It is so easy to find Chris Nelson on the baseball field. He is the one smiling all the time- whether he is at shortstop or on the mound. Why? Because he is happy playing the game he loves. 
For the past six months, baseball has been taken away from him in the form of Tommy John surgery. Miraculously, his recovery and rehabilitation is going so well that Nelson hopes to be the designated hitter this season at Redan High School in his hometown of Stone Mountain, Georgia.

In a year of disappoints (losing the state title) and jubilation (winning the Connie Mack World Series), Nelson faced his biggest emotional test on August 5, 2003 - a date the star athlete will never forget.

It was just another baseball game in the Connie Mack World Series in Farmington, New Mexico, this past summer. Nelson's team the undefeated East Cobb Yankees were facing off against the Midland Redskins.

Late in the game, Nelson started to warm up in the bullpen. The fans noticed immediately. "I was warming up in the bullpen and the fans had heard the mitt popping," Nelson said. "Coach didn't put me in then and put me back at shortstop. The fans were hollering 'Put in No. 11'. I was feeling good."

Finally, East Cobb Yankees coach James Beavers brought Nelson in with the based loaded and no one out. The coach had used his hard throwing right-hander sparingly most of the summer because he had thrown an inordinate amount of innings for his high school team.

The excitement started when Nelson took the mound. The scoreboard at the World Series posts the miles per hour of each pitch. Low and behold the number 100 came up on the board after one Nelson pitch.

"They flash the speed on the scoreboard and coach didn't want me to look, but I peaked up there and saw 97, 98, 100," Nelson recalled. "It was real exciting. When it happened to me it was like a dream come true."

Beavers said he was shocked when he looked up at the scoreboard and saw 100 mph. "I've has some great pitchers over the years who sat on 95," Beavers said. "Until you stand up there and watch the difference between 95 and 98 you don't realize it is a major difference. 

"You could tell no one had a chance. There was something going on that night that was special. I had never seen one of my players throw like that. On every hitter the ball was in the mitt and the batters were starting to swing. They had no chance. There wasn't even a foul ball."

Beavers said the tougher the situation the better Nelson plays.

"He was 97 on the stalker at the World Series," Beavers said. "He never threw that before, but came in with the bases loaded and no one out and took his game to a new level. About 10 pitches later we're sitting back in the dugout."

The sorrow came just a few pitches later during the next inning. On his 21st pitch of the game something popped in Nelson's arm. He came off the mound in a state of shock. "I was just praying to God I was OK," Nelson said. "I was putting it in his hands because I didn't know what was going on with my body at the time."

Beavers had Nelson checked out by several orthopedic doctors in Farmington and Atlanta "They eventually found a small tear in there," Beavers related. "Once we got him to see (famous Tommy John surgeon) Dr. Andrews he operated on him in December. 

"Chris is doing so well its scary. He is on the second week of his throwing program and has started to swing the bat. It's one of those things that make you sick to your stomach. You never doubted he would work and come back better that he was before."

It might be sadder to know that the event might not have happened if Nelson was not used as much during the 2003 high school season.

"I threw way too much last year," Nelson said. "I was pitching at least two to three times a week seven innings at a hundred plus pitches. I was way overworked."

When asked why he didn't tell the coach to stop pitching him so much, the good-hearted young man said he expected the coach to be looking out for him.

"Once you get out there on the field, especially me, I get caught up in the moment," Nelson said. "I'm supposed to pitch my heart out. The coach is supposed to know when I pitched and make the decision on whether to put someone else in. When I get out there I just play."

Redan Coach Marvin Pruitt did not return telephone calls or an email to comment on Nelson.

"The coach was wrong for me to pitch that much," Nelson said. "We had other people who could get the job done."

  
Beavers also works with the East Cobb pitchers. Last season he had nine pitchers throwing at least 90 mph. He is not entirely surprised with the rash of Tommy John surgeries amongst high school and college players.

"Anytime anyone goes on the mound there is that risk nowadays," Beaver said. "Kids are bigger and stronger and throw harder. The best-trained pitchers in the big leagues have Tommy John's every year.

"We're an 18 year old team. It goes to show you how much stronger every one is. Maybe a 17-year-old arm is not ready for that. 

The coach expects Nelson to be back to 100 percent after the rehabilitation is complete. "One of the greatest pitchers I've even had is Kris Benson and he had Tommy John and he has no effort on the mound," Beavers said. While Nelson is upset with Pruitt, he has still found a way to make his surgery a positive aspect of his life.

"Emotionally it was tough at the beginning because I didn't have any idea of the surgery," Nelson said. "After I researched it and found out the success rate is very high and people come back the same or stronger I felt better. I have been working very hard."

The irony is that before the surgery scouts were trying to decide whether Nelson was a better shortstop or pitcher. Now most scouts are looking to draft him as a shortstop if he regains the arm strength that made him one of the most feared defensive infielders in the country.

The last two shortstops that played for East Cobb were Georgia Tech's Tyler Greene and Florida State's Stephen Drew. Beavers said that Nelson has the potential to be as good as the former east Cobb Yankees' players - if not better.

"Stephen Drew is the consummate player. He can do so many things offensively, defensively and on the bench," Beavers said. "Tyler Greene is the prototypical shortstop of the next generation. He has size and speed and a good arm."

"Chris at this point in not that physical as them at this point. Chris can do some things athletically and to me is not as baseball trained as the other two. There is a huge upside to Chris in the future. We forget he is 17 years old."

Nelson knows how to lead his team defensively as well as on the mound. During the Connie Mack Southeastern Regional in Memphis, his team was facing elimination from the Central Florida Renegades - down one run in the late innings. With two outs and a Renegades runner on third base the batter hit a ball past the third baseman for what looked like an RBI single. Nelson caught up to the ball deep in the hole and made a spectacular stop and throw from the outfield grass to get the runner. His double in the bottom of the seventh inning keyed East Cobb's comeback win.

"When you make a play like that you feel good," Nelson recalled. "Making that throw was the best part for me. Looking across the diamond and seeing that you get the man by one step is a good feeling."

Beavers said the sky is the limit for Nelson at shortstop.

"Chris brings tremendous athleticism and talent to a position that there are not many guys out there," Beavers said. "I'm very biased, but three of the top non-professional shortstops I've had in the country. 

"Nelson is the best high school shortstop candidate. That position is one that he can play. One he starts playing it day in and day out the sky is the limit for him. He has a Shaun Dunston arm and has great feet and can throw across the diamond."

Nelson was TeamOneBaseball's 95th-ranked high school player. "He would have been an easy top-five choice before the injury," said Team One Editor Jeff Spelman. "It's hard to say how teams view him for the 2004 Draft. That's why he dropped down. It definitely wasn't talent-related. If things go right, Chris could vault right back up and be a first-rounder."

In the meantime, Nelson signed a national letter of intent to play shortstop and pitch for the University of Georgia. He will be one of the Bulldogs closers next season.

"Chris is a special breed with a great attitude about this thing," Beavers said. "He has worked hard. The big smile that is always on his face is still on his face. He is even more determined than before."

Consider that a warning to Georgia's Southeastern Conference opponents.