In the wake of “The Kiss“, this AP story is making the rounds about how Bryce Harper still needs to develop skills and maturity before he gets to the major leagues.
The answer, for those who see Harper every day, is an easy one. There are dozens of things, from obvious to subtle and tangible to intangible, that go into making a major league baseball player. Maturity. Baserunning. Learning to work the count. Dealing with the grind. Attitude. Adjusting to umpires. Meshing with teammates in the clubhouse.
Harper has a head start on most of them, but he’s mastered maybe three. He’s got a major league arm in the outfield, a powerful swing and is very competitive. Everything else is a work in progress for an 18-year-old who, in another world, would right now be rehashing tales from his senior prom.
Craig Calcaterra picks up on this theme:
I don’t know who the biggest adult or the former player with the most gravitas is in the Washington Nationals organization. But whoever he is, he needs to have a friendly talk with Harper about how, for as unfair as it may seem, he is a unique case and as such, he has to leave his brash and arrogant 18-year-old self behind and let his bat do the talking for him. Because if he doesn’t, he’s going to represent a serious case of arrested development by the time he reaches the bigs.
And again, this idea doesn’t appeal to me because I’m an old man who wants arrogant punks like Bryce Harper off my lawn. It’s because I want to see Bryce Harper fulfill the promise he has with as little bullshit as possible. I want this kid to be everything he can be and more, because if he is, he’ll be able to do things no one else has ever done.
Now, please go take a look at Bryce’s stats. What part of the game has he not mastered, at least as far as A ball is concerned?
- Hits for average? Check
- Hits for power? Check
- Good plate discipline indicated by drawing walks? Check
- Four outfield kills in 56 games. Good defense? Check
- Twelve steals in 17 attempts. Not bad for a power hitter. Baserunning. Check
Okay, he hasn’t pitched yet, so maybe he can’t do everything.
Why do people want him to change? Here’s a list of competitive, arrogant SOBs who washed out of major league baseball:
- Ty Cobb
- Babe Ruth
- Joe DiMaggio
- Ted Williams
- Mickey Mantle
- Reggie Jackson
- Bert Blyleven
- Pete Rose
- Barry Bonds
- Manny Ramirez
- Alex Rodriguez
Wait, they didn’t wash out? You mean that fierce, competitive spirit that easily alienated teammates and opponents didn’t stop them from becoming some of the greatest who ever played the game?
The truth is, as much as we would like it to be different, you wouldn’t want any of these people as your friends. You do want each of them on your team. Part of what makes them so distasteful is also part of what makes them so great, the arrogance that they believe they are the best that every played and the ability to prove it. So my advice to Harper is to keep hitting home runs and keep blowing kisses. As Barry Bonds once told ESPN, he wants his opponents to hate him, so their concentrating on the hate rather than getting him out. Bryce seems to have that down.
Excellent comments David, I would add Clemens to your list as well. The list of nice guys who finish first (like Griffey, Thome, Maddux(?)) are few and far between. It’s exciting that Harper has already put himself on the board – with his offensive production as well as antics – before he even has had a ML at-bat. Characters and attitudes have always been a part of baseball – or any other professional sport.
I was watching the Twins game yesterday and they showed the entire bullpen riding an imaginary bobsled in from the bullpen to the dugout before the game. The fans were laughing and I thought to myself, wow they are acting like 16-year-olds and it’s great!
For some purists the allure of baseball is still that it’s a boys game played by men. It’s to be expected and even celebrated when some 18-year-olds simply act their age.
Much ado about not much. Actually, instead of the talk Craig Calcaterra is suggesting, I’d tell him to expect to be a target for this kind of article. As a super-hyped prospect he’ll always be a lightning rod and people will expect him to live up to their own expectations no matter how he plays.
Brett Carow » I would note that Griffey didn’t start out a nice guy. Most of the media I knew who had dealing with Ken in the 1990s did not like him.
Prepare for a storm of “indignant sports columnists and talking heads.” We are talking A ball level. And an 18 y.o.
@David Pinto: Good point, I remember that as well. Was the issue that he didn’t know how to embrace the media and make it work for him? It seems that he kept running into issues that wouldn’t have been issues for most players, but he was a MLers kid and had separate expecations beyond that. Must’ve been odd to be in the clubhouse with your dad as well.
I’ve heard that Manny is actually a great guy and friend. And you forgot to list Gary Sheffield.
I went to a Suns game about a month ago and saw Harper play. He went 2-4 that night. In his last at bat, he struck out, but the ball got away from the catcher on the third strike. It took Harper a second to realize the ball had gotten loose and he was easily thrown out at first. Not sure even if he’d broken into a sprint the second the catcher dropped the ball that he would have been safe – I don’t think the ball got that far away from the catcher. But that didn’t stop someone in the stands yelling at him about a lack of hustle.
Not only is he only 18, he’s on his own for the first time on the other side of the country from his home. In god forsaken Hagerstown, Maryland. Yeah, he’s got 9.9 reasons to act a bit more mature, but let’s cut him a little slack after only two months.
Brett Carow » The issues with Griffey and the press ranged from a lack of cooperation to outright hostility.
NBarnes » I’m sure there are many more I could have listed. I thought about putting Jeff Kent and Albert Belle in there, but they’re not at quite the same level.
Playing a little devil’s advocate, but of your list of jerks who did well, you’ve included a paranoid freak (Cobb), a guy whose career probably could have been longer had he not drunk so much (Mantle), a guy who is now banned from MLB (Rose), and a couple of guys whose careers have ended abruptly and in shame due to steroids (Ramirez and Bonds). Maybe a little attitude adjustment would have helped them.
Here’s a list of nice guys who washed out of MLB:
Hank Aaron
Roberto Clemente
Dale Murphy
Cal Ripken
Derek Jeter
Stan Musial (screw Murray Chass)
Harmon Killebrew
Lou Gehrig
🙂
All that said, Harper just needs to be who he’s going to be. As long as he’s ready for frequent booing and having some pitchers throwing at his head, he can be a jerk all he wants and he’ll be fine.
David, I honestly love this post – brilliant!
By the way, I wouldn’t mind hanging around with Blyleven. Maybe his sense of humor is a little rough, but he seems like a funny guy.
He might not have gotten along with sportswriters, but I don’t care about that. I wouldn’t get along with the Jay Mariottis of the world, either.