04/25/24
June 04, 2009
Baseball's LeBron: He hit the longest home run ever at Tropicana Field. He throws 96 miles per hour, has bat speed over 100 mph and has been known to every major-league club for at least a couple seasons. His name is Bryce Harper ... and he's 16 years old.
After the build-up I was expecting to see that his name was Steve Kansas.
posted by THX-1138 at 02:02 PM on June 04, 2009
Instead of Nebraska...good one, THX.
posted by BornIcon at 02:27 PM on June 04, 2009
Damn. Can you tell that I haven't seen that movie in like 15 years?
And I'm from Washington State. What do I know from Nebraska/Kansas? Hopefully Bryce Hopper can avoid representation from Boras or Albert Brooks.
posted by THX-1138 at 04:30 PM on June 04, 2009
THX, I thought you were putting a twist on Nebraska, and it was good. You should have left it alone. Nevertheless, you're still pretty high on my list of "read anything this guys posts cause you're guaranteed a laugh" spofites.
posted by smithnyiu at 05:06 PM on June 04, 2009
I am a prisoner of the truth. It shackles me to the walls I post on.
Man, can you just imagine how good this kid could be if he juiced? 1,000 ft home run blasts. Stealing home from first. Throwing runners out from center field AND tagging them on the same play. Pitching no-hitters while tossing peanuts in the stands as a vendor. Correcting the movie name mix-ups of geographically challenged northwesterners.
Oh what a wonderful world it would be.
(someone else talk now before I start dancing around with a lampshade on my head)
posted by THX-1138 at 05:21 PM on June 04, 2009
The travel-player-for-hire bit was pretty gross.
posted by bperk at 05:48 PM on June 04, 2009
That part was weird, Bperk. It reminded me of the creepy small child beauty pagaent industry. His parents were crazy to send him out of town unattended to play for travel baseball teams. They're lucky he wasn't molested or introduced to drugs and other trouble.
When you consider the power of this kid's bat, it seems pretty reckless to put him on the field hitting aluminum instead of wood. How much faster is a line drive off that bat going past a pitcher's head because of the metal?
posted by rcade at 07:31 PM on June 04, 2009
Somebody should put him up against a big league pitcher for a little bit to teach him... I don't want to go so far as humility... but a recognition that he has alot yet to learn.
Or to show us that he's Roundball Jesus. Whichever.
posted by bobfoot at 12:25 AM on June 05, 2009
THX, I thought you were putting a twist on Nebraska, and it was good
Which is exactly what I thought as well but I'm glad to help anywhich way that I can..."let me help you"!
Nevertheless, you're still pretty high on my list of "read anything this guys posts cause you're guaranteed a laugh" spofites.
Ditto on that.
(someone else talk now before I start dancing around with a lampshade on my head)
*cough* Who in their right mind would do such a thing? *cough*
/slowly taking lampshade off of my head
posted by BornIcon at 08:22 AM on June 05, 2009
for some reason that whole article gave me a Todd Marinovich vibe, and I'm not sure why.
Seems even with Todd, the parents were saying "it's not too much...he's had a very healthy childhood", and we see how that turned out. I'm just not sure healthy it can be when you're parents insist you play against kids 3 years older, send you traveling at 9 years old alone to other leagues, dad works with you on weekends pitching "sunflower seeds" to you, etc.
I mean there's no denying stuff like this works as he's obviously benefited athletically from the above...but then again, so did Marinovich (it just warped him so much mentally that his skills no longer mattered.)
posted by bdaddy at 10:36 AM on June 05, 2009
It's not any different than how Tiger Woods was raised. Sometimes it takes an overcompensating stage parent to produce a superathlete.
posted by rcade at 12:07 PM on June 05, 2009
Ho Hum.
Forgive me for being skeptical, but he's in high school. That record home run he hit in the dome was with a metal bat. Wake me up when he's tearing the cover off the ball in AA.
posted by mikemacman at 02:54 PM on June 05, 2009
Note to self:
Set mikemacman's alarm for three years. And DO NOT let him have that last glass of water before bed.
posted by THX-1138 at 03:57 PM on June 05, 2009
Heh. I was also immediately thinking about the Steve Nebraska similarity when I was reading the article.
I'd be interested to see how this turns out- there are prodigy stories fairly regularly, but a lot can and does change. Even guys like Josh Hamilton- a similar story- did pan out, but not quite to the level expected even accounting for the drug addiction diversions. Hamilton is an excellent ballplayer, but he's not A-Rod or Pujols.
Sounds like this guy is freakishly big, strong, quick, with insane talent, but as bobfoot said above I'd almost like him to face some real major leaguers or even the best AAA guys, to get a sense of his real ability. High schoolers pitching 80mph is hard to gauge anything but his pure power and strength in terms of homerun distance. Just about every major leaguer was, in high school, the guy who could catch, pitch, run, field, and hit, better than everyone else. In the majors, he'd probably ditch catching because it's hell on your knees and not worth the damage it'd do to his longevity. I doubt he'd pitch either, since the lack of a genuine pitching hitter in decades shows how specialized you have to be to excel at either.
This guy would be the first to admit he has work to do, but if he's the next "Roundball Jesus" he should get his GED now, and hell, send him to the draft for the majors next year (at what, 17?). It was good enough for guys like Bob Feller, and A-Rod was in the majors at 18 as well, not to mention Strasbourg's going directly to the majors, so let's see how he works out. Why waste time with the theater of high school and college, if he's got the skills today? The only reason for the minor leagues is if a player needs honing to be productive. If you can be productive at a major league level now, and only more productive with experience, then go for it.
posted by hincandenza at 06:52 PM on June 05, 2009
It's not any different than how Tiger Woods was raised. Sometimes it takes an overcompensating stage parent to produce a superathlete
Absolutely. I can remember when Tiger first popped on the scene and the media played over & over the skit where a young Tiger (Cub?) was putting on the Bob Hope Show and young Tiger was making those putts. No one but Tiger's dad & mom thought that Tiger was a special child with a special gift that needed to be nurtured but it didn't stop him from practicing every single day to get better.
What Bryce Harper's parent are doing is no different, it's just a different era where the media picks up on things and rolls with it. I wonder what would've been if this had happened to young Tiger...Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
posted by BornIcon at 03:28 PM on June 09, 2009
What a great story wfrazerjr. I pray to the baseball gods that:
a) he doesn't get hurt
b) he got as big and fast as he is naturally
c) his dream of playing in pinstripes never comes true
d) Scott Boras gets hit by a truck before he gets drafted