Anyone heard of this kid? My younger brother has been following him for about a year now. Seems insane to have this much talent at 16. But its gotta be roids right :d ? http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Bryce-Harper-punches-his-ticket-to-Cooperstown-a?urn=mlb,167844
Alot of kids have immense talent at a young age...I played some college ball and played with quite a few guys who are in the show right now. The best player I saw before the age of 16 was rick elder, he was 6'3 and dropping 450 foot bombs, drafted number 27 or 28 overall out of highschool and that is the last time I heard from him, our center fielder cory patterson went 3rd that year and is still in the bigs. Cory was phenominal (sp) but Rick was out of this world. This kid is immpressive though, but only time will tell.
Hope all goes well for him, but I can assure you major league pitching is slightly different than batting practice or high school pitching.
I read the Sports Illustrated article.Ungodly numbers for power and average and a rocket of an arm.His preferred position is catching,but as pitcher throws in the 90's.Supposedly they tape measured his 570 foot blast. Physically he is way advanced for his age.He just finished his sophomore year and he is going to go to Junior college this fall so he can face better pitching and be eligible for the draft sooner. I to hope he succeed's and doesn't get churned out in the process of getting there.A lot can happen to derail someone's promise and potential.Hopefully he stays healthy and well adjusted!
Yeah, he has to graduate first before going JUCO, I went JUCO first as well...He will not see a college field if this keeps up. Did you see that Boras is his advisor. The gentleman I metioned before, Rick Elder had many 500' shots when we were coming up, funny thing when I or another teamate hit one about the same place it was about 100' short of his. Hope he stays the course and stays grounded...the whole world being on your nuts is hard enough when your 25, now imagine it at 15.
Just quoting the article.Can he go to JUCO with a high school equivalency diploma? Some how he was skipping his last two years os High School to go to JUCO.
I had read (somewhere??) he wanted to get his GED and then go JUCO. Why the big rush? If he's half as good as advertised, he should pad his stats on HS pitchers IMO.
Pretty sure it has some thing to do with what is called a signing bonus.If he lights it up in JUCO like he has been he will be the recipient of incredible amounts of money.