-

Two words. David Clyde.

I feel bad for the kid, and don't believe that anyone can live up to the hype that has been created around him. He was on a team we played last summer, and to be very frank, we were underwhelmed in what we saw. My other coach is a guy with long time MLB ties, and his comment was "that act ain't gonna play in the Big Leauges." What disappointed us was not his talent, but the way he played the game. He did not hustle, in fact only got about 3 steps out of the batter's box on an infield pop fly he hit to 3rd. He didn't back up first base on ground balls to the left side with nobody on, just dropped to his knees and watched the play. And, while he's a good throwing catcher, he's not the best throwing catcher that he's been represented to be. Frankly, the day he played against us, he gave the impression of being a bit apathetic. Perhaps he was just tired, or tired of everything he's been subjected to. I do know that hte expectations that have been raised around him are totally unrealistic. One problem young Mr. Harper faces is that with all the hype and elevated expectations, there is no room to have a day like he did when he played us.

Does he have a ton of talent, absolutely. Does he need to grow up some? From my very limited chance to watch him, yeah, I'd say so. My impression was that perhaps he's read a few too many Sports Illustrated accolades and begun believing his press clippings.

Flame away if you wish, but he's still human, and it showed the day I watched him. Too many people have forgotten that he's just 16, and think he's already an MLB caliber player. He is not....yet.

Jesse,

Here is my opinion.

Bryce is an extremely talented young player.

The story in Sports Illustrated is simply untrue in some areas.

He does have outstanding power, but not Mark McGwire type power.

I would grade his arm at least a 70. He IS in rare air in that area.

At this time he is a good defensive catcher that could become a great defensive catcher in the future. He is a good hitter who could become a great hitter in the future.

Probably the biggest fabrication is reagrding Bryce's running ability. He is maybe an average runner at best. Still not bad for a catcher, but far from any speed type player.

He may have thrown 96, but we have not seen that. As I said, his arm is a real weapon.

All that said, he could end up being almost anything, from a super star hall of famer to a complete bust. Maybe somewhere in between would be most realistic.

He is extremely talented! The Sports Illustrated story was sensationlism for sure, and those who can't recognize his talent are going the other way too far.

This is a 16 yr old kid with these type skills. One would have to believe that those skills can and should improve.

96mph fastball...15 million signing bonus

115mph bat swing... 12 million a year salary

Pop time of 1.8... 2 million a year in incentives

Being Able to mentally hold it together...PRICELESS

Jesse,

I went back and looked at your article. That was very well done IMO.

Though I must say, we have seen Bryce many times and have not seen anything close to a 570' HR or the 96 mph fastball. That doesn't mean it didn't happen. We do know he usually runs around 7 flat in the 60, sometimes a little better, sometimes a little worse.

I have never seen the kid play, but now that I'm in Las Vegas I'm hoping to catch some games when the season starts. My only question is.. I remember the same coverage with Robert Stock. What happened there?

I saw him play for team USA. Very talented with a ton of potential. I also saw Josh Hamilton play in HS four or five times. I saw BJ and Justin Upton play in HS twice. Bryce may develop into a ML star one day. I knew when I saw BJ and Justin they would play in the Major Leagues one day. The first time I saw Josh Hamilton there was not one shred of doubt he would Star in the ML one day.

Harper my indeed become a star one day. But he at the same age as Josh is not as impressive in any phase of the game or as impressive physically as Hamilton. Hamilton did run a 6.6. He was indeed mid 90's from the hill and LH. I dont have to tell you how far he can hit a baseball. If your going to put that kind of tag on a player then I think your talking about Hamilton type of ability and projection.

Again Harper is very talented and may indeed star in the show one day or he may make the show one day or he may never get one bit better than he is today and be a solid college player and never get out of the minors. Generational player? No , at least not yet.

Also. I remember going to watch my nephew play in the state games and Hamilton was on his team. Or let me rephrase that , Rusty was on Josh's team. The games were played at the old Greensboro Bats stadium. Josh is 6-4 built like a brick s**t house. He is playing center field. He is playing very shallow and a kid hits a bomb to deep center field. Josh looks like he is just jogging goes back and catches the ball over his shoulder at the wall. He turns without taking a step or anything and throws a frozen rope line shot to the second baseman who is at the bag. You could hear the glove pop from the stands. It was an absolute joke how good this guy was at 17 years old.

How ever it turns out for Harper it will be interesting to watch. It will be interesting because we are all so informed of every occurance.

I dont think the Uptons and Hamiltons had to endure as much of the media scrutiny as Harper is enduring. There is so much more media availability now.

The Uptons and Hamiltons were mostly judged by professionals and industry folk with a few baseball junkies scouring for print media. When they had a bad day it was not twittered, texted, video'd and uploaded to utube, articled, disected, rated and discussed on a least 100 message boards and blogs.

Do I feel for him?.... NOPE. When you stand up for SI and take the picture for the article "The Chosen One" you are begging for attention. With attention comes scrutiny, and just like everything else in life, you get the good with the bad.

I think one this is for sure. The kid will get an amazing bonus come June.... even if he stinks it up this season. Some team will want the promise of what has been reported. Will he ever make it? Maybe, maybe not. He will have the same chance that every other million dollar bonus player has.

As for the Robert Stock reference. I had issues with the "next coming of Christ" refrences to Robert when he was in HS out here too. He was really hyped. I think the difference between the Stock and Harper is 1) raw physicality and 2) Stock did not seem buy into the hype....He went to school.

Right now I would say Robert is in a great place. He has 3 years of his college education in the bag and he got a nice bonus to help him live in a decent manner while he tries to achieve his dream of playing ML baseball. (Gosh, I think Robert is doing much better than most!)

I agree with playfair's point about the new age of media. Baseball has changed so much in just the last few years. Where there used to be barriers and closed tents to baseball information and media, there is now twitter and facebook and all others social networking devices to expand the amount of information out there.

Harper is a great player, but maybe this age of information exchange is highlighting players flaws more than it did before? I would take that into consideration. I'm sure all the former great prep athletes, like A-Rod or Greinke, had really bad days or luke-warm performances in HS, but they didn't have to have every little move watched and critiqued like Harper is now.

quote:

Originally posted by MTH:
Two words. David Clyde.

Good one!!

I saw Harper play for Southern Nevada CC a couple of weekends ago. Do not feel bad for him. He has immense talent and he will have wealth because he is a special player today. Why don't we wait and see if he's a once in a generation player...the answer will arrive before you know it.

PGStaff, Coach May, & 06CD

You've seen Bryce play. There is no doubt the young man is talented, and can play a variety of positions. However, you can only play one position at a time. My understanding is the pitcher/catcher combination is ok for HS, but not good as he gets older and tries to specialize. In your opinion, what his best skills today, and where do you project him to play if he gets to the majors? Thanks.

Like all young kids he has some things to learn, but I'm fairly certain that most everyone sees him as a catcher.

To me his best tool is his arm, but he grades out high in power. His defensive grade as a catcher is also very high. So that leaves us with hitting and running. He went into a funk late last year and started to lunge just a little. Earlier he wasn't doing that. When he's in a good groove he looks like a plus hitter. He runs very well for a catcher, but speed grades out average or a tick below overall.

People are very critical due to all the hype, but they need to remember that he is still only 16 years old! At that age he is about as talented as anyone I've ever seen. That said, I have a real problem when people compare him to Lebron James. Comparing him to other young baseball players would make more sense.

Anyway, he is real good, but we've all seen "real good" prospects who didn't pan out. Bryce could end up being a good player or he could end up being a Hall of Famer. Hard to tell yet, he is 16 years old!

We are following him closely and sending someone out there to see him again next week. BTW, the JC he plays at is loaded with prospects, especially pitchers. So he is catching guys with Big League stuff.

I saw him twice. I think his future is behind the plate and at it. He is obviously very talented especially for a kid his age.

Bryce Harper was born in October, and is now 17. Still young, but it does show that time flies when you're having fun!

LHH Catcher. Pro Body. 1st rounder for $10M?