The Bryce Harper Watch

[tomterp]

Sabergeek gushes over player using subjective measures on a sabergeek website.  This is kind of like an Elvis sighting.

What's next, Dusty acknowledging that batters who walk sometimes score, and don't really "clog the bases", and thus contribute positively to offense?  It would be a fair quid pro quo.

[PANatsFan]

The second time we've agreed on something.  I must note it on the calendar.

Sabergeek gushes over player using subjective measures on a sabergeek website.  This is kind of like an Elvis sighting.

Elvis Andrus, good player.

[Nick the Pig]

What's next, Dusty acknowledging that batters who walk sometimes score, and don't really "clog the bases", and thus contribute positively to offense?  It would be a fair quid pro quo.

Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria !

[Sharp]

Watching his HR and a few of his hits, I can kind of see what the scouts mean... every time he connects he absolutely murders the ball, even if it ends up grounding foul.

[Potomac Cannons]

An 18 year old holding his own like this in the AFL is extraordinary.  The typical 4-5 year development time for a HS prospect clearly looks like it doesn't apply.  If his glove in RF catches up to his bat, or at least to a good enough level itself, then we may have to accelerate things by a few years with this kid.  A debut by age 20 is certainly not out of the question.

[DPMOmaha]

Has video surfaced of the HR yet?

[Potomac Cannons]

It's an absolute shot.  Freeze frame it and the ball is at home plate at :00 and hits the bleachers behind the RF fence at :04.  The crack and crowd reaction say quite a bit about just how hard it was hit.

[DPMOmaha]

Wow.  Really, really, really, really trying to temper my enthusiasm.

[houston-nat]

It's an absolute shot.  Freeze frame it and the ball is at home plate at :00 and hits the bleachers behind the RF fence at :04.  The crack and crowd reaction say quite a bit about just how hard it was hit.

I don't think I've ever heard a baseball bat make that sound. Holy crap.

[The Chief]

Damn

[Sharp]

Every ball he hits sounds like that.  It's kind of ridiculous.

[Skinz72]

Wow.  Born to play baseball

[daggerrrrrr]

It's an absolute shot.  Freeze frame it and the ball is at home plate at :00 and hits the bleachers behind the RF fence at :04.  The crack and crowd reaction say quite a bit about just how hard it was hit.

I don't know if this is a big deal or not, but. Did anybody notice after Harper hit the HR, he got back to the dugout and none of his teammates where at the top of the stairs to give him a five or shake his hand? I just hope the stories aren't true about him rubbing people the wrong way.

[Potomac Cannons]

I don't know if this is a big deal or not, but. Did anybody notice after Harper hit the HR, he got back to the dugout and none of his teammates where at the top of the stairs to give him a five or shake his hand? I just hope the stories aren't true about him rubbing people the wrong way.

Is there going to be a time when people don't make this crap up?  Other than random speculation there hasn't been any kind of issue with his "attitude."  Nothing has come out about it from anyone he's played with.  He just got praised a couple of days ago by fangraphs for being the guy on the team who's most into it and cheering on his teammates.

Someone track down anything substantive about his attitude getting to people.

[Obed_Marsh]

Someone track down anything substantive about his attitude getting to people.

You are ignoring repeated comments. Here is one example.

This should not be underrated. It's impossible to find any talent evaluator who isn't blown away by Harper's ability on the field, but it's equally difficult to find one who doesn't genuinely dislike the kid. One scout called him among the worst amateur players he's ever seen from a makeup standpoint, with top-of-the-scale arrogance, a disturbingly large sense of entitlement, and on-field behavior that includes taunting opponents. "He's just a bad, bad guy," said one front-office official. "He's basically the anti-Joe Mauer." How this plays into the negotiation or future evaluation is yet to be determined, as history has shown us that the bigger talent a player is, the more makeup issues teams will deal with. Bench players can't afford to be problems, but plenty of teams happily put up with difficult superstars.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=10611#commentMessage

[houston-nat]

You are ignoring repeated comments. Here is one example.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=10611#commentMessage

Of course, that was recognized even at the time as being pretty extreme. A lot of Nationals reporters like Mark Zuckerman presented essays suggesting that report was seriously overblown or downright nasty. Not saying Bryce is not possessed of certain personality flaws that teenagers often have, but I am saying it's easy to exaggerate stuff about Bryce. As we know.

[Obed_Marsh]

Yeah but your nitpicking. Cannons has be willfully ignorant or blind not to have heard about Harper's alleged attitude problems. My point is a basic proficiency with Google will provide a large amount of information and articles questioning Harper's attitude and makeup.

I am rooting for him but he may way well be as bad as he is cracked up to be.

[DPMOmaha]

I want that video to go about 5 seconds further.  That looked like classic silent treatment for the new kid to me.

Everything, and by everything I mean every minute detail of this kids development, makeup, attitude, diet, social life and upbring will be detailed.  If he wakes up on the wrong side of the bed, it'll be a twitter storm.  If he makes an error it'll be on YouTube 5 minutes later.  Does the kid have a bloated ego?  How the hell would any of us know other than by judging conflicting reports from competing media outlets?  And, if the kid does have an ego the size of congress, who cares?  He's here to play baseball and do it at a high level.  If he does that and the team wins, I'd probably expect an ego on some level, probably a rather massive one to boot.  He wouldn't be the first player to be hated by his teammates and still be on a successful team.  Good night, let the kid at least get to a legal drinking age before we make some sort of character judgment.  

[Potomac Cannons]

You are ignoring repeated comments. Here is one example.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=10611#commentMessage

Problem is this piece was destroyed as garbage.  Some folks seem to hate him yet nothing negative from a teammate or coach anywhere along the way.  I don't give a crap if he gets under the opponents skin. 

Is he the first guy at the top of the dugout steps when his team does something good?  Reports from the AFL say yes.  Is he 18 and knocking the crap out of the ball against legitimate prospects who are 4-7 years older than him?  Stats from the AFL say yes.  I hope the guy gets here and pisses on Jerry Manuel's head.  I'd love an arrogant, driven, at times harsh teammate for some of our guys.  This kid sounds more like Michael Jordan than Barry Bonds/A-Rod.

[imref]

AFL so far: .353, 1HR, 4RBIs in 3 games.

Yeah, he wasn't ready.

[PANatsFan]

Yeah but your nitpicking. Cannons has be willfully ignorant or blind not to have heard about Harper's alleged attitude problems. My point is a basic proficiency with Google will provide a large amount of information and articles questioning Harper's attitude and makeup.

I am rooting for him but he may way well be as bad as he is cracked up to be.

It's not like when people try to question Strasburg, who got a perfect score for makeup from the scouts, and Harper, who acts like and is a kid. However, from what I've heard about Harper hanging on every pitch of every game in the AFL, I'd be surprised if he was unpopular.

[houston-nat]

I mean, another way of looking at it is, if you're 23 and you're doing pretty well in the AFL after years of putting in hard work with minor league clubs, working with coaches to perfect new pitches or swings, maybe playing winter ball, enduring bus rides from Ogden, Utah to Medicine Hat, Canada, and then some 18 year old comes along and already he's way better than you'll ever be or could ever be if you tried, how would you feel about it? Would you high-five him when he hits a home run?

Hint:

[Obed_Marsh]

I pretty much agree with Steve Phillips about Harper.
http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2010/06/07/bryce-harpers-many-gifts-partly-a-curse/

He's had problems with his teammates during the JCWS and before that but you can do your own searches to find them. Do I care enough to do it for you because you are lazy, no.

[The Chief]

I disagree with anything Steve Phillips says on principle alone.

[Potomac Cannons]

He's had problems with his teammates during the JCWS and before that but you can do your own searches to find them. Do I care enough to do it for you because you are lazy, no.

http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2010/06/07/we-still-dont-know-bryce-harper-nationals-outfielder-but-we-w/

Here's Rizzo's challenge to the BS claims that he had problems with teammates at the JCWS:

"Ask his teammates [about him]," the Washington GM challenged, describing how they paid tribute to him in the JCWS by wearing his distinctive "war paint" eye black after the ejection and subsequent suspension. (Rizzo, by the way, said Harper will not be wearing his "war paint" in the minors.)

Interesting.  Harper gets ejected for arguing balls and strikes and his teammates SUPPORT him by wearing the eye black during his suspension.  Sure sounds like they didn't like him at all.  I bet all 8 of his teammates that got drafted because scouts came to see him, and they got noticed in the process, are pissed.  I bet each one of them has a major problem with him indirectly causing them to get a chance at the pros they likely wouldn't have otherwise.