Williams Field pitcher Kenan Harvey wants to inspire Black athletes to play baseball
Gilbert Williams Field senior pitcher/outfielder Kenan Harvey wants to lead a movement. He is hopeful more Black athletes pick up a bat and glove and give baseball a shot.
The Alabama State signee, who is 6-foot-5, 220 pounds, has been a role model on the field, hitting .417 with 12 RBI and posting a 2-0 record without giving up an earned run in 16 2/3 innings for the 8-3-1 Black Hawks.
"We're encouraging more to come out," Harvey said. "We need more and more people to come out. I'm telling everybody to try out for baseball."
Harvey, who will also play first base, besides outfield, when he's not pitching, has been playing baseball since he was old enough to walk and throw a ball.
He was the catalyst of last year's 17-12 team, hitting .411 with a team-best 32 hits and 22 RBI. He only pitched seven innings last season when he had a 7.00 ERA.
This year, he's turned himself into one of the best two-way baseball players in the state, developing a nasty cutter to get batters out.
In an outing in early March against Scottsdale Desert Mountain, an 8-0 win, Harvey worked six innings, giving up three hits and striking out 16 of the 21 batters he faced. In his first start, he struck out 10 of the 18 batters he faced in 4 1/3 innings in a 13-2 win over Apache Junction.
"I threw hard growing up," said Harvey, who said he's got his fastball up to the mid-to-upper 80 mph range. "Just this year I learned how to throw strikes and I'm pitching pretty good.
"This year, I had to step up. My team needed some arms. I said, 'I'll pitch.' "
Williams Field coach Randall Clifford said that Harvey's understanding of the game and work ethic have helped him make big gains over the last two years on the field.
"Right now he's throwing a cutter that hitters can't figure out what to do with it," Clifford said. "He's been able to get ahead of hitters and get them out with it. He's producing a lot of swing-and-misses."
Clifford bats Kenan either third or cleanup in the order. Not only does he hit for average but for power. He has four doubles and eight home runs in the 11 games he has played this season.
Clifford said that Kenan has been a role model for other Black athletes.
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In a Newsweek story last May, citing a report from The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida, Major League Baseball last season had the lowest percentage of Black players in any year since the early 1990s, when Black players comprised about 18% of MLB rosters. Black players to start the 2022 MLB season were at 7.2%, according to the report. That came on the 75th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball.
Clifford sees Harvey as a role model for young Black athletes considering picking up the sport.
"Baseball needs everyone," Clifford said. "It's gotten kind of exclusive a little bit with it being kind of a country club sport. There needs to be inclusivity."
Aaron Harvey, Kenan's dad, an amateur boxer in his youth from Michigan, is proud of his son's decision to play college baseball at a Historically Black College and University.
"A great opportunity for some culture and a great opportunity to go play," Aaron Harvey said. "He has some other looks. But he decided to go to Alabama State.
"He wants to inspire and influence. He loves the game. That's one of the most important pieces for him."
To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert atrichard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on Twitter@azc_obert
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Williams Field's Harvey wants to lead surge of Black baseball players
