From Stuff.co.nz
Editor’s note: For those of us metrically challenged, I ran the conversions. 1.94m and 113kg translates to 6’4″ and 249 pounds. Big boy. Pitchers beware. (Click link to original story for photo of Fraser)
RISING STAR: Newlands College softball star Fraser McLaren leaves New Zealand on Saturday for the junior world championships in Canada.
Fraser McLaren makes an imposing sight in the batter’s box.
The Newlands College student, who will take part in the junior world championships in Canada next month, is built to hit a long ball – at 1.94m and more than 110kg.
His profile on the Softball New Zealand website lists him at 110kg but he has put on weight while training for the world championships.
“We were weighed the other day and I was 113kg,” McLaren said. “I’m hoping that is good weight – in the form of muscle. But my fitness has definitely improved.”
Softball is the sport of choice for the McLaren family but Fraser has rarely been an age-group star and his elevation to the Junior Black Sox this year represents a significant step up.
The year-13 student did not make the Wellington side at under-17 level and played for Whanganui at the national tournament instead.
He has since played two national tournaments for the Wellington under-19 side but his prospects of getting to the world championships looked slim when he missed the initial training camps.
“I snuck through from the back. When I missed the training camps, I didn’t give much thought to making the team.
“But before the under-19 tournament [in Hamilton in January] we were told that everybody would be watched and I realised that I still had a shot.”
McLaren had “quite a successful tournament” at Hamilton and found himself in the world championships team. Click here to read the complete story at Stuff.co.nz