Bay Area News Group baseball player of the year: De La Salle’s Connor ‘Bear’ Harrison
Younger brother of Giants prospect Kyle Harrison carves his own path while helping DLS win NCS, NorCal titles.
CONCORD – Connor Harrison’s nickname is Bear, and in many ways, he had a ferocious impact on De La Salle’s baseball team.
But Harrison’s presence this spring was also about calmness, in the middle of the lineup and behind the plate as the Spartans’ new catcher.
“We faced a lot of major D-I guys and Connor was never overmatched,” coach David Jeans said. “He kind of led the way with getting us to believe that we could beat really, really good pitchers.
“And then what he did behind the plate. Our pitchers were really comfortable with throwing breaking balls in the dirt. He interacted with umpires really well. He was just confident going into battle.”
Harrison, the younger brother of top Giants prospect and former De La Salle star pitcher Kyle Harrison, drove in a team-leading 36 runs. He had 40 hits in 99 at-bats, finishing with a .404 average.
He won player of the year honors in the East Bay Athletic League and helped the Concord powerhouse win its sixth consecutive North Coast Section Division I title.
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The Spartans capped the season with a second straight Northern California Division I crown, a three-game tournament in which the 6-foot-2, 205-pound Harrison went 5 for 12 with five RBIs, a home run and a double.
For all of this, he is the Bay Area News Group’s player of the year.
It was a special season for Harrison and his teammates, but let’s start with the nickname.
Where’d it come from?
It goes back, he said, to when he’d go to his brother’s games years ago.
“I would be a dirty little kid,” Harrison said. “I’d always be like climbing trees, throwing balls against fences. My parents, my friends around me and my parents’ friends were like, ‘This kid’s a bear. He acts like a bear. He’s a wild man.’ I was like six or five. It kind of stuck. I don’t mind. I think it’s a pretty cool name.”
Bear made quite a climb this spring after batting .275 with 25 hits and 21 RBIs as a junior.
“He did well last year,” Jeans said. “But a lot of people attacked him with breaking balls and he had a tough time. He just decided in the off-season that he was going to be able to hit those. He just thrived on improving. That’s the big thing for him, the road to improvement. He works every day.”
Harrison has excelled without being overwhelmed by the long shadows of his brother, who graduated from De La Salle in 2020.
“They’ve done completely different things,” Jeans said. “I don’t think he feels the pressure at all. In fact, he gets a lot of help from his older brother. I know they talk a lot about baseball. He respects him for what he is doing, but Kyle also respects Connor. I know they have a lot of conversations. He’s used him as a resource more than being in awe of him or trying to live up to him.”
Harrison couldn’t agree more.
He said of his relationship with his older brother, “We just love each other. He helps me out, I’ll help him out with whatever it takes. He just wants the best for me, and I just want the best for him. Even though we’re not living together right now, we’ll call each other and ask for tips. At the beginning of the season, I was struggling a little bit. I told him, ‘What the hell do I do?’ He helps me with the mental side of the game, too, even though we’re in different positions.
“In the off-season, I worked out with him a bit. He taught me how to be a pro, being really serious about everything.”
Harrison said that while he has some interest from four-year colleges, he is leaning toward playing at a community college next season with hopes that better opportunities emerge from it.
“I’m not sure yet,” he said. “It’s not confirmed. But I might keep betting on myself and just play baseball anywhere I can. I want live at-bats. I don’t really want to sit and wait around.”
Added Jeans, “That’s the good thing about him. He doesn’t just jump at any offer because it looks good or that’s what the world wants. He does things for the right reasons, to help him develop.”
Harrison’s final at-bat for De La Salle was probably the best strikeout he’ll ever have.
With the Spartans down to their final out in the regional championship game at Valley Christian, Hank Tripaldi, playing in honor of his late mother, followed with a two-out grand slam to send De La Salle to an 11-8 victory.
“I was in the dugout, two outs, and I was like, ‘Please pick me up, Hank,’” Harrison said. “And all of a sudden, he hit the bomb over left field. It was probably the craziest thing I’ve ever seen. I’m not going to lie.
“Couldn’t have happened to a better kid. The way he holds himself after what he’s gone through this spring, it’s hard to imagine putting myself in his shoes. He’s just a great kid. He deserves everything.”