Tag: Bryce Harper

Bryce Harper Recalled: Is This the Most Hyped Call-Up in MLB History?

Bryce Harper officially makes his MLB debut for the Washington Nationals, thus starting what many think will be a long big-league career.

Some say that Harper should have started the season in Washington, while others believe he should still be in Triple-A to gain more experience.

In 20 games with Syracuse, Harper hit .250 with one home run, three RBI and four doubles.

Overall, Harper hasn’t been that impressive in the minor leagues, with a .297 average last year, 17 home runs and 58 RBI.

Nevertheless, he’s in the big leagues now and is ready to make his much anticipated debut.

But where does he rank when it comes to the most hyped MLB debuts?

Here’s a look at the top 10 most hyped debuts in MLB history.

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Bryce Harper: Top Prospect’s Swagger Just as Important as His Talent

Shortly after 6:00 p.m. PT, Washington Nationals top prospect Bryce Harper will make his major league debut at Dodger Stadium against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

It’s going to be a big moment. Just in case you didn’t know that already.

It was just a matter of time before Harper got the call to the big leagues this season. The Nats just so happened to get the perfect excuse to call him up when they found out Ryan Zimmerman had to go on the disabled list (again). They had a roster spot to fill. Why not fill it with the top power-hitting prospect in the minor leagues?

Not everyone likes the move, and I can understand that. Harper warmed up in recent games, but he wasn’t exactly tearing things up with Triple-A Syracuse. To boot, he was just so-so at the Double-A level last year. Harper’s numbers at Double- and Triple-A suggest that he’s not quite ready for the big leagues.

And of course, there’s Harper’s attitude to consider. He’s a cocky son of a gun. Jason Reid of the Washington Post will tell you all about that.

This is the bigger concern for a lot of people. Talent-wise, Harper may indeed be ready for the show. But is he ready mentally?

Here’s a better question: Is his arrogance such a bad thing?

No it’s not. It’s true that youngsters like Harper should do their best to keep their egos under control, but you have to consider how his swagger is going to fit on the team he’s joining.

Harper is not being called up to join a collection of stiffs, a la the New York Yankees or the St. Louis Cardinals. He’s being called up to join a Nationals team that is young and talented. And thanks to their hot start, the Nationals are playing with all sorts of swagger right now.

Harper is not a guy who is going to compromise Washington’s swagger. On the contrary, he’s going to augment it. 

It’s not like Harper is joining a clubhouse that wants nothing to do with him. Judging from what Zimmerman told the Washington Post, Harper has grown on the guys on the big club:

Bryce, not so much anymore, but at first, had a different way of expressing his confidence. From last spring training to this spring training, I’ve never seen somebody grow up as quickly as he has in one year. The way he carries himself, he thinks [about] things differently now.

The Nats will have even less of a problem with Harper if he comes up and starts hitting right away. His already-inflated ego will only become more inflated as the hits keep coming, but nobody on the Nationals will be in a position to complain. The Nats are one of the worst offensive teams in the majors, so anybody who provides offense on a consistent basis should be treated as a hero.

Keep in mind that Harper doesn’t need to come up and hit .400 with a ton of power to win his teammates over. Washington’s left fielders are hitting a mere .097 on the season. Surely Harper can do better than that, possibly a lot better. Either way, the Nats should take what they can get, and the powers that be in the front office should be happy that the organization’s prize prospect is getting some big-league experience.

The only way this movie is going to result in disaster is if Harper slumps and completely loses his confidence. If he starts moping, the Nats are going to have a problem on their hands. Their once-cocky prospect will have realized his own mortality, perhaps for the first time. He will have lost his swagger.

I’m not willing to bet on that happening. Harper is who he is. He’s always going to have swagger, and right now, he’s joining a team that has as much collective swagger as any team in baseball.

Thus concludes today’s treatise on the word “swagger.”

 

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Mike Trout Has Golden Opportunity to Become This Year’s Buster Posey

There is no way I can hide my excitement.

Watching the Angels and Nationals play today will be equal to my tearing open a retail pack of baseball cards as a 12-year-old.

Last night I wrote a piece on Bryce Harper. In that story, I said I would be glued to my television screen when Harper makes his Major League Debut versus the high flying Los Angeles Dodgers.

When I first heard Harper was coming to the show, I could not help but feel for Mike Trout, who still had not gotten the call.

I could see Trout sitting at his locker in Salt Lake and screaming to the heavens, “What more must I do to get the call?”

To this Trout is right. He is hitting .403 with 31 hits and an OPS of 1.091 through 20 games with the Bees.

Apparently, the baseball gods heard Trout’s question and were like, “yeah, what the heck are the Angels thinking?”

Divine intervention or not, now that Trout has gotten the call, he has a golden opportunity to become the 2012 version of Buster Posey from 2010.

Never will I forget how Posey electrified the Giants, not only in spirit but in offense. After getting called up in May, Posey hit .305 with 18 home runs and 67 RBI in just 108 games. Nor will I forget Posey’s poised play during the playoffs. It was like watching a seasoned veteran on the baseball diamond.

Giving Tim Lincecum utmost credit, I have to beg the following question. 

Would the Giants have won the World Series that year without Posey?

Not sure.

Back to Trout, he can provide the spark the Halos critically need at a point they cannot afford to fall any further behind the Texas Rangers in the American League West. At 6-14, the Angels are already nine games back.

Should Trout excel, he will give the Angels much needed potency at the top of the lineup. 

In time the Angels can place Trout in the two spot of the batting order, smack between Bourjos at the top and Albert Pujols in the three hole. The Angels can also take the training wheels off Mark Trumbo by placing him in the cleanup spot. Or they could put Bourjos in the nine spot and put Trout up top. Either way, you keep speed back to back.

This gives the Halos the ability to combine bunting and scrappy hitting. This puts speed on base for the middle of the lineup to feast on. This will not only create nightmares for opposing pitchers, but it will also take pressure off guys like Howie Kendrick, Torii Hunter and Vernon Wells.

This speed meets power kind of offense excites baseball fans, as Texas Rangers fans can surely attest to.

It makes me want to go get a blaster box of baseball cards and go buck wild like a 12-year-old!

 

James is a huge baseball fan who loves to write and make new friends. You can follow James on Twitter by clicking HITHA!  

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Chad Billingsley Should Be a Nice Matchup Against Bryce Harper

Nineteen-year-old Bryce Harper will make his Major League debut today against the Dodgers’ right-handed hurler, Chad Billingsley.

Billingsley enters the game with a 2-1 record, 3.04 ERA and 0.930 WHIP.

While there has been a lot of hype surrounding Bryce Harper and what he will mean to the Washington Nationals and the game of baseball in general, the fact of the matter is this: he is only batting .250 in AAA for the Syracuse Chiefs.

Is that any indicator of the type of player he will become? Of course not.

However, it should give a signal as to how he will fare in his first few major league at-bats.

Granted, in AAA this season facing right-handed pitchers, Harper posts a solid batting line of .275/.362/.431/.793 in 51 at-bats. I’m not prepared to classify that as crushing the opposition, but it is respectable.

Billingsley, on the other hand, performs adequately against left-handed batters. In his career, left-hand bats put up a .271/.360/.391/.751 batting line. For the sake of parity, that equates to 1,902 at bats.

This season in particular, Billingsley has been better against lefties. In 43 at-bats, lefties are posting a batting line of .182/.234/.409/.643.

The major concern being that when left handed batters get a hit, it appears they hit for extra bases off of him. Harper has not been an extra-base threat this season at all, having only four doubles, one triple and one home run out of his 18 hits.

At the end of the day, the Washington Nationals will be glad to have Harper on the big club; it’s just a shame for them that Billingsley will shut him down.

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Bryce Harper: Washington Nationals Favored over Los Angeles in His MLB Debut

The Washington Nationals (14-6) and Los Angeles Dodgers (14-6) continue a three-game National League series on Saturday night at Dodger Stadium, with the first pitch scheduled for 9:10 p.m. ET.

Las Vegas oddsmakers have established the Nationals as -125 road favorites due to ace Stephen Strasburg making his fifth start of the year, but the betting odds may be further inflated due to rookie outfielder Bryce Harper making his major league debut.

Harper is getting thrown into the fire due to the lack of offensive production the Nationals have received from a group of left fielders this season, as Michael Morse has sat out the opening month with a shoulder injury.

Fans should have realistic expectations with the call-up, especially considering that the 19-year-old out of Las Vegas was hitting just .250 with a single home run and three RBIs in 20 games at Triple-A Syracuse.

Strasburg (2-0, 1.08 ERA) has led the club to victory in his first four starts, including a 3-2 home win over the Miami Marlins last time out in a no-decision effort, tossing six shutout frames and allowing four hits.

The hard-throwing right-hander is 1-0 with a 0.69 ERA in two road starts, surrendering just one run and seven hits over 13 combined innings. He has registered a 5-1 mark and 1.74 ERA in eight career starts away from the nation’s capital.  

Washington dropped a 7-3 home decision in Strasburg’s lone career start versus the Dodgers, as he tallied five shutout innings and allowed just two hits. The 23-year-old managed to retire Los Angeles outfielder Matt Kemp in both of his at-bats.

The Nationals are 7-0 in his last seven starts as a road favorite, while the “under” is 27-10 in their last 37 games overall.

Los Angeles will counter with Chad Billingsley (2-1, 3.04 ERA), who will look to bounce back from his first rough outing of the year, allowing nine runs (five earned) and four hits over 3.1 innings in a 12-0 road loss to the Houston Astros.

The right-hander is 4-1 with a 3.21 ERA in seven lifetime outings versus the Nationals, including a 1-0 mark and 4.82 ERA in two starts last year.

Weather forecasts suggest clear skies and game-time temperatures in the mid-60s, with a slight breeze out of the southwest. 

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Fantasy Baseball 2012: Roto Owners Should Avoid the Hype of Harper’s MLB Debut

The day will come when 19-year-old Bryce Harper, perhaps the most hyped hitting prospect of the last 30 years, lives up to his vast potential in the majors.

The day will come when Harper is one of the National League’s best hitters and one of baseball’s biggest personalities.

The day will come when Harper is a four-category force (if not five) and an easy pick for Round 1 or 2 in fantasy drafts.

But on the morning of the teen sensation’s initial call-up to the big leagues—replacing All-Star third baseman Ryan Zimmerman (15-day DL)—it’s important to remember these nine words about Harper’s immediate potential in the bigs:

From a fantasy perspective, don’t go overboard on expectations. 

 

1. Baseball history isn’t on Harper’s side.

Since 1900, the list of major league hitters enjoying amazing “fantasy” numbers in their age-19 seasons is noticeably short. In fact, here’s a look at some of history’s most prominent batters, upon breaking into the majors before their 20th birthday:

1906—Ty Cobb, Tigers (one HR, 34 RBI, 45 runs, 23 steals, .316 batting)
1914—Babe Ruth, Red Sox (zero HRs, two RBI, one run, .200 batting)
1915—Rogers Hornsby, Cardinals (zero HRs, four RBI, five runs, .246 batting)
1991—Joe Cronin, Pirates (zero HRs, 11 RBI, nine runs, .265 batting)
1927—Jimmie Foxx, A’s (three HRs, 23 RBI, 20 runs, two steals, .323 batting)
1928—Mel Ott, Giants (18 HRs, 77 RBI, 65 runs, three steals, .322 batting)
1951—Mickey Mantle, Yankees (13 HRs, 65 RBI, 61 runs, eight steals, .267 batting)
1954—Al Kaline, Tigers (four HRs, 43 RBI, 42 runs, nine steals, .276 batting)
1964—Tony Conigliaro, Red Sox (24 HRs, 52 RBI, 69 runs, two steals, .290 batting)
1975—Robin Yount, Brewers (eight HRs, 52 RBI, 67 runs, 12 steals, .267 batting)
1988—Gary Sheffield, Brewers (four HRs, 12 RBI, 12 runs, three steals, .238 batting)
1989—Ken Griffey, Jr., Mariners (16 HRs, 61 RBI, 61 runs, 16 steals, .264 batting)
1991—Ivan Rodriguez, Rangers (three HRs, 27 RBI, 24 runs, .264 batting)
1995—Alex Rodriguez, Mariners (five HRs, 19 RBI, 15 runs, four steals, .232 batting)
1996—Andruw Jones, Braves (five HRs, 13 RBI, 11 runs, three steals, .217 batting)
1991—Edgar Renteria, Marlins (five HRs, 31 RBI, 68 runs, 16 steals, .309 batting)
2011—Mike Trout, Angels (five HRs, 16 RBI, 24 runs, four steals .220 batting)
 

 

2. Harper’s audition with the Nationals might be brief—very brief.

On Friday, Nationals GM Mike Rizzo hinted Harper’s promotion would be a short-term move. He then said the club has no plans to deviate from its preseason goal of Harper (one HR, three RBI, eight runs, one steal, .250 batting) logging 300 to 350 minor league at-bats. Of course, that concept came before injuries to Zimmerman and 1B/OF Michael Morse.

Translation: The kid’s taste of the big leagues may simply be a motivational ploy or timely reward to keep Harper focused on what lies ahead.
 

 

Breakdown

Harper likely has owners for 99.99 percent of long-term keeper leagues, but if you should accidentally find him on waivers, by all means grab and stash him for 2013 and beyond.

For roto owners only concerned with this season, unless there’s a specific slot for “minors” talent, I wouldn’t recommend upending your roster for a few weeks of hot-and-cold Harpermania. He may be the greatest young hitter since Tony Gwynn…but he’s still just a teenager.

And great fantasy success, historically speaking, is usually reserved for the 20-something crowd.

Harper seasonal targets: Six homers, 24 RBI, 27 runs, seven steals, .258 batting.

 

Jay Clemons can be reached on Twitter, day or night, at @ATL_JayClemons.

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Bryce Harper Recalled: 5 Reasons Call-Up Is Insanely Premature

As much as we’ve anticipated Bryce Harper getting called up to the majors, we apparently weren’t as excited as Washington Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo. Whatever plan he had just got tossed out the window in a desperate hope to inject some offense into an increasingly feeble Nats lineup.

Yes, left field is a disaster for the Nats right now. If you had Xavier Nady, Mark DeRosa and Roger Bernadina in your fantasy baseball outfield, you’d stop playing fantasy baseball. The Nats had to do something, especially when Mike Morse’s return is anything but certain. 

The Nats hold first place in the NL East by a slim one-game margin over the Atlanta Braves, and Ryan Zimmerman going to the disabled list leaves them with virtually no offense other than Adam LaRoche. But is calling Harper up to the majors when he’s struggling in the minors really the right move to make at this time?

This is a stunningly premature decision by Rizzo and the Nationals, one that could blow up in their faces and set back the future of their franchise. 

Here are five reasons why breaking the emergency glass on Harper is a crazy move. 

 

Even the GM doesn’t think it’s a good idea

Calling up the team’s No. 1 prospect should be a move made with confidence, not out of desperation. Yet the Nationals aren’t putting Harper in a position to succeed. They’re crossing their fingers and hoping. Even Rizzo doesn’t seem to think this is the right move.

“Suffice it to say, this isn’t the coming out party for Bryce that we had in mind,” Rizzo told reporters. “This isn’t the optimal situation developmentally for Bryce.”

How about that for a vote of confidence? 

Rizzo went on to admit that this decision basically blows up the plan they had mapped out for Harper. He knows Harper isn’t ready for the majors, yet he’s calling him up anyway.

That’s not a plan for success. That’s a Hail Mary. Perhaps Harper is the kind of exceptional talent that a typical plan doesn’t apply to. But his minor league performance hasn’t demonstrated that thus far. 

 

He’s already been rushed

Assigning Harper to Triple-A to begin the season was already rushing his development. He hadn’t exactly conquered Double-A last season.

In 147 plate appearances with Double-A Harrisburg, Harper hit .256/.329/.395 with three home runs and 12 RBI. Those aren’t eye-popping numbers. The slugging percentage, especially, for a player considered a power hitter was a big concern. 

Had Harper shown he could handle Double-A pitching and was making the proper adjustments in his game, maybe the Nats could’ve promoted him to the majors from there. But to jump him two levels when he was struggling could overwhelm his development as a hitter.

Rizzo should dial up Detroit Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski and ask him about how he handled Cameron Maybin in 2007. Much like the Nats, the Tigers were desperate for left field production when they promoted their top prospect.

But that was in mid-August, when Detroit was in a pennant race. And Maybin was destroying Double-A pitching. Taking a chance then made far more sense.

However, Maybin wasn’t ready for the majors and was hardly a factor for the Tigers down the stretch. His development was tossed out the window, and five years later he is still trying to establish a foothold in the big leagues.

 

It’s a temporary move

Rizzo apparently felt better about making this decision after watching Harper’s last three games with Triple-A Syracuse.

Yes, Harper hit 3-for-8, showing that maybe he was starting to figure things out. So why mess with that and risk a setback? Rizzo said they’re hoping to catch Harper while he’s hot, hoping he can continue his streak of success in the majors.

But why potentially cut that progress off at the knees for what could be just over a week in the majors (if Zimmerman’s shoulder recovers by May 6, when he’s eligible to return from the DL)?

Also, is three games really enough of a sample to make that kind of judgment? If we were discussing any other minor league prospect, one who hasn’t generated the hype, excitement and anticipation that Harper has, wouldn’t we be talking about what a hasty, desperate decision this is?

 

Looking for power will create bad habits

Rizzo said one of the reasons Harper was being promoted is because they need some more power in the lineup, especially from left field. Harper should provide more than the one home run and .125 slugging percentage they were getting from that position. 

But Harper was already trying too hard to hit home runs, which is why he hasn’t hit very well in the minors. Now you’re telling him to swing away against major league pitching because the lineup needs some more pop.

Yes, something is better than the nothing they were getting. But encouraging Harper to swing out of his shoes when he needs to take a more patient approach at the plate is going to cement the bad habits he’s been developing.

 

Someone else is more ready

In his post on Harper’s promotion, Steven Goldman acknowledged Triple-A outfielder Tyler Moore as another option but cited his poor batting average and strike zone judgment as reasons he should be dismissed as a possibility for the Nationals. 

But if the Nats are looking for power, Moore has it. And he has that power right now, rather than trying to find it, as Harper still is. Over the past two seasons, Moore had 62 home runs, and he already has six this season.

No, Moore isn’t the future star that Harper is. He doesn’t have the same upside. But if he fails, the Nationals haven’t made the same investment in him that they’ve made in Harper.

At this moment, Moore appears to be a more finished product, and he’s already swinging the power bat that the Nats are looking for.

 

Follow @iancass on Twitter

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Bryce Harper: Washington Nationals Media Frenzy Begins on National TV Tonight

The Washington Nationals are already the feel-good story of the early 2012 Major League Baseball season. They are tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers for the best record in the National League at 14-6, plus they have one of the best pitching staffs in baseball.

They have been winning despite the early season injuries to their top hitter from last year Michael Morse and the closer Drew Storen who have yet to see action this season.  

This early-season showdown between the Nationals and the Los Angeles Dodgers in Los Angeles, the two best teams in the National League, is a marquee matchup. But early yesterday afternoon things became much more interesting and far more dramatic on a national scale.  

It all started when Washington Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo announced that star third baseman Ryan Zimmerman was going on the 15-day disabled list. He knew he needed a big bat to help the team’s struggling offense.

At around 5 p.m. ET yesterday, Rizzo announced that Bryce Harper would be called up to the Nationals from Triple-A Syracuse and the word spread as fast as you can say Twitter.

Considered one of the top prospects in baseball, Harper, the 2010 overall No. 1 pick in the MLB draft was selected at the young age of 17. Now at the age of 19, he is going to start in left field for the Nationals tonight. Oh, and by the way, Stephen Strasburg is pitching for Washington this evening to add yet another reason to watch.

The MLB Network announced that they would be airing the game nationally starting at 9 p.m. ET as part of their Saturday Night Baseball package. ESPN and FOX offices in Los Angeles are ready to report on all things Harper the moment he strides onto the green grass of Dodger Stadium about 6 p.m. ET.

Like the debut of his teammate Strasburg, young Harper will get the media crunch that is expected of a Sports Illustrated cover boy. You can bet that the MLB Network will be adding more Nationals games to their roster and ESPN had already scheduled May 6th for Sunday Night Baseball as the Philadelphia Phillies are headed to town to face the Nationals in prime time.  

The Harper hype started yesterday on ESPN and the MLB Network and don’t look for it to die down anytime soon.

Locally, the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, the home of both the Nationals and the Baltimore Orioles are doing all they can to make sure that everyone in their four-state region from Harrisburg, Pa. to Charlotte, N.C. knows which channel on the cable system that MASN2 and MASN2-HD is on for tonight’s coming-out party.

Las Vegas, Harper’s hometown, is excited and there will be plenty of new Nationals fans making the trip over to Dodger Stadium. His debut in the majors was the top sports story on all the local television stations in Las Vegas, as well as on the front page of the Las Vegas Review-Journal sports section. The Vegas media will be making the trip to LA to cover the local hero. 

So, ready or not, Harper will be in the big leagues and you will be seeing plenty of him nationally and, of course, locally starting tonight.            

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Washington Nationals: Would Tyler Moore’s Promotion Keep Bryce Harper Down?

Washington Nationals’ prospect Tyler Moore made the first start of his career in left field on Monday. He previously played first base exclusively.

Moore possesses an extremely powerful bat, mashing 68 home runs since the 2010 season.

He’s hit 31 home runs in each of the past two seasons and is off to a hot start thus far. In 17 games (62 at-bats), Moore has six home runs, 16 RBI and a line of .290/.357/.613.

Moore could potentially become a Michael Morse-type player for the Nationals. Morse has experience in both the infield and outfield.

Upon his promotion, Moore would likely slot into left field for the Nationals. With Morse nursing an injury for at least the next month, the Nationals need somebody to fill the offensive void left by their slugging outfielder.

If Moore plays well in his time with the Nationals, the team could theoretically move Jayson Werth to center field, Morse to right and leave Moore in left.

This would make the Nationals outfield very dynamic offensively, but it could potentially alter the progress of Bryce Harper.

With the outfield full of consistent producers, the Nationals would have no need for Harper this season. They would never bring Harper up to sit the bench, so he’d likely spend the rest of the season in Triple-A Syracuse.

I highlighted in a previous article that such a situation could benefit Harper, but the Nationals seem to have every intention of bringing Harper up sometime in June.

With Moore in left field and producing, though, Harper will be without a spot.

Next season, Morse could shift back to first base after the contract of Adam LaRoche expires, leaving an opening in the outfield for Harper.

Harper, with another season of professional baseball under his belt, would be a much bigger addition to the National lineup next season.

Moore’s promotion could potentially slow the progress of Harper, but it may not be such a bad thing.

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