Stacey King
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Travis Harrison transitions to left field for Miracle
Travis Harrison has been playing baseball not quite every day since he was 4 years old.
"I love baseball," Harrison said. "I've never stopped playing. I would play baseball every day of my life if I could."
Harrison, 21 and the starting left fielder for the Fort Myers Miracle, has put his love for the game to good use.
In 71 games with the Miracle, Harrison is hitting .273 (69-for-253) with just one home run but a team-leading 20 doubles. He also has 33 RBI and had stolen five bases in nine attempts.
"He plays the game hard," Miracle manager Doug Mientkiewicz said. "Effort's always there.
"He's learning how to play left field. We're still trying to work him in at third base. We'd still like to see him drive the ball occasionally. He's always gives us a good at-bat, for the most part. He's a team-first guy, which is huge."
The Twins made Harrison the 50th overall pick in the 2011 draft out of Tustin (Calif.) High School. Harrison said he took some pride in being a first-round draft pick.
"That was one of best days of my life," said Harrison, who was in Arlington, Texas, just one day prior, talking to the Texas Rangers. "It was a fun day. To be honest, I didn't think I was going to the Twins. At all. It was an exciting moment, it really was. The Twins, they didn't talk to me that much. But they came to watch me play."
Harrison played outfield and third base in high school and played third for his first year of pro ball in 2012 with Elizabethton (Tenn.) and again in 2013 with low Class A Cedar Rapids (Iowa).
This season, the Twins wanted Harrison to switch to left field.
"It's a lot easier than doing it the other way around," Harrison said of the position switch. "I'm still learning. There's always things you can be learning. But I'm starting to get better out there.
"I played outfield in high school, and I played a little at third. I was terrible my first year. I was a lot better in Cedar Rapids. I feel like if they need me to play third base someday in Minnesota, I'll be able to do that. But I'm liking the outfield, and versatility can only be good for me."
This season, Harrison put together a 14-game hitting streak. Last season, he hit .253 (114-for-450) with 28 doubles, 15 homers and 59 RBI.
"The first couple of weeks, I was just getting acclimated to the league and trying to get comfortable," Harrison said of this season. "And then I started playing really well. Hopefully I can continue that for the rest of the year."
Miracle center fielder Max Kepler said Harrison brings consistency to the lineup.
"He's a great teammate," Kepler said. "He's a tremendous hustler. He always hits the ball hard and puts it in play. The pitchers are going to be expecting a battle."
Mientkiewicz said as the season has moved on, those battles increasingly have been in Harrison's favor.
"His two-strike hitting has improved probably more than anybody else on this team all year," Mientkiewicz said. "It's the biggest improvement, improvement-wise, of anybody on our team. He has definitely come a long way hitting with two strikes."
Being a high draft pick meant Harrison had to turn down his scholarship offer to USC. The Twins gave Harrison a $1 million signing bonus. With it, he brought his mother a Lexus and himself a 2012 Ford Mustang and a Fort Myers condominium.
"It was my dream ever since I realized it was attainable for me," Harrison said, not of the money, but of the first-round draft status. "Playing in high school, I had played with a lot of good players. My sophomore year, I realized it was possible. It became my dream to be a first-round pick."
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