwestern baseball Coach Paul Stevens showed the most interest. Stevens studied scouting reports filed on Harris by the Major League Scouting Bureau, then met the recruit when he flew to Chicago in February for a campus visit.

It was the reports of Harris’ tape-measure power that swayed Stevens.

In a Prep League game against Webb in Claremont--where the fences are deep--Harris launched a line drive that sailed over the 379-foot mark on the left-field fence, then cleared a stand of spruce and oak trees behind the wall.

“The umpire told me he hadn’t seen a ball hit quite that hard in the four years he’d been working,” Drennen said.

Harris hit another long-distance homer in a game against visiting Miraleste--a two-out, two-run shot that erased a 2-0 Miraleste lead in the bottom of the first.

During batting practice, Harris regularly put on home run derby clinics, clearing Chadwick’s fences up to 10 times a session. He has a quick, compact swing for a big man, and his strong arms generate long line drives.

“If you get it in his zone, he’s going to tag it,” Drennen said.

When he first arrived at Chadwick, Harris was a bit awkward in the field. He was a “big kid who hadn’t caught up with his body yet,” Drennen said.

But after filling out, Harris turned into a smooth fielder.

Harris was the only senior in Chadwick’s inexperienced infield. Second baseman Darren Dragg was a junior, and shortstop Chris Gordon and third baseman Mac McKinnie were both sophomores.

Harris helped them by directing bunt coverages and pick-off plays. He was also adept at scooping out wild throws--which he did twice to end innings in Chadwick’s victory over Rio Hondo Prep. The Dolphins needed to win to reach the playoffs.

“For a big guy, he’s got real soft hands,” Drennen said. “Poorly thrown balls don’t clang off his glove. He can catch anything he can get to, and at 6-5, he can get to a lot.”

Harris, from Manhattan Beach, will become the fourth Chadwick alum to play college baseball at the Division I level next year. He’ll join University of San Diego pitcher Adam Schwindt, Fordham pitcher Greg O’Riordan and Bucknell infielder Jeff Karnes.

Northwestern isn’t a traditional baseball stronghold, but Harris will get a chance to prove himself and play against Big 10 powerhouses such as Michigan and Illinois. He’ll be the seventh player from California on Northwestern’s roster.

“Coach Stevens said I was a raw talent,” Harris said. “He said I could play first or third, or pitch, just do whatever they need me to do.”

Drennen said he thinks Harris could develop into a fine college pitcher. Harris’ pitching time in high school was limited, so he needs work on his mechanics.

“If Northwestern is patient, he could help them out on the mound,” Drennen said. “He can throw really hard.”

But the right-handed hitting Harris is tailor-made for Northwestern’s ballpark, where the fences are within easy reach and the ball carries well to left field.

Also, snow on the field until early spring is not unusual, a fact that Drennen pointed out to Harris before his recruiting visit. Drennen wanted Harris to see Northwestern in February, when the weather would be at its worst and the wind would be howling off Lake Michigan.

Harris didn’t see much grass or sun, but that wasn’t a problem.”

“Most of us around here complain if it’s 60 degrees and overcast,” Drennen said. “Not Mike. He’d go to school in Fairbanks if it meant he could play baseball.”