Awkward Age

WHATEVER HE does as an adult, Danny Almonte will always be remembered for being a less wholesome version of Peter Pan , someone who prolonged his childhood as long as possible in order to chase Little League glory. In 2001 Almonte, a lanky lefthander, made international headlines when it was revealed that he was actually 14, two years older than Little League rules mandate, as he led the Rolando Paulino All-Stars, his Bronx team, to the semifinals of the Little League World Series (SI, Sept. 3, 2001). The perfect game he pitched in the Series was expunged from the record book, and Almonte faded back into obscurity as a Bronx high schooler. "All that stuff is in the past," Almonte, now 19, told the New York Post last week. "Now I play with players my own age."

In some ways Almonte is hurtling into adulthood before his time. Now a solid 180 pounds, he will graduate from James Monroe High in the Bronx next month, and he continues to be a man among boys on the baseball field. He led Monroe to a New York City public school championship as a sophomore and is 6-0 with an 0.47 ERA this season. (He spent his junior year at a school in Miami but did not play there.) Earlier this month he was chosen for the PlayStation All-American Baseball Game, a national high school all-star contest that will be played in Albuquerque on June 7, and there's a chance he'll be picked in the major league draft that same week. "He's a solid pitcher, but he's 5'10" and averages 85- to 86-mph on his fastball," says one pro scout, who sees Almonte as a potential 25th- to 40th-round pick. "That's way below the major league average."

Last week Almonte, who has a scholarship offer to play for New Mexico Junior College next year, reclaimed his place on the front pages of New York 's tabloids for reasons having nothing to do with baseball: The papers broke the news that he is married to a 30-year-old woman, Bronx hairstylist Rosy Perdomo (above). Almonte and Perdomo, whom he has known since he was a Little Leaguer, wed seven months ago and live together in the South Bronx . "We were having such a good time," she told SI last week. "Now our lives have been turned upside down."

Perdomo says that she and Almonte want to start a family, and that Almonte is already an active stepfather to her 12-year-old-son from a previous relationship. "She's special," Almonte told the New York Daily News . "My family is happy for me."