13-year-old baseball player is 6-foot-8!

Aaron Durley towers over the competition at the Little League World Series. The 13-year-old first baseman for Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, stands an imposing 6-foot-8 and weighs 256 pounds.
"I was standing next to him and I was up to his elbows," Scott Kingery, a 12-year-old, 4-foot-9 Phoenix shortstop, said after meeting Durley.

At the secluded dorms where teams stay during the tournament, Durley has become as much of an attraction as the pool, the pingpong table and the video arcade. The soft-spoken Durley doesn't mind the attention. He even lets opponents snap pictures with him during down time.

But Durley, who played at the series last year, too — when he was a mere 6-foot-4 — is crystal-clear about his top priority in South Williamsport.

"I'm more confident this year, ready to do what I need to do," Durley said after a practice. "Hit the ball out." Fittingly, his favorite major leaguer is David "Big Papi" Ortiz, the Boston Red Sox slugger.

Durley scored a run in his 2006 series debut last week. His next shot to belt a homer came Sunday, when his Arabian American squad from Dhahran was scheduled to face Saipan.

He's still growing, too: Durley only shared the tallest-player designation last year. Series sponsors who shower players with free equipment didn't have new spikes readily available for Durley, who wears size 19 shoes. Article here.