The Bryce Harper Compendium (2015)

[blue911]

But this came from his mouth, so...

Besides, I think we all know by now that there is no plan...

Ryan Zimmerman has said he won't change his approach. That he's comfortable with where he stands and how he attacks pitches and any change would make him uncomfortable.

[varoadking]

Ryan Zimmerman has said he won't change his approach. That he's comfortable with where he stands and how he attacks pitches and any change would make him uncomfortable.

...and E6 has said essentially the same thing...

[blue911]

...and E6 has said essentially the same thing...

Keep in mind the Nats didn't get into town until 2-3am. It isn't as if they had a normal workday on Monday.

[HalfSmokes]

Keep in mind the Nats didn't get into town until 2-3am. It isn't as if they had a normal workday on Monday.

less reasonable, more pitchfork

[deeznatz]

Keep in mind the Nats didn't get into town until 2-3am. It isn't as if they had a normal workday on Monday.

pleaase tell me your joking?

[varoadking]

Keep in mind the Nats didn't get into town until 2-3am. It isn't as if they had a normal workday on Monday.

I dunno...I watched the game.  They seemed to play like they normally do...

[Ray D]

...and E6 has said essentially the same thing...

Desmond and Zimmerman are talking about how they swing, and where they stand.  By "plan" I'm talking about how patient/aggressive they should be at the plate, and what pitches/location to look for, for given counts and situations.  Coaching staffs are suppose to come up with a suggested plan covering these things - whether the players are bound to the plan is another matter, but they need guidance, which it doesn't seem they are getting.

[PC]

Keep in mind the Nats didn't get into town until 2-3am. It isn't as if they had a normal workday on Monday.

The Mets got to Miami much later than the Nationals got to Wash.

[HalfSmokes]

Desmond and Zimmerman are talking about how they swing, and where they stand.  By "plan" I'm talking about how patient/aggressive they should be at the plate, and what pitches/location to look for, for given counts and situations.  Coaching staffs are suppose to come up with a suggested plan covering these things - whether the players are bound to the plan is another matter, but they need guidance, which it doesn't seem they are getting.

Remember what happened when dipoto tried to give that information to players?

[blue911]

The Mets got to Miami much later than the Nationals got to Wash.

And they also had an abnormal work day.

[blue911]

pleaase tell me your joking?

Why? It isn't unusual for a team to skip BP after an getaway game played on Sunday.

[NJ Ave]

Why? It isn't unusual for a team to skip BP after an getaway game played on Sunday.

What does this have to do with batting practice? We're talking about players being given information - as I assume they are on most data-forward teams - about pitcher tendencies. That should take like 5 minutes pre-game for player to receive and digest. These are professionals who should easily be able to understand something like "look for back-to-back breaking balls in hitters counts" or "throws high fastballs in pitchers counts".

If they disregard them, that's on them. But if they have no plan against a guy just because they "haven't faced him before" that's pretty ridiculous.

Hell, you could even give great comps at this point.

Most similar fastballs from guys we face often, most similar curveballs, etc. based on velocity, 2-plane break, etc.

I could put together information from my living room.

[blue911]

What does this have to do with batting practice? We're talking about players being given information - as I assume they are on most data-forward teams - about pitcher tendencies. That should take like 5 minutes pre-game for player to receive and digest. These are professionals who should easily be able to understand something like "look for back-to-back breaking balls in hitters counts" or "throws high fastballs in pitchers counts".

If they disregard them, that's on them. But if they have no plan against a guy just because they "haven't faced him before" that's pretty ridiculous.

Hell, you could even give great comps at this point.

Most similar fastballs from guys we face often, most similar curveballs, etc. based on velocity, 2-plane break, etc.

I could put together information from my living room.

And that information would be available from the analytics people long before Monday. But BP is when that data is reinforced. To blame Schu is giving the players a pass at not being prepared. Hell after one time through the order it shouldn't matter at all. Yet the hitters failed to adjust.

[HattoriHanzo]

Harper to NY in 2019.

Very possible.  He's always wanted to be a yankee. 

[varoadking]

Very possible.  He's always wanted to be a yankee.

He doesn't want to be here anyway... 

[GburgNatsFan]

Not after the last three series he doesn't.

He doesn't want to be here anyway... 

[Slateman]

I was not criticizing Bryce there.  I was criticizing the coaching staff for not having a plan.

Standard decision

[whytev]

Which is it Bryce?  Didn't have a plan, or didn't execute?  I think he was saying "didn't have a plan" and then tried to back off.   If they didn't have a plan, someone needs to get fired.

I think when you are facing a rookie who is on his 3rd game and who has started hot, you're pretty much winging it.

I'll bet Ross benefited from the same thing in his dominant third game.

[HattoriHanzo]

He doesn't want to be here anyway... 

Imagine the yanks with Harper, NJ kid Trout, and Judge in 2021?  Yeesh.  That's murderer's row back nearly a century later.

[DCFan]

 

Imagine the yanks with Harper, NJ kid Trout, and Judge in 2021?  Yeesh.  That's murderer's row back nearly a century later.

That's over a billion in contracts just for those 3. 

[BeltwayBaseball]

It's a damn shame when an MVP season can be looked at as disappointing or even annoying. Bryce was on pace for like 50 homers and had a real good shot at the triple crown, and he was carrying this team. Now when he's performing at simply an elite level, a league leading level, but not a godly level, the Nats are losing and you feel frustrated Harper can't perform better.

All the walks are no longer enough. The singles, no good. I think if this team is going to make it to October they need Bryce to go on another tear. I have more faith in that than the rest of the regulars getting their timing back. I'm afraid to say I feel like the Mets are going to surge forward, and we have to play like .700 just to get ahead of them. By the time the bums start hitting again, it will already be too late, you'd have to win 15 games in a row just to build a healthy 3 game lead. The team needs Harper to carry 'em even when it's healthy now.

Or the Mets could just choke it all away, who the hell knows, the season has been battle of the chokers. Two seasons in a row the Nats are supposed to run the table and it was 4 months+ of suffering baseball. Ugh.

[skippy1999]

It's a damn shame when an MVP season can be looked at as disappointing or even annoying. Bryce was on pace for like 50 homers and had a real good shot at the triple crown, and he was carrying this team. Now when he's performing at simply an elite level, a league leading level, but not a godly level, the Nats are losing and you feel frustrated Harper can't perform better.

Um speak for yourself, I'm not disappointed or annoyed with Bryce at all, he's been everything we wanted and he's fun on top of it, he is the very least of the things I'm annoyed with.

[HalfSmokes]

It's a damn shame when an MVP season can be looked at as disappointing or even annoying. Bryce was on pace for like 50 homers and had a real good shot at the triple crown, and he was carrying this team. Now when he's performing at simply an elite level, a league leading level, but not a godly level, the Nats are losing and you feel frustrated Harper can't perform better.

All the walks are no longer enough. The singles, no good. I think if this team is going to make it to October they need Bryce to go on another tear. I have more faith in that than the rest of the regulars getting their timing back. I'm afraid to say I feel like the Mets are going to surge forward, and we have to play like .700 just to get ahead of them. By the time the bums start hitting again, it will already be too late, you'd have to win 15 games in a row just to build a healthy 3 game lead. The team needs Harper to carry 'em even when it's healthy now.

Or the Mets could just choke it all away, who the hell knows, the season has been battle of the chokers. Two seasons in a row the Nats are supposed to run the table and it was 4 months+ of suffering baseball. Ugh.

that's what happens when the offense relies on one guy

http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0&type=8&season=2015&month=0&season1=2015&ind=0&team=24&rost=&age=&filter=&players=

according to WAR, the next most valuable guy on the team this year is espinosa, excluding the explosive Burris and Solis, Harper's OPS is almost twice the next closest player (who may or may not be deceased), desmond and espinosa are the only other players who even have 10 home runs at this point. The next most valuable hitter is your part time short stop. The team is getting no power numbers from left or first and no real production from anywhere other than harper. Outside of harper, this is probably the worst offense in baseball by a pretty comfortable margin

[Ray D]

All the walks are no longer enough. The singles, no good. I think if this team is going to make it to October they need Bryce to go on another tear.

The walks won't get the job done but they're better than outs.  If he tries to go on a tear, he's just going to make outs because he'll be swinging at bad pitches, until the rest of the lineup heats up and Span is back.  Let him continue his plate discipline, because we don't want him to lose that and it will be useful when he once again get's support from the rest of the lineup.  And if that doesn't happen, well, we're not going to the playoffs no matter what Harper does.

[BeltwayBaseball]

Um speak for yourself, I'm not disappointed or annoyed with Bryce at all, he's been everything we wanted and he's fun on top of it, he is the very least of the things I'm annoyed with.

You don't ever catch yourself saying "Shoot, that's the pitch he was looking for, we really needed him to hit that over the wall to win this game"? Somewhere a month ago or so he started "missing his pitch" again - he said that to start the season, the difference was first "getting his pitch" by laying off the bad pitches, and then the second thing was "hitting his pitch," not missing it, which he credited for his godly May and June.

I'm making a point that it's unreasonable to expect him to be any better, he's been elite for half the season and otherworldly for the other half. But the Nats are so poor it makes you wince when he's not otherworldly, because you know he's the only way they're winning that particular game.