Bryce Harper, catcher and Scott Boras advisee

NL Player of the Month

good choice

(tho not w/out other options)

walked 6x and hit by a pitch today; first modern player to reach 7x in a game w/out an AB. (i think i have that right)

Cubs are no dummies

::placeholder post for "HEY FUCK YOU" gif::

http://screengrabber.deadspin.com/bryce-harper-to-ump-who-ejected-him-fuck-you-1775674433

Lol that ump knew it was coming

@beckjason
Michael Fulmer is just the 3rd MLB pitcher younger than Bryce Harper to face him, joining Aaron Nola and Jacob Lindgren.

clown tweet bro

@AlexPutterman
Dusty Baker on Bryce Harper: "I like him as a young man. Now, will I have to spank him sometime? Maybe. I like my son, too."

one-game suspension!

worth it

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/CmzdHYgWEAAUfLM.jpg:small

https://sports.vice.com/en_us/article/man-amongst-boys-the-oral-history-of-bryce-harpers-record-setting-junior-college-season

oral history of his juco year

yeah sale is falling hard, keith law seems to think he projects as a reliever not a starter and maybe some teams have bought into that too

― ciderpress, Monday, June 7, 2010 8:06 PM (6 years ago)

lol btw

good read xp

meanwhile i have a west coast correspondent wondering aloud whether mike trout is the best player in the game.

i don't know whether to cry or wind my watch

― mookieproof, Tuesday, June 12, 2012 10:41 PM (4 years ago)

also!

hah -- my west coast correspondent and i were discussing how much longer trout needs to play to become a hall of famer

i said possibly just the rest of this season

yeah i said basically the same thing in the HOF thread a few weeks ago, and morbs reminded me that there is a 10-year service requirement

he's hitting .235/.380/.443 now, yikes

Didn't see your post till right now, but I was looking at his stats this morning and was actually going to post something similar. If, based on last year, he was indeed pointing in the direction of an all-timer on the order of Aaron and such--or at least Griffey-level--has there ever been a player of that caliber have such a poor year heading into his prime? Nothing's coming to mind, I'd have to start checking.

not quite that caliber of player, but iirc cano had a truly awful year pretty early into his prime and rebounded pretty well

yeah ok i just checked that cano season and that was definitely before he'd established himself as a superstar

that's far from a bad line in the year 2016, that's more of a 'no one's giving him pitches to hit' line

that said, harper's still drawn a ton of walks and provides good value in the field. he's still going to end up a 4-5 win player this year -- not bad a for a down year

that's far from a bad line in the year 2016, that's more of a 'no one's giving him pitches to hit' line

― ciderpress, Tuesday, August 2, 2016 12:37 PM (1 minute ago

he's batting .235 man, for a 115 wRC+. it's pretty bad for a hitter of his level

couldn't sleep last night, so i also went back and re-read the harper vs trout thread. a couple of people were ready to hand harper the crown after last season -- likewise i think it's premature to write him off now, but it's hard to see him having a better career than trout at this point

(just going to keep posting instead of studying)

ESPN recently ran a poll of its experts ranking the best players in baseball history. harper came in at #85 or so, which i thought was a little high. trout was #40, which...honestly might be a little low

Harper's year was so phenomenal last year that I think the assumption for me and many others was that, even when you factor in the inevitable leveling off, he and Trout would still be at a comparable level for the next few years--Trout better some years, Harper better others. I don't think anyone expected this.

his strikeout rate isn't up so it's more likely just a long BABIP slump than a change in skill/ability

his hard-hit rate is way down -- at 32% from 41%. his numbers are down across the board, it's definitely a real slump, not just some fluke. i'm sure he'll get back to his usual self tho

Harper's year was so phenomenal last year that I think the assumption for me and many others was that, even when you factor in the inevitable leveling off, he and Trout would still be at a comparable level for the next few years--Trout better some years, Harper better others. I don't think anyone expected this.

― clemenza, Tuesday, August 2, 2016 12:46 PM (15 minutes ago)

trout's gonna end up like mays, only winning a couple of MVPs when he easily could have about ten

his incredible 2015 aside bryce harper is more jason heyward than willie mays

Mays, career:             .302/.384/.557
Heyward, career:          .264/.349/.420
Harper, career - 2015:    .264/.358/.461

Not bad!

James's thoughts on Harper (second question down, before it disappears behind the paywall):

http://www.billjamesonline.com/hey_bill/#51013

(Even if you think sabermetrics has passed James by--I don't, but I think some of you do--one thing he's always good on is historical precedent.)

yeah, cash looks like a pretty great parallel. i would bet a lot of money that harper's career is gonna end up a lot better than his, though

Better, I'd agree, but once you adjust for era, Cash was actually really good. His career OPS+ of 139 would put him in a tie for 10th on the active list, behind only Trout, Pujols, Votto, Cabrera, Goldschmidt, Stanton, Braun, Ortiz, and A-Rod (Harper stands at 139 too, in fewer PA).

538 piece:

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-bryce-harper-has-gone-from-great-to-good/

I don't think I'll ever find exit velocity particularly interesting.

It's funny that everyone's trying to figure out how a batter with a .305 True Average this year got so 'bad' (which would be his 2nd best season, to last year's .386).

BP podcast discussion with the author of the 538 piece and the Fangraphs one linked here:

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=30049

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-thing-about-bryce-harpers-2015/

0-3 with 3 Ks tonight. average down to .233

they took him out of the game?

didn't watch but yeah it looks like they did

well now

http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/story/bryce-harper-mashes-longest-home-run-of-his-career-against-rockies-081716

on the mets broadcast the other day keith told a story abt going hiking in Arizona and by happenstance running into david segui. I guess segui had previously worked w Bryce as a hitting coach, but Bryce chose not to work w him this past offseason or yr or w/e and segui was like yeah and look now hes only hitting .230

batting average idiots

James has a piece up about Harper and fluke seasons--behind the paywall, though.

"Bryce Harper's 2015 season, if he never again has an outstanding season, would indeed qualify as the greatest fluke season of all time. However, for reasons I'll explain later, I think that's pretty unlikely. It is much more likely that he will have more great seasons coming up."

He doesn't include active players in his research, but he does say that "Ellsbury's (2011) season is now a very strong candidate to be described as the greatest fluke season in baseball history."

$21.6 M for next year, so no arb.

And he just won the game w/ a 2-run HR vs the Philths.

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/19375559/bryce-harper-agrees-21625-million-deal-washington-nationals-2018-season

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/bryce-harper-has-a-new-lower-gear/

Was watching that game for Scherzer and thought both HR, the second especially, were odd.

lol at 'bryce harper is four months younger than aaron judge'

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DEYgFqvW0AApA-U.jpg