The Hyping of The Harper: Bryce Harper and Expectations

Hype Thy Name is Harper

“ got the most power, the most speed and the best arm in the league,” said the manager. “It’s scary to think what he could do some day.”

You’re thinking Bryce Harper, right? Nope.  Those words were spoken to Peter Gammons over 23 years ago about another young outfielder – Bo Jackson.  Then Boston Red Sox manager Joe Morgan uttered those superlatives about a 25-year-old Jackson who was entering his third full year in the big leagues and, to use Bill Simmons’ parlance, ready to “make the leap”.

 Hype has been around forever. Keith Law would have raved about David’s fastball before he slew Goliath if he’d been around back then. What we’re seeing with Harper isn’t new, there is just more of it.  Had Twitter, the Internet, and a baseball-focused channel existed when Jackson was making his mark, or when Ken Griffey, Jr. was a 19-year-old prodigy with a backwards hat we would have had to deal with the same stories.  Instead we had Sports Illustrated, the USA Today and This Week in Baseball (and we wore onions in our belts, which was the style at the time).

I’ve never understood not liking a player because of the hype surrounding a player, aka the Jeter Effect. If there is one player in the major leagues that is constantly named as the most overrated it is Jeter. Why? Let’s just say it wouldn’t happen if he was the Indians starting shortstop.  He’s a decent shortstop, not the best, not the worst. Yet, if you surf the Internet you’ll find pages and pages of rancor and misspellings detailing his failings. You would think that Jeter had personally insulted these critics just by picking up his glove.

As far as I know he never called himself the greatest, never wrote a column praising his own indefinable leadership qualities or voted lobbied to be inducted into the hall of fame.  All of this was done by the press, by folks trying to sell newspapers or page hits.  He just went out and played the game. Yet fans continue to say they hate him because he’s overrated.

Which brings us back to Harper. Hate him because he acts like a petulant child from time to time or because he wears eye black like he owns a charcoal powder company, but don’t hate him because Sports Illustrated lumped him in with Tiger Woods, LeBron James and Wayne Gretzky when he was only16-years-old. The same hype that allowed him to sign a $9.9 million, 5-year contract will also be a 2-ton shadow following him around for his career.

If “with great power comes great responsibility” then with great expectations comes great burden. No matter what Harper accomplishes on the field there will be some critics who steadfastly believe he could have done better. If he hits 700 home runs, someone will say he should have hit 701.  Lesser prospects don’t have that issue. If Christian Colon (drafted 3 sports after Harper) only averages 20 HR’s a year in his career no one is going to call him a bust, if Harper does someone will.

Matt Wieters went from “Mauer with Power” and “the Perfect Catcher” to one of Baseball Prospectus’ “Most Disappointing Prospects” before his 25^thth birthday.  The Catching Jesus is now winning some of those accolades back as it appears he’s improving on his 2011 All-Star/Gold Glove season.  Will we see a similar wave of hype/derision/credit if Harper struggles early on? Probably, just magnified by a factor of 300.

Yeah, I own a couple of copies of this.

For some reason we’ve become a sports society that values potential more than actual production. What someone is actually doing on the playing field isn’t as important as what he could be doing. Because a scout or writer labels someone as “great” we expect him to be the minute he laces up his shoes.

Vincent Lecavalier has put together a very strong NHL career. More than likely he will finish his career with over 400 goals and 1000 points; in fact there is no reason to doubt that he won’t get to 500 goals. If he does he’ll be among the top 50 goal scorers of all time, yet it’ll still feel like his career fell short.  Why?  Because when he was drafted his owner billed him as the “Michael Jordan of hockey” and some felt he would be the next great offensive weapon in the NHL along with the hallowed names of Gretzky and Lemieux.

When he struggled out of the gate (because his early teams were horrible) some of the hype fell away and fans were quick to anoint Patrick Stefan or Marian Gaborik the next great sniper. Then he started scoring and the hype returned. Now, limited by injuries and the expectations of a $10 million a year contract the kudos have faded again. He’s discussed not as a player capable of scoring 25-30 goals a year, but as a contract liability.

 We get bored easy as fans. Even if you follow a team with a possible hall-of-famer on it fans are more concerened with the future. Who cares about James Shields rolling to 15 wins every year, how many will Matt Moore or Alex Cobb win in 2014? Everyone is in a rush to see if a prospect has “got it” or not.  So what if they are only 19 and have never been away from their childhood for more than a week at a time before.

Who cares about the legions of young pitchers who can throw 98 mph that have been burned out and blown out before their 25^th birthday, let’s rush last year’s draft pick through the system as quick as possible.  Why waste time in Aberdeen or Fredrick when he can be standing on the mound in Camden Yards trying to strike out Jose Bautista with a good fastball and a change-up he learned two weeks ago? Who cares, it’ll sell tickets. And then when Bautista hits one off of the ivy we can all say, “Heh. I knew that bum was a bust. Now, this other kid, the one down in Single-A, he’s got the stuff. I can’t wait till they call him up.”

So here’s how am I dealing with the Harper Hype – I’m sitting it out. I’ll watch some of the games, maybe check out the highlights the next day, but I’m not changing my life to see how he does. I’ll read the papers and the SI articles but I’m not going to judge the kid’s abilities. I’m not going to call him a “bust” or a “stud” based on a handful of games.  I’m not going to value his doubles over anyone else’s doubles, they are no more or less tremendous than Wilson Betimet’s. 

I won’t write him off if he gets demoted to the minors, nor will I demand he’s named rookie of the year because he hits 15 home runs and doesn’t look like a fool against major league players. If he earns the praise, I’ll praise him (the most impressive part of his game so far has been his arm strength. A couple of throws have been down right  Ichiro-ian) and if he does something stupid I’ll comment on that.

A part of me hopes he does succeed. Watching a super-hyped prospect succeed is always more enjoyable than watching one fail.  Hopefully, he does do tremendous things in this game and 20 years from now I’m condemning people for calling some kid the “next Bryce Harper”.

Baseball? I Thought This Was a Hockey Blog!

Look O’s fans, you need to settle down a bit. Mark Reynolds is exactly who he is meant to be. A man with the ability to product majestic, towering home runs and also a man who swings through a shockingly large number of pitches. That’s who the O’s traded for, and that’s who the Orioles got. No sense getting upset because he’s hitting .190. After all, he is leading Baltimore in home runs.

The struggles of Reynolds, the blonde hair bomber, is a microcosm of the 2011 Baltimore Orioles. Before the first pitch was thrown this season, the club was shaping up as a team that would struggle it’s way to mediocrity. They would be an improvement over last year, but still one or two players away from serious competing with the Red Sox, Yankees and Rays.

The Orioles of 2011 were not created to win the World Series, they were not created to win the American League East, they were created to find out where the organization stood in terms of its pitching development. Look at who has made up the starting rotation this year - Zach Britton, Chris Tillman, Jake Arrieta, Brad Bergesen, embattled Jeremy Guthrie, and now finally Brian Matusz. This year the higher ups find out if they’ve been groomed to contend in the majors or if it’s time to jettison them.

Over at third base, Reynolds wasn’t brought in to win a batting title or a Gold Glove. He was brought in to be a power presence in the middle of the lineup. Because he hits in the middle of the lineup, he’s going to come to the plate with runners in scoring position. And because he strikes out a lot he’s going to leave a lot of those runners stranded. That’s the bad you take along with his ability to hit the three-run homer.

Where this team ends up come October still remains to be seen. Some weeks their young pitchers have looked unhittable. Conversely, there have been weeks they’ve been eminently hittable. That’s part of the reason the team has been so streaky. Win four games then lose eight in a row. Win another 4 games and then lose five more contests. Unfortunately, that is the bane of running a young pitching staff out there.

On a player level, Reynolds has weeks where he is the fearsome slugger that fans hoped would be launching blasts into the bleachers all summer long. Other days he appears professionally inept at the plate. Personally, I’ve seen few hitters swing through pitches with the shocking regularity that Reynolds does. It’s not like he chases lots of bad pitches, say as Adam Jones does from time to time. Reynolds swings though fastballs as if they were puffs of smoke that dissipate into a fine mist whenever his bat comes close.

There are reasons other than having a young core of pitchers that is hurting this year’s squad. The overall absence of power is one thing. From Nick Markakis to Luke Scott to Vlad Guerrero the inability to put the ball over the fence is clearly hurting the team. This is not a team built to manufacture runs like the Rays. This is a team that moves station to station, and waits for a slugger to put one on Eutaw Street.

The bullpen hasn’t been able to pick up for struggling starters either. Whatever talent Michael Gonzalez once possessed seems to have evaporated into thin air. Kevin Gregg seemingly can’t go more than three hitters without walking at least two of them. The rest of the bullpen has been maddingly inconsistent as well.

However, instead of dwelling on what isn’t going well, why not look at the good? Jones, despite his occasional obsession with swinging at sliders in the dirt, is blossoming into one of the young stars in the league. A bona fide yearly Gold Glove candidate he already has several highlight reel plays on the year. At the plate he is showing a blend of power, speed and hitting that hasn’t been seen in the O’s outfield for years.

Zach Britton, the rookie southpaw who should have started the season in the minors is proving the doubters (such as this writer) wrong. A quality start machine he has baffled major league hitters by using his above average fastball to set up a devastating slider. His recent run of tough starts might indicate that he’s hitting a bit of a rookie wall, but he appears to have the pitching smarts to make the necessary adjustments.



How about the blossoming of the Catching Jesus? Matt Wieters is showing how patience and belief in a prospect can pay off. The “Mauer with Power” might not be delivering light tower home runs just yet, but he is excelling at every other aspect of his game. He personally controls other team’s running games by cutting down 40% of would be base stealers. The pitchers and coaching staff rave about his ability to handle the pitching staff and his production at the plate is increasing at a rate that makes him a viable All Star candidate.



So O’s fans don’t despair so much. The season is but a third of the way done. At this time last season they were a unfathomable 20 games out of first base, this year just six. The team is light years ahead of last year talent wise, and should only improve now that some key pieces are returning to the line up and rotation. This is not a team that is under achieving, it is a talented, but flawed product that at least one year away from serious contention.

So go the Yard, drink a Natty Boh and munch on some of Boog’s BBQ while watching a team develop. Enjoy the sun and the face that you can watch a game at one of the best parks in the league for a cheaply scalped ticket. Look for the good things on the field and don’t dwell on the negative. Much like a towering Reynolds home run the losing seasons will soon be going, going, going, gone…..

Ah the Joy's of an Early Losing Streak

I never got around to a preseason preview for the Orioles this season. When I was looking at the team at the end of the season only one thing crossed my mind. To quote several Star Wars characters, “I have a bad feeling about this.”

The leadoff hitter and starting second baseman had a bad back AND was allergic to the treatment. One of the young pitching stars was hurt filming a TV commercial. And then this came out:



Matt Wieters, aka the Catching Jesus, was on the cover of Sports Illustrated. If a team isn’t expected to win does the SI Cover Jinx still apply? The team had a lackluster spring finishing in the middle of the pack. But hey, Brian Matusz almost had a no hitter against the Phillies.

Now they’re nine games into the season and the bad feeling, like a bill collector, hasn’t gone away. The team can’t hit (.237 batting average good for 10th in the AL), can’t score (27 runs, 12th in the AL), and their closer has been more flammable than Florida scrub brush. In the offense happy AL East those numbers make for a long season, and they haven’t even played the Sox or the Yankees yet.

I would like to join the rest of the masses and revel in the doom and gloom, but I can’t give up on a season less than two weeks into it. Now if they only have one win when the calendar turns to May I might have some harsh words. Besides the Astros are a third of the way to breaking the 21 game losing streak!

Believe it or not there have been some bright spots to the season. Young Wieters has defied the curse to lead the team with a .345 average. Miguel Tejada is driving in runs (yes I know 4 of his team leading 7 RBI’s came in one game) like it’s 2001. Not to be outdone by Wieters, former Cubs prospect Felix Pie is off to a smoking hot start, hitting .471 in limited action.

The biggest surprise has been the starting pitching staff. Kevin Millwood and his band of young pups have been giving the O’s a chance to win. While they’re not yet the Braves staff of the 90’s they are showing enough promise (especially Matusz) that O’s fans should be happy for the future.

The team travels out west for the next week, if they continue this slide Dave Trembley’s job will most definitely be in jeopardy. Despite the injuries to Roberts and closer Mike Gonzalez this team has enough talent to win more than one game out of nine.

Nine games in is too early to give up on a season, give them a little more rope to hang themselves. A young team takes awhile to gel together and no one expects them to be in the playoffs this year. As long as this team is improving as the season goes on then it will be a successful year.