Benton and Bryant have seen some native sons make dramatic rises to the Major League level — Benton's Cliff Lee winning a Cy Young Award and starring most recently for the Philadelphia Phllies, while Bryant's Travis Wood has also found a home in the bigs. It's been a while, however, since Little Rock's youth baseball leagues groomed a player that reached the big time. That time was finally realized last week when Drew Smyly, the former Arkansas Razorback who starred at Little Rock Central High School and before that came though the Little Rock Junior Deputy baseball program, was anointed as the fifth starter on the Detroit Tigers' pitching staff.
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