Bryce Harper, catcher and Scott Boras advisee

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

the J's message board just went apeshit over the J's passing Sale over.

or maybe he's just asking for huge $

yeah -- i've never seen him pitch

drew pomeranz is giving me visions of andrew miller

thanks for talking about every pick in depth except for the J's, MLB. who cares about the reds. seriously!

DECK MCGUIRE

2K Sports renamed some of these people

there he goes

he's skinny!

they keep mentioning that. like dude can't be fed a few extra sandwiches or something.

ESPN CRAWL JUST SUGGESTED THE ASTROS DRAFT DELINO DESHIELDS JR.

SORRY OTHERS HAVE COMMENTED ON THIS ALREADY BUT THAT IS INSANE I AM OLD AND GOING TO DIE SOMEDAY :C

being an astros fan is shitty. drayton is like a cheap al davis.

cubs draft H. Simpson

everyone at the reporters desk was like 'who'

cubs out stupiding houston. nl central lookin strong.

Hayden Simpson is a hard-throwing small-college right-handed starting pitcher from Southern Arkansas. Simpson originally came to Southern Arkansas from Magnolia High School in Magnolia, Arkansas, a small southwestern Arkansas town near the borders of Oklahoma and Texas. He was a fairly unknown prospect coming out of high school due to his smaller frame, and he wasn’t carrying the type of stuff he has today. He went undrafted in the 2007 draft, heading to pitch at Southern Arkansas. After a pair of decent years, he really took a big step forward this spring, showing advanced stuff and pitchability, as well as successful numbers of a good Division 2 team. Scouts think he has the natural stuff to be a number three starter or setup man, but a few scouts can’t get past his size, which is generously listed at six feet. He’s still skinny and short, but he has enough raw stuff to influence a game. His fastball is a plus pitch, sitting 92-94, touching 96, and that’s not just in short bursts. He holds his velocity fairly well throughout games, and he’s able to reach back for something more late in a game. He also throws in an above-average curveball with some good velocity behind it, as well as a fringe-average changeup, so the biggest concern behind his size is his ability to get pro left-handed hitters out, though Simpson has shown enough in college to think he can handle them just fine. He’s expected to be picked in the fourth to seventh round range, where he should be signable for slot or average money

when will america give up on the small physical size thing?

Projectable body, trusts his stuff, goes right after hitters, willingly takes the ball every fifth day, has been calling his own pitches since the age of eight.

xpost

damn was hoping josh sale might fall to redsox

i guess cox still might though !

its just possible he could have been had 2 rounds later

and pitchability

Holy shit -- "pitchability"?

Plays baseball.

angels need someone to take over 3b in light of brandon woods awesome flameout

well they left the best and closest-to-majors 3B on the board

c'mon houston bring the lols

alright! redsox time, zack cox is still available, lets do this

oops guess not

I look fwd to seeing Harper in my early 50s

supposedly cox wants a fortune.. like pedro alvarez money.

6 mil, apparently.

wtf cant Selig pronounce Los Angeles properly

does he use the hard G???

ub I think my team just flushed this pick down the toilet.. dodgers rarely go over slot

i like how he says "Los Angeleez"

like when old people say "Worshington"

makes me smile.

DECK MCGUIRE

2K Sports renamed some of these people

― Andy K, Monday, June 7, 2010 8:11 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

lol was thinking along similar lines http://www.soulstrut.com/images/smileys/killin_it.gif

With their selection in the 28th round, the Texas Rangers select Tug Sabathia.

Oddibe Kendall

beckjason
Chris Mears just announced compensation pick for Red Sox. He shared saves lead on 2003 #tigers ... with 5. #mlbdraft

CITO CULVER!

and the J's take 4 pitchers for some reason.

this was a really pitching-heavy draft, you don't want to reach for a position player if they're not the best signable player available

ya - i knew that going into it. but at a certain point you're going to have to reach down for the sake of diversifying things, no?

i also think it might be an AA thing. one clear thing he's done since taking over is stockpile arms like mad.

i guess they're banking on lind / snider / hill / wallace being a good enough lineup core to carry a run-prevention team

was this live on MLB? I can't watch drafts.

Harper has "wanted to be a #1 pick since I was 7 years old." WTF

"... for the Washington Nationals."

"ya - i knew that going into it. but at a certain point you're going to have to reach down for the sake of diversifying things, no?"

Still twenty-four some-odd rounds to go though.

Supposedly a bunch of cubs fans went nuts last night and tore up their first round picks wikipedia page..

Nats take AJ Cole. Would be really nice if they decide to finally spend that money they had been promising their fans ever since they arrived in DC.

Seeing as there are as many as eight Astros/Red Sox players who'd rank ahead of him--Altuve, Bregman, Betts, and Bogarts for sure; Springer and Correa probably; Devers and Alvarez maybe; I'd add Martinez, too, if not for the age difference--you're probably right.

Yelich has more or less the same WAR as Harper with 500 less PA.

Speaking of Fred Lynn (I was, the other day, on the Juan Soto thread)...Is Harper Fred Lynn? Harper had a three-year jump age-wise, but through nine seasons, they're pretty close:

BH: 138 OPS+, 33.4 WAR
FL: 137 OPS+, 36.9 WAR

Two monster seasons each, although Harper's 2017 was injury-shortened; ROY both, one MVP each. (Lynn should have won a second in '79, an infamously terrible vote.)

i miss morbs. he would have bumped this thread several times by now. he's right there in the NL MVP race, and would seem to be the favorite if PHI can squeak into the playoffs. (i think if the padres make it, it's Tatis? if the reds make it...not sure)

(preamble about how harper often seems to be seen as a disappointment compared to his early promise)

his career line is now .278/.389/.520, a wRC+ of 141, wOPA of .384.
42 fWAR, 38.4 bWAR at age 28

pretty solid!

I used to be so down on Bryce but I was wrong

Definitely an MVP candidate...not sure I'd assume his career inconsistency is over, though. (His career numbers will likely remain in proximity to HOF-level because of how good his good years are.)

he has a good case but man what a depressing NL MVP race it's been, you've got prime acuna and tatis and soto and degrom and mookie and the league leader might not surpass 6 fWAR

well i guess corbin burnes and zack wheeler surpassed it already tbf

neither of them seem like candidates though

not sure I'd assume his career inconsistency is over, though.

this is what i mean, though - he hasn't been very inconsistent! i think that's his reputation. but look at his numbers:

https://i.imgur.com/Eg7Yf8K.png

his 2014 is his second worst, as a hitter. but he was 21 years old, and seriously injured for maybe the first time (?) in his career? and even then, he puts up a 115 wRC+, as a 21 year old, only looking bad in comparison to his own first couple years.

then his MVP 2015, which i think had the effect of resetting the expectation of him as a perennial mike trout superstar.

then his worst year, offensively, 2016. wRC+ of 111 -- 11% better than an average hitter -- dropping from .330 BA to .243 (BAPIB dropped from .369 to .264) looked bad, but his OBP was still .373!

and that's about it. those are his relatively bad seasons. his next worst hitting season is when he was 19 (wRC+ 121), and after that is 2019 (wRC+ 125), his first year in Philadelphia.

he's a pretty good lock for 4+ fWAR each year, and with upside for years like 2015 and 2021 as well. seems pretty consistent!

I think we're just looking at it from a different angle. then his MVP 2015, which i think had the effect of resetting the expectation of him as a perennial mike trout superstar--unfair as it may be, that's mine. If he were to stay where he is right now for a couple more seasons, I'd likely stop thinking that way. I still see Fred Lynn as a good comparison. Lynn also had a very good age-28 season--not as good as Harper this year, but he did get some MVP support. Another comparison (see above), this time Harper today vs. Lynn through his age-28 season:

Harper: .278/.389/.520, 141 OPS+, 38.4 WAR
Lynn: .308/.383/.520, 141 OPS+, 32.1 WAR

That's pretty damn close (Harper had a three-year head start on WAR). Lynn followed up with a disastrous strike-year season (injury? don't remember), then was never the same after that. So we'll see.

i guess i just mean, 10 years, 42 WAR for harper. he already proved himself

Good column:

https://open.substack.com/pub/joeposnanski/p/the-yankees-bryce-harper-and-what?r=1jtu0&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

(xposts) A year later--and assuming Harper continues playing this well--the Lynn comparison is moot.