Old vs. New

Why are so many people jealous of Harper's success? If there's another reason, I'd like to hear it.

Mauer at 26 is the "Old?"
Yikes, what does that mean for me?
Sultan, why does an article being posted that attempts to contrast Mauer and Harper equate to "jealousy" of Harper."
Last night I listened to a very good radio interview with Clint Hurdle. It included a discussion about him being on the cover of SI when he was 18 or 19 contrasted with how things went in baseball after than point.
The interview and points Hurdle made reinforced for me that Harper has far more to prove in baseball than he has had "success" to be applauded or criticized.
Lastly, I don't read the article as being a commentary on Harper himself. It is a contrast in the way Mauer grew up, played multiple sports, didn't travel at 10 and the like with the path which has been groomed for Harper. As the author said, he has never met Harper.
To me, this is more an article that could be written without using Mauer and Harper. Their paths just happen to illustrate the points the best.

The article is flawed on many levels. First, Bryce Harper's situation is anomalous, so for Morosi to suggest that his is the "new way" that amateur baseball players are going to proceed into pro careers is a ridiculous assertin. I don't accept his suggestion of the contrast between Harper's path and the sentimentalized version of Mauer's path to the pros. Quite frankly, I don't even think that's fair to Mauer.

Second, (defensive dad alert!) for Morosi to refer to Bryce Harper's situation as a means to jab parents who have their children in select baseball or taking off-season lessons is really unfair. We live in an era when school gym budgets are being cut right and left, PE has diminished importance in public school curricula, and stories of youth obesity are ubiquitous in our health media. Lessons and offseason work in the cages (for example) provide both performance AND health benefits for these kids. Nevermind the fact that most competitive-minded young ballplayers now actually enjoy this type of work and seek it out. Our s****r season hadn't been over for more than a few days last December when my son asked how soon he could start hitting and throwing again!

Finally, I never trust sentimentalized depictions like Morosi's treatment of Mauer's life experience. He did it only to present a counterpoint to Harper's life path as a way to emphasize his disgust at Harper's path which is both unfair to Harper and just plain tawdry.

I agree with Infielddad when he suggests the article could have been written without the players named. But I also think that the article would have been far more penetrating if Morosi had botherd to assemble and interpret some actual data on the various pathways amateur baseball players take to the pros. But that might have been less sensational than depicting Bryce Harper as avaricious in skipping his high school experience.

I haven't read the article yet but I sure like your written communication skills, tres_arboles.

ETA: I see you're in law/government. In that case, I feel like I should point out that you missed an "o" in "assertion".

IFDad- Maybe I should have called it New vs. Newer. But I do think Mauer represents the old way of doing things.

I agree that the article is flawed because all the evidence is anecdotal. You obviously can't prove anything like, "this way is better than this one," by just comparing two instances. With that being said, Mauer's and Harper's stories do illustrate polar-opposite approaches. I think Morosi should have left it at that and not tried to prove anything. (As previous posters have said.) If it were my kid, Mauer's path would seem ideal. It seems like he got to experience alot of what childhood and high school has to offer. But then again, I'm sure the Harpers aren't complaining either.

IMO, there's nothing wrong with the way the amateur game is going today. Even if I thought there was, I doubt anything would change because the demand is there.

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Here's a question to ponder in relation to Bryce Harper conversations ... How often do you hear Robert Stock's name anymore?

Stock is doing just fine in his progression in hopes of someday becoming a MLB player. But from fourteen to seventeen years old he was the latest, greatest, everyday, can't miss conversation.

Just to put things in perspective.

Our business revolves around evaluating talent, especially at the high school level. We like to think we do a pretty good job at that, for the most part.

Harper’s path is very, very unusual. Joe Mauer was heavily recruited as one of the top quarterback prospects in the country.

Robert Stock was one of the best in the country as a youngster. However he was never considered at the same level as Mauer, Harper or Justin Upton.

While Bryce Harper received by far the most media attention, all three were household names within the scouting community early in their high school years. Both Harper and Stock left high school early.

We had Bryce Harper ranked the #1 prospect nationally in his high school class.

We had Joe Mauer ranked the #1 prospect nationally in his high school class.

We had Robert Stock ranked good, but there were several ranked above him in his high school class.

Harper and Mauer would be similar when it comes to the interest that counts the most (MLB Scouting Departments)… No one can even come close to comparing with the “media” attention that Harper has faced at that age.

BTW,
Bryce, who would be a high school “junior” this year, started off kind of slowly playing at the highest level of Junior College. Some of the naysayers were freely speaking up about him being over hyped and over ranked. We were hearing it daily. Talk was he would not produce, this isn’t high school anymore, he didn’t hit at the Aflac Game why do you guys keep talking about him. That’s what we heard from the naysayers. The fact is… Like it/him or not, this kid is a very special talent with serious tools and could join Joey Mauer as a first overall pick if Washington wants to spend the money again this year.

The latest statistics playing arguably the toughest Junior College schedule in the country. Despite a slow start, 17 year old Bryce Harper is by far the leading hitter on the team. He leads the team in Batting average, Homeruns, RBIs, doubles, runs, slugging%, OB%, and just about everything else. Keep in mind that this team has several top draft prospects.

Stats after 27 games with “wood”…
B Ave - .420
HR – 8
RBI – 27
slg% - .864
ob% - .514

He still has some work to do behind the plate and has room for improvement, but his arm grades out very high and he has all the “tools” to be a great catcher. And even if that doesn’t work out, he can play several other positions.

Just thought people might be interested in this info. If not… Sorry!

Harper is the real deal for sure, but , two words , David Clyde . Think kid has alot of pressure and expectations , but think Bryce will be fine .

PGStaff,

Thank you, that was a very interesting post about Harper and Mauer.

Julie

It is interesting to watch Harper to see what he can or cannot accomplish. Beyond that, I don't care any more or any less for him than I do for other players I don't know. I root the most for those players I have known myself.

Maybe Harper will be great; maybe not. But until he does it, he hasn't done it. The hype is beyond ridiculous and approaches Tim Tebow level, which, just by human nature, dictates that many will automatically root against him -- right or wrong. It's almost like rooting against the Dallas Cowboys or New York Yankees, and as soon as he turns pro, he is fair game for nearly any kind of criticism. Perhaps that line was crossed the day he appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

In terms of developing as a player, I doubt any of this stuff is helping him.

jemaz,

I have to agree with that.

Problem is we hype most everyone who is really that good. Of course, ours is more of an insider type thing rather than the kind of attention the front cover of Sports Illustrated causes. I think the biggest problem was that some of the SI article just wasn't factual and led people to believe that Bryce was the second coming of superman. "The Next Lebron"? Now you ARE talking about Superman!

I am thinking that it is going to be very interesting as to what happens in the draft with him.
I don't think the Nats can afford what he and his agent want (unless they go conservative) after signing Strassburg. I see him falling to a team that has bucks to spend , and doesn't need him until he matures a bit and not necessarily the first round because he has HUGE signability issues. He can say no thank you and go onto play another year of JUCO and improve his skills.
As I said, should be interesting.

quote:

We had Robert Stock ranked good, but there were several ranked above him in his high school class.

Based on my CA sources I agree with the assessment of Stock. But he was the one getting all the hype due to his arm.

quote:

Perhaps that line was crossed the day he appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Hype has been around a long time. Unfortunately in an age of information it's traveling faster and about younger ages.

Lew Alcindor was on the cover of SI leading Power Memorial to a NYC high school basketball championship. He was being called a basketball Hall of Fame lock before he played college ball.

Then there was Bruce Hardy. As a high school student he had his picture on the cover of SI as the best high school athlete in the country.



There was David Clyde. Anyone remember Mike Morgan? In the basketball world OJ Mayo was being hyped in 8th grade.

1966

Many others here

Guess this is a Harper thread now, so...more hype:
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/articl...b&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

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jemaz, agree 100%. PG you too, there is no denying _ _ _ per's talent. See folks, I learned my lesson, no names......

He's really proving everyone wrong. 3 more bombs over the weekend and these are his season stats.

Harper, Bryce AVG-.422 AB-128 R-48 H-54 2B-13 3B-1 HR-15 RBI-42 SLG%-.891 BB-25 HBP-1 SO-25 OBP-.516 SB/ATT-12/14

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Harper has the swing to be as good as he wants to be..


http://sites.csn.edu/dcabrera/...ll/2010/teamcume.htm