Outfielder brings big bat and winning attitude

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This article was published 05/05/2019 (2658 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

James Harris is new to Winnipeg and playing baseball in the cold, but the California native is no stranger to playing with big expectations.

After all, he was chosen in the first round (60th overall) by the Tampa Bay Rays in the 2011 Major League Baseball draft. And he is coming off of his best season as a pro, being named most valuable player of the Frontier League after a stellar season with the Washington Wild Things.

So yeah, it’s safe to say the Winnipeg Goldeyes are expecting the 25-year-old outfielder to be a big contributor this campaign.

“It’s a new year. What’s done is done,” Harris told the Free Press after Sunday afternoon’s training session at Shaw Park. “I can’t try and live on last year’s numbers and last year’s performances. I’m focused on whatever I have to do this year for this team and for this organization to win. It’s a new challenge. The goal is to get better every year.”

There are 27 players in Goldeyes camp this week, with Harris being one of 18 new faces. Winnipeg traded infielder Jordan Ebert to Washington for Harris, who’s entering his ninth season of pro ball, in October.

Last year, which was his first full season of independent baseball, Harris hit .305 with 16 home runs and 64 RBI in 94 games. After the season, Harris told Washington he was looking for a new challenge, and once the word got out he was on the market, the Goldeyes were the first team to reach out.

“I had a talk with the GM over there and I was looking for a new opportunity,” Harris said. “I felt like in that league, I showed well and wanted a change of scenery where it might be a bit better competition-wise. The opportunity presented itself and I think everybody was happy in the end.”

Harris was 17 when Tampa Bay drafted him in the first round. He opted to skip school and sign a professional contract. After three years in their organization, where he never made it higher than the single-A level, Harris was let go.

“Going into pro ball, I did (put more) pressure on myself than I think I should have. I think that came with the maturity for myself as a man and also a player to not try and be more than who I am,” said Harris, who came out of Oakland Technical High School, the alma matter of Rickey Henderson, MLB’s all-time career stolen base leader.

“As I’ve gotten older, I’ve started to realize that, you know, that all it’s really about is being me and allowing the game to come to me.”

Harris was given a second chance in affiliated ball, as his hometown Oakland Athletics picked him up shortly thereafter.

“I grew up playing Little League right down the street from the stadium,” Harris said. “You could literally hear the cheers and the announcing of players and stuff during the game. It was literally that close. It was a dope opportunity for me and my family.”

He spent just more than two seasons in Oakland’s farm system, reaching their triple-A level in 2015 to play a couple games. But Harris still found himself predominantly playing at the single-A level. In 2016, his last full season in the system, Harris hit .303 with seven home runs and 53 RBI in 119 games for Oakland’s single-A affiliate — the Stockton Ports. He was released after a slow start to the 2017 campaign where he was hitting .244 after 21 games.

Harris didn’t get to fulfil his dream of playing for his childhood favourite team, but he believes he’s learned a lot from the experience and now he’s playing the best baseball of his career.

“I think when I was younger, I just had to mature. I think my last few years with Oakland, I feel like I was starting to grow into my own and it’s all starting to show now,” Harris said.

“But I think that was coming along when I was affiliated. I just trust my abilities. I continue to work and get better. Obviously, being in indie ball, the goal is to get back out, so the desire and the grind doesn’t stop once you’re out of it.”

What would Harris like to accomplish in his first season with the Goldeyes?

“Obviously the ultimate goal is to be able to perform at a level to be able to earn that opportunity with an affiliated team. But big picture, over a long season, we want to win a championship,” Harris said.

“I like to win and I’m sure this organization does, too. I’ve seen that this is a winning pedigree. Winning two championships in the last three years, that’s hard to do. I’m hoping to help bring the organization back to that.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31