Baseball Prodigy Was Ready To Take The World By Storm Until People Learned His Secret

As the MLB draft was grinding to a halt, Danny Almonte was growing desperate. Once touted as a can't-miss prospect, the 21-year-old pitcher sat as silent as his telephone, with each round of the draft slowly slipping past. His mind raced — what could've happened? Where did he go wrong? But Danny already knew: the one impossible secret that threatened to rob him of everything had gotten out.

"Little Unit"

In those days, Danny was known by a different name: "Little Unit," a nod to imposing Hall-of-Fame pitcher Randy "Big Unit" Johnson. The nickname made sense. At 5'9", Danny was one 12-year-old that stood out from the rest of his Little League World Series qualifying teammates.

Professional prowess

On the pitcher's mound was where Danny's power as an athlete shined brightest. After all, his repertoire featured the sort of performance you only saw in the pros, including a slick slider and a 76 mph fastball — equal to, at that distance, a 102 mph major-league pitch.

Pitching phenom

The batters he faced could hardly do long division, let alone make contact with the kind of gas Danny was throwing. Pitch after pitch, strikeout after strikeout, the Dominican-born Bronx native had quickly become the next great Little League phenom, igniting whispers about his future.

The big stage

Backed by the "Baby Bombers" — nicknamed for their home field's place in the shadow of Yankee Stadium — Danny dominated the circuit en route to a Little League World Series berth, pitching a no-hitter in the 2001 Mid-Atlantic Regional finals in the process. "Almighty Almonte" appeared unstoppable — the LLWS, however, would be his biggest challenge yet.