He started this season at Class AAA Memphis, and he impressed the Cardinals in a late-spring exhibition against the major leaguers.

“He was touching 97,” Mozeliak said, “and it was like, wow — he’s come full circle.”

Harris was promoted to the majors during a trip to Washington, of all places, and his fastball has averaged better than 94 m.p.h. He complements it with a cutter and splitter and is establishing himself as more than an uplifting story.

“One of his first days, we were doing the national anthem, and nobody in his immediate area would leave the field until he did, just out of respect for what he’s done and how he’s served our country,” Manager Mike Matheny said. “It’s a big deal what he’s doing. We’re not forgetting that, but we’re also realizing it’s a big deal what he’s doing on the mound.”

Harris acknowledged that he wondered how his career would have unfolded had he proceeded directly to the minors. Maybe, he said, he would have several years of major league service by now.

But if he did, he would not have had another kind of service. He will not wish away those years.

“Looking back at what I did gain from the four years in the academy and the five years after is something that a lot of guys my age will never be able to experience,” Harris said. “The traveling and the hands-on education that I got through the Navy and throughout the world — and the leadership aspect of it, too — that’s something you can’t go to a school and get. That’s the experience you gain, and that’s something I’d never want taken away. That’s something that I’ll always look back and say that turned me into who I am, and that formed me into the man I am today.”

Game-Ending Homer in Debut

Carlos Perez found a way to make a name for himself in his first major league game last Tuesday. Perez, a catcher for the Los Angeles Angels, hit a home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat the Seattle Mariners, 5-4. He became the first player to hit a game-ending homer in his debut since Miguel Cabrera, then with the Marlins, in 2003.

“The moment passed so fast, but after that, I looked at the video and I saw what I did,” Perez said in a telephone interview. “It was really amazing. That’s something I will never forget in my life.”