Bryce Harper, catcher and Scott Boras advisee

wau he creamed that

Tonight brings his batting average for the year up to .307, he's 15 for 37 in June so far.

he is for real

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

Trout is amazing tbh

Yeah these guys are incredible. Feel a little bad for Trout. Under normal circumstances people would be talking about his season constantly, but with Harper doing this @ 19 (and being Harper) it almost feels like Trout's amazingness is being under-hyped.

totally OTM, but Harper is hitting .307/.390/.553 which is like, Ryan Braun/Joey Votto type numbers. I'm guessing he'll regress this year but I really don't feel like anything's out of the realm of possibility by the time he turns 23 (in 2016!!!)

that said, Trout is hitting even better this year (.345/.406/.552) and I think Trout vs. Harper is a legitimate debate. But what Harper's doing at 19 is pretty much unprecedented and he has all the hype behind him so of course he's the more interesting story.

(unrelated note: Stephen Strasburg is hitting .350/.381/.650, making him 7th on his team in batting WAR even though he's only gotten 21 plate appearances)

harper is def getting more mainstream press but stathead/roto/sabr ppl are prob being more over the moon re: trout right now

well yeah the nats offense is garbage, no idea how they're winning games with the morse-desmond-espinosa-ankiel gauntlet of doom in the back half of the lineup

trout also is an incredibly good base stealer and plays premium defense in CF. harper has the flashy power but if trout keeps hitting decently he's going to be the one at the top of the WAR charts

"That's a clown question, bro."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzbhjzsyvGk

Nats pitching has still been incredible

he *should* have a beer.

Thread title reminds me that Harper used to be a catcher. Seems like the transition from catcher to CF is kinda rare but maybe more frequent amongst 18 year olds..

I forget, what was the impetus for his transition away from catcher? Just to reduce the chances of his knees exploding when he's 28 or something?

yeah lower injury risk plus it gets his bat in the lineup 160 games instead of 120 or whatever

he's a RF not a CF. it's not that rare to go from catcher to corner position

did Dale Murphy go from C to CF then a corner?

i think... did Werth start of as a C?

"I forget, what was the impetus for his transition away from catcher? Just to reduce the chances of his knees exploding when he's 28 or something?"

General consensus was that it would take Harper a lot longer to get to the majors if he stayed at catcher and it was entirely possible that he wouldn't have been able to stay at the position anyways plus the injury risk and the fact that the bat would play anywhere is why the Nats immediately moved him to the outfield.

for injury risk, Nats catcher is like Spinal Tap drummer

Trout is getting a fair amount of attention. Sports Illustrated had a piece (online only, maybe) arguing for his superiority so far over Harper, and, on a smaller scale, so did SweetSpot.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/web/COM1199527/index.htm
http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/25469/mike-trout-greatest-20-year-old-ever

The SweetSpot piece actually doesn't mention Harper.

Here is the list of players since 1871 who had 400 or more plate appearances and an OPS+ above 145 in their age 20 season or earlier:

??? it's not showing the list of players for me

Rank Player OPS+
1 Ty Cobb 167
2 Mel Ott 165
3 Al Kaline 162
4 Mickey Mantle 162
5 Alex Rodriguez 161
6 Ted Williams 160
7 Rogers Hornsby 150
8 Jimmie Foxx 148

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/cliff_corcoran/06/06/mike.trout.angels/index.html#ixzz1xhphYERA

I want to discount all the 'Harper's doing it at 19, Trout is 20!' but I guess maybe that year does make a legit difference when you look at others' performance at 19 vs 20 (like A-Rod).

That list really is amazing. No borderlines, no Hall of the Very Goods, etc. Kaline's the worst ("worst") player on there...

yeah...

"I want to discount all the 'Harper's doing it at 19, Trout is 20!' but I guess maybe that year does make a legit difference when you look at others' performance at 19 vs 20 (like A-Rod)."

Okay maybe you can discount the age thing, but you can't entirely discount the fact that last year Trout was 19 and completely struggling at the MLB level in ~130 plate appearances. A guy coming in at 19 years old and completely dominating in his first contact with MLB pitching is basically once a generation talent+.

http://dailycaller.com/2012/06/15/bryce-harper-conservative-hero/

Watching Bryce Harper play is like listening to an economic speech by Paul Ryan Watching Bryce Harper play is like listening to an economic speech by Paul Ryan Watching Bryce Harper play is like listening to an economic speech by Paul Ryan Watching Bryce Harper play is like listening to an economic speech by Paul Ryan Watching Bryce Harper play is like listening to an economic speech by Paul Ryan Watching Bryce Harper play is like listening to an economic speech by Paul Ryan Watching Bryce Harper play is like listening to an economic speech by Paul Ryan Watching Bryce Harper play is like listening to an economic speech by Paul Ryan Watching Bryce Harper play is like listening to an economic speech by Paul Ryan Watching Bryce Harper play is like listening to an economic speech by Paul Ryan Watching Bryce Harper play is like listening to an economic speech by Paul Ryan Watching Bryce Harper play is like listening to an economic speech by Paul Ryan Watching Bryce Harper play is like listening to an economic speech by Paul Ryan Watching Bryce Harper play is like listening to an economic speech by Paul Ryan Watching Bryce Harper play is like listening to an economic speech by Paul Ryan Watching Bryce Harper play is like listening to an economic speech by Paul Ryan: It’s long on reality and short on excuses. Harper has slapped baseball awake, and every time he steps up to the plate, years of crusty baseball routine no longer apply. He swings the bat with a blinding snap of force, and in the outfield dives for balls that bored veterans would let go. When he hits a double he usually tries to stretch it into a triple. Manager Davey Johnson tries to bench him for being hurt, and Harper confronts him and says, like a person with enough dignity to refuse welfare like a person with enough dignity to refuse welfare like a person with enough dignity to refuse welfare like a person with enough dignity to refuse welfare like a person with enough dignity to refuse welfare like a person with enough dignity to refuse welfare like a person with enough dignity to refuse welfare like a person with enough dignity to refuse welfare like a person with enough dignity to refuse welfare like a person with enough dignity to refuse welfare like a person with enough dignity to refuse welfare like a person with enough dignity to refuse welfare like a person with enough dignity to refuse welfare like a person with enough dignity to refuse welfare like a person with enough dignity to refuse welfare like a person with enough dignity to refuse welfare like a person with enough dignity to refuse welfare: Let me work.

since that has literally nothing to do with baseball (even if it was written by Joe Judge's grandson), can you put crap like it in one of the hundred or so "conservative zoo animal" threads in the future?

it's really funny, how you just c/p some phrases over and over

plz, I replaced cable with mlb.tv in an election year for a reason.

oh man, burned by frogbs

what else could go wrong

since that has literally nothing to do with baseball

actually, it concerns professional baseball player Bryce Harper, surprised you missed that part

watching Bryce Harper play is like listening to Dr Morbius complain

in other Bryce Harper news I am v happy to have scored tickets to tonight's game, going with my dad as an early father's day present!

5ks

no poly, some asshole just decided to use Bryce Harper as a Trojan Horse for some Klanspew.

Whereas Luke Scott just does it all on his own.

yesss

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-sports-bog/post/harry-reid-uses-thats-a-clown-question-bro/2012/06/19/gJQAdEeSoV_blog.html

i have been waiting for a bro to ask me a clown question but it hasn't happened yet!! :(

How to Get Him Out Every Time

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=17384

@AdamKilgoreWP
TV guy: "What's on your iPod?" Harper: "What do you like to listen to?" TV guy: "I like Vampire Weekend." Harper: "That's weird." Gold.

all-star quote machine

Gotta say, I'm starting to think this isn't the worst guy in baseball.

Yeah, I like him.

I still hate him

Harper just, uh, clowned Kevin Millar. On Millar's highlights: "That's TERRIBLE. Is he like 46?"