Sunday Notes

Beanpot · February 22, 2009

Just go to cleveland.com if want to read Hoynes. He had another soulless "ask Hoynsie" that included a a question about moving Sizemore to the infield.

Pluto had this to say:

It's spring training in a brand new complex under the Arizona sun and the Indians have no one hurt, no one under a steroid storm cloud, no big name player headed for free agency at the end of the season -- and they have yet to play an exhibition game. So you get feel-good reports like this:

1. The Tribe watches Carlos Santana take batting practice and thinks "Victor Martinez." Like Martinez, Santana is a switch-hitting catcher and even wore No. 41 like Martinez, who is his hero. It's batting practice, but Santana has been hammering the ball to all fields. In Class A last season, he drove in 117 runs in 130 games, hitting .326. He had 89 walks compared to 85 strikeouts. He'll begin the season at Class AA Akron, but his bat could carry him to Class AAA by the end of the season. His arm also has been impressive behind the plate.

2. One reason the Indians were willing to trade for Mark DeRosa in the final year of his contract is Luis Valbuena. Yes, DeRosa is at third base and Valbuena is expected to open the season at second with Class AAA Columbus. But the Indians love his short, controlled swing that delivers line drives to all fields. A left-handed hitting second baseman, Valbuena could take over the spot in 2010 -- with Asdrubal Cabrera shifting to short, Jhonny Peralta to third.

3. With DeRosa playing in the World Baseball Classic, the Indians will use Peralta at third a fair amount this spring. That will give time for both Josh Barfield and Valbuena to play at second, with Cabrera at short. The Indians like Valbuena's strong arm, a real asset on his double-play pivot.

4. Michael Brantley has the remarkable ratio of 199 walks to 142 strikeouts in his pro career, where he is a career .311 hitter in the minors. The Indians rave about how he seldom swings and misses, and that he may be 21, but everything from his approach at the bat to how he handles himself around others seems far more mature.

5. The Indians believe Matt LaPorta's funk after being traded was due to some family issues, but he also began to try to pull the ball too often. He is a right-handed hitter, and like Peralta, he can hit the ball out of the park to right-center field if he stays patient. He had 22 HR and 74 RBI in 101 Class AA games last season. For his pro career, he has 105 walks and 105 strikeouts, a very nice ratio for a power hitter.

6. Shin-Soo Choo showed the making of a power hitter last season (.946 OPS, 45 extra-base hits in 317 at-bats), and he has been "crushing the ball," according to Tribe operatives. He is a career .291 hitter with 17 HRs and 94 RBI in 509 big-league at-bats, after hitting .299 in his minor-league career. As manager Eric Wedge said, "he's real" as a hitter.

7. On Travis Hafner, so far, so good. His shoulder has not caused him any real pain or forced him to miss any drills or turns in the batting cage. He has been hitting the ball hard. But like all the rest of these sunny reports, it is very early in spring training.

8. If you are interested in the Tribe farm system, you should pick up a book called "2009 Cleveland Indians Top 100 Prospects" by Tony Lastoria. He writes the superb blog indiansprospectinsider.com, where you can find information on how to get the book and other good stuff. The best endorsement is that I bought two copies.

http://www.cleveland.com/pluto/blog/index....browns_saf.html

Earlier this afternoon, Castrovince reported that Choo bruised his knee while colliding with Sizemore:

GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- Shin-Soo Choo is leaving camp early in a couple days, but he didn't want to leave Sunday's workout early.

Choo bruised his right knee and had to come off the field after colliding with teammate Grady Sizemore during popup drills at the Player Development Complex. But he returned soon after getting some treatment on the knee. He walked without a limp.

"I think I'm OK," Choo said. "I didn't want to miss practice. I'm going to miss it anyway when I leave on Tuesday."

Choo is leaving to play for Korea in the World Baseball Classic. The Koreans will practice in Hawaii for three days, then head off to Japan, where they'll be in Pool A with China, Chinese Taipei and Japan.

The threat of running into a teammate during a routine drill is pressing enough. The Indians have some concerns about Choo leaving camp and participating in meaningful games, particularly with him just a year and a half removed from Tommy John elbow ligament replacement surgery. For that reason, Choo will only play in the outfield in one of the Koreans' first three games. He'll be eligible to DH in the other two games.

"They want me to take care of my elbow," Choo said.

As for the collision, it didn't affect Sizemore in the least.

"Choo forgot I was a linebacker," he joked.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20...sp&c_id=mlb

Hoynes did have this earlier today:

INDIANS INSIDER

Dellucci's alligator tale is very fishy

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Paul Hoynes

Plain Dealer Reporter

Goodyear, Ariz. -- It turned out that the tailgate on David Dellucci's trailer had more bite than his imaginary alligator.

Dellucci is expected to miss the first three games of the Cactus League season this week because of a cut on his left thumb that required three stitches and surgery. He'll be about a week behind the rest of the Indians position players.

Saturday morning Dellucci called three reporters to his locker and showed them his thumb. He said he'd been bitten by an alligator while saving a boy's life.

Two of the three reporters, eager for a story, took the bait hook, line and sinker before Dellucci smiled and confessed.

Dellucci added, "There are about 10 or 15 guys in this clubhouse who still think that story is true."

He said he smashed his thumb while trying to close the tailgate of his trailer on Feb. 1 at his home in Baton Rouge, La. He called Lonnie Soloff, Indians head athletic trainer, the same day and came to camp early to get the thumb examined.

"The hold-up is getting the stitches out which will be Monday," said Dellucci. "It's healed, and when the stitches come out I'll be participating like it's day one of spring training. It's full go after the stitches come out."

Dellucci, a left-handed thrower and hitter, hit off a tee and threw Friday. He said there was no pain.

This is a big spring for Dellucci, who is in the final year of a three-year $11.5 million deal that has not gone well for the Indians or him. He tore his left hamstring in 2007 and missed much of the year. Last season, he hit .238, while backing up Ben Francisco in left field.

The Indians have a slew of young outfielders ready to take his job. If they have to eat his contract, it would not be that big of a deal for two reasons. The money is already guaranteed and the Indians could replace Dellucci with an outfielder making the major-league minimum.

"He's a smart guy, he knows where we're at as a ballclub," said manager Eric Wedge. "He saw what Benny and Shin-Soo Choo did last year. It's a big spring for him, an important spring for him.

"We want to take a look at his at-bats. See how the ball comes off his bat. We know he can hit. It's in there."

If Dellucci shows he can hit right-handers, his chances of making the Indians and finishing the season with them will improve.

"He does have the ability," said Wedge. "If he proves he can go out there and do it again, there will be a place for him."

Search for talent:

The Indians had never signed a player from the Czech Republic until Saturday when they came to terms with Martin Cervenka, a 16-year-old catcher.

Peter Gahan, who scouts Europe and Australia for the Indians, spotted Cervenka last year at MLB's academy in Italy. Cervenka is 6-2 and 165 pounds.

"Martin is a long-term project," said John Mirabelli, Indians director of scouting. "But Europe is an emerging market for baseball. We'll go anywhere, especially to fill an area of need."

Mirabelli says there's a lack of catchers in professional baseball.

Cervenka won't finish high school until he's 19. He'll use his school vacation to come to extended spring training in Goodyear this spring. He'll play summer ball in MLB's Australian baseball academy this year and in 2010.

Mirabelli said the former Soviet-bloc countries have good athletes.

"Most of them have played soccer or hockey," he said. "A lot of college baseball players are from Europe. When they go home, they spread the sport."

The Indians had hired a part-time scout, Steve Jensen, to help Gahan in Europe.

Firing line:

Quick hits from spring training:

The Indians have yet to discuss a contract extension with Cliff Lee. They hold a club option on Lee for 2010 and then he's a free agent.

Travis Hafner on his recovery from right shoulder surgery: "I'm on schedule, I just don't know what that schedule is. Lonnie Soloff [head athletic trainer] knows."

Third baseman Andy Marte, designated for assignment last week, worked out at the Goodyear complex Saturday. The Twins, one of the teams that needed a third baseman, signed Joe Crede on Saturday.

GM Mark Shapiro offered a tip of the cap to Neal Huntington for his work on the Goodyear complex.

"Neal did more planning on this than any person in the Indians organization," said Shapiro. "He did all the research of existing facilities. He met with all our department heads to determine their ideal needs. Then he tried to match the ideal needs, with a realistic budget, and create the perfect facility."

Huntington is Pittsburgh's general manager.

Shapiro credited Jim Folk, director of stadium operations at Progressive Field, for his work as well.

Prospect Hector Rondon was signed by Henry Centeno, the Indians scout who was killed in a car accident during the off-season in Venezuela.

"He was a nice man," said Rondon. "He started scouting me when I was 14 and signed me when I was 16."

Reliever Eddie Mujica said Centeno was his first manager.

"Everyone knew him in Venezuela," said Mujica. "He played winter ball there for over 10 years."

Among outfielders Trevor Crowe, Matt LaPorta and Michael Brantley, Wedge said Crowe has the best chance to make the team out of camp. LaPorta and Brantley have never played above Class AA.

http://www.cleveland.com/tribe/plaindealer....xml&coll=2

Beanpot

Beanpot · February 22, 2009

Shaughnessy can be a complete jerk but the man can write. Here's his take on spring training:

Around this time of year, great stories spring to mind

By Dan Shaughnessy, Globe Columnist | February 22, 2009

FLORIDA - The other sports don't have anything like it.

Football? Sure, you can drive down Route 1, sit in the sweltering sun, and watch two-a-days in July at Gillette.

If you're a hockey krishna, you've probably made the trip to Wilmington to view the early skates at rusty Ristuccia. And plenty of us remember Celtics rookies running up and down the court at Marshfield High School back in the day. I'm pretty sure Ming Dynasty on Route 139 opened just to accommodate Red Auerbach.

But baseball is the clear winner when it comes to preseason ambiance and expectation.

School vacation ends today. How many of you went to Florida to watch the Red Sox? How many of you wish you went? How many watched live workouts on NESN?

This is my 30th spring training. It never gets old. All the clichés are true. Pitchers and catchers. The crack of the bat. The smell of the grass and suntan oil.

Spring training is where Roger Angell saw the longest home run of his life - a majestic blast off the bat of Dave Kingman in Fort Lauderdale in 1975. Hall of Famer Catfish Hunter threw the pitch. Kingman's blast sailed over a light tower ("three palm trees high" wrote Angell) and bounded onto a practice field beyond the left-field wall. Yankees manager Bill Virdon decided it was a six-bagger - a home run at Fort Lauderdale Stadium and a double on the adjacent diamond.

Spring training is where I saw a Montreal left fielder crash into a fence in Winter Haven chasing a fly ball. Back in 1976. The kid was out cold for a spell. Fans applauded when he finally got to his feet. He wound up spending most of his career behind the plate. Gary Carter. Hall of Famer.

It's where Bill Lee told baseball writers of the Sox' acquisition of Dennis Eckersley in a six-player blockbuster in 1978, screaming, "Send lawyers, guns, and money, the [expletive] has hit the fan!" Eck wound up in Cooperstown.

Spring training is where Eddie Murray caught live batting practice at Bobby Maduro Stadium in Miami in 1978. Murray had been the American League Rookie of the Year in 1977 as a designated hitter, but Earl Weaver's goal was to have 40-home run potential at every position. So Earl ordered Murray to go behind the plate in spring training. Eddie hated it. He wound up at first base. And in the Hall of Fame.

Spring training is where a 5-foot-8-inch Orioles catcher named Dave Criscione caught three foul pops in a single inning against the Braves in West Palm Beach in 1978. Anybody ever see that, at any level? Criscione played only seven big league games. Not a Hall of Famer.

Spring training is where Ted Williams and Carl Yastrzemski played a steel-cage tennis match at the Winter Haven Ramada Inn in 1979.

Spring training is where an Orioles rookie named Cal Ripken Jr. practiced baserunning drills on a small (infield only) diamond in Miami in 1981. The workout involved Weaver's favorite play - a steal of home with runners on first and third with two out, and two strikes on the batter. Against a lefthanded pitcher. The play called for the runner on first to break for second, or fall down, whatever it took to get the attention of the hurler. At that moment, the runner on third would break for home. In 1982, Ripken put the play to use, stealing home against Jon Matlack for his first stolen base in the big leagues.

Spring training is where I saw the longest home run of my life. Bo Jackson vs. Oil Can Boyd. In Davenport, Fla., in 1989, near the intersections of I-4 and US 27. Boyd and Jackson talked about it before the game. Can promised to challenge Bo. Jackson responded with a blast that sailed over a 71-foot-high scoreboard in left-center and landed in a cow pasture some 515 feet from home plate.

Spring training is where Twins owner Calvin Griffith stood on the balcony of his Orlando condo and stared blankly into a sky filled with wreckage from the Challenger spacecraft in 1986. It's where Lou Gorman said, "The sun will rise, the sun will set, and I'll have lunch," after Roger Clemens stormed out of camp in Winter Haven in 1987. It's where the local newspaper published the titles of overdue videos (all pornos) rented by Boyd. The Maniacal Chuck Waseleski dubbed it "the Can's Film Festival."

Spring training is where Michael Dukakis took batting practice off Bill Fischer in Winter Haven in 1988 and where Bill Clinton spoke with Wade Boggs outside the visitor's dugout in Kissimmee in 1992.

It's where Boggs announced, "I'm the white Irving Fryar," after tumbling out of the family jeep when his wife wheeled out of Christy's Restaurant in Winter Haven in 1992.

It's where the Red Sox and Tigers battled for the coveted Polk County Championship when the Sox played in Winter Haven. Today the Sox and Twins joust for the Mayor's Cup in Fort Myers.

Spring training is where Brian Daubach hit a walkoff homer to make the team for the first time in 1999. It's where 30-year-old Theo Epstein rented a house in Cape Coral with eight assistants in 2004 (they called the place "Phi Sign-a-Playa").

Spring training is where Julian Tavarez punched Joey Gathright at home plate in 2006. It's where Boston College punter/center fielder Johnny Ayers laced a double to left field on Daisuke Matsuzaka's first pitch in a Red Sox uniform in 2007. It's where Stephen King has a season ticket behind home plate. It's where Johnny Pesky sets up a folding chair by the third base dugout and signs autographs.

Spring training. It prompted Dave Bush of the San Francisco Chronicle to quip, "It's a pity they have to ruin the baseball season by playing it."

The games start Wednesday.

Can't wait for the first sight of pitchers running on the warning track while a game is in progress.

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/reds...mind/?page=full

Beanpot

Beanpot · February 22, 2009

Yahoo had an article about David Huff:

Fri Feb 20, 2009 7:09 am EST

Farm Aid: Cleveland's Dave Huff must own several oversized stuffed bears

By Brad Evans

To prepare you for the upcoming draft season, the Noise, every Friday until opening day, will feature a lesser-known prospect that has excellent odds of making an indelible fantasy impact this season. Obvious products David Price and Matt Wieters, and charitable Bon Jovi songs, need not apply.

If you're sitting in a dunk tank and Dave Huff steps up to throw, prepare to get soaked.

The former UCLA ace is a master in the art of deception. Often compared to future HOFer Tom Glavine and Barry Zito -- when his WHIP didn't resemble a beached sea elephant -- the elusive southpaw is a command freak with one of the finest changeups in any system.

Huff's fastball, which was routinely clocked between 88-92 mph last year, doesn't overpower hitters. But because of his bulldog demeanor, smooth delivery and remarkable accuracy, he's very difficult to pinpoint. Several AL scouts have been astonished by his pitch placement.

From Baseball America:

"He's not going to blow you away, but he's a strike-thrower who commands the zone with four pitches. He moves the fastball in and out, up and down very well. And then he's got a pretty good slider and softer breaking ball to go along with that changeup."

For the curious, here's Huff's fluid approach in animated picture and sound...

Overshadowed by more prominent AL pitching prospects (i.e. David Price, Neftali Feliz, Derek Holland, Trevor Cahill and Brett Anderson), Huff has quietly amassed standout numbers in two-plus minor league seasons. Last year in 146.1 innings between Double- and Triple-A, the 24-year-old posted a 2.52 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 1.79 BB/9 and 8.81 K/9. More impressively, because he can fit pitches into tight spaces, he coaxed ample weak contact, indicative in his cumulative 50.9 groundball percentage and otherworldly 10.9 line-drive percentage. Based on his pitching style, its no surprise Huff dominates the ping pong table.

Recently, the mainstream media has started to take notice. Silver-haired soothsayer, Peter Gammons, proclaimed on-air two weeks ago the rookie would win 12 games this season. His prognostication isn't an exaggeration.

Health setbacks (strained elbow/back) have occasionally plagued him, but, if he can avoid the injury imp's bite, he has decent odds of winning the Indians fifth rotation spot this spring. Cleveland skipper Eric Wedge has faith in the youngster. From the Cleveland Plain-Dealer:

"He has a chance to make the club. The opportunity is real...We'll give him a strong look."

Even if he doesn't outperform Aaron Laffey, Jeremy Sowers and Zach Jackson, Huff still has a chance to become this year's John Danks. You just know Carl Pavano will fall victim to a random chimp attack by midseason.

Already available in the Y! game, the groundball-inducing lefty is someone to blurt out in the late rounds of deep mixed and, definitely, AL-only leagues. Assuming he nets 20 starts...

Fearless Forecast: 120 IP, 8 W, 3.92 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 98 K

http://sports.yahoo.com/fantasy/blog/roto_...=fantasy,142612

Beanpot

Beanpot · February 22, 2009

In an article about "rookies to watch" (LaPorta was included), Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune wrote about the next big thing. Bryce Harper, a 15 year old catcher from Nevada. He's been talked about pretty much since he was 12 and he knocked the crap out of the ball here in Tampa during the power showcase and in the area code games. He's 6'3" 205 and won't even graduate until 2011, but all of the eyes of baseball are on him.

Here's some video of the kid:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-2...0,2074255.story

Beanpot

Beanpot · February 22, 2009

Withers on Pronk:

Indians' Hafner back in the swing

By Tom Withers, AP Sports Writer

GOODYEAR, Ariz. — At times last year Travis Hafner's right shoulder hurt when he lifted a fork. On Sunday, he raised a bat and swung it with all his might.

When he connected, the baseball soared into the Arizona sky.

"I was happy with the flight of the ball," he said. "It was a good first day."

Working his way back after a disastrous 2008 ended with offseason shoulder surgery, Hafner took part in batting practice with his teammates for the first time this spring Sunday. With general manager Mark Shapiro and assistant GM Chris Antonetti watching from behind the backstop, Hafner completed three rounds of BP as important as any in his career.

"It feels good to get back on the field and hang out with your teammates," Hafner said. "It was fun. Everything feels good. There will be a little soreness in there for a little while, but everything feels close to normal."

The Indians are hoping Hafner returns to normal. They need the Pronk -- his nickname -- with pop.

Cleveland's powerful designated hitter was reduced to the club's highest-paid designated sitter last season. Hafner's weak shoulder limited him to 57 games, and he batted just .197 with five homers and 24 RBIs. Months of rehab failed strengthen his shoulder and the 31-year-old remembers dinner being a painful chore.

"You'd go out to have a meal and your shoulder would burn just from eating," he said. "If you'd do it a few times, it would wear your shoulder out. Some days it would feel better than others."

Eventually, Hafner needed famed orthopedist Dr. James Andrews to clean out his shoulder joint. Then came more rehab, the loneliest time for any ballplayer. Hafner lives in Cleveland year-round, and as any Northeast Ohio resident can attest, the winters can be long and dreary.

But Hafner made the most of his offseason. Along with lifting weights and conditioning, he worked on improving his diet. He stayed away from fatty foods, cut down on the occasional cold beers and hired a personal chef. Hafner had his meals delivered to his home, and ended up dropping 10 pounds -- he's listed at 240 -- before coming to camp looking trim.

"More ripped," he said with a laugh.

So can the Indians count on him for 30 steals?

"I don't want to set a limit or a bar," he cracked. "But I'd say 30, minimum."

While he may have lost his power stroke last season, Hafner never misplaced his sense of humor. The North Dakota native is as good-natured as they come. And as dark as things got for him last season, and there were some difficult moments, Hafner remained upbeat that better days were ahead.

"You're going to face adversity throughout your life," Hafner said. "You've got to stay the same person and remain positive. Just because you're hurt doesn't mean you're not the same guy. You've still got to keep a presence in the clubhouse and be a guy that's fun to be around. You can't just sit around and mope all the time because nobody wants to hear it."

Indians manager Eric Wedge hopes Hafner can maintain that carefree attitude. While it would great for Hafner to get back to his 30-homer, 100-RBI form, it's not imperative for Cleveland to contend this season.

"The last thing we want, and the last thing he should even think about, is feeling the pressure of the world. That's just silly," Wedge said. "We don't need him to be great. We just need him to have a nice, solid year for us. If everybody does their part, we don't need to rely on any one person.

"We're adding him to the mix. He's not filling a void. He needs to understand that, too."

Hafner also knows there have been whispers about him using steroids.

Because of his size, his injury, his sudden drop in production and the fact that he played for the Texas Rangers in 2002 -- with Alex Rodriguez -- some suspect him of using performance enhancers before baseball began testing.

Hafner insists he never did steroids, and that he was never tempted to experiment with them.

"I know what they do to your body down the road, all the health concerns," he said. "I didn't want to deal with that, and my dad probably would have beaten the crap out of me if he had ever found out about it. There's also the moral issues, right and wrong and respecting the game. I was always a pretty big guy, so I didn't want to tie myself up as well."

The Indians are being extra cautious with Hafner. He's on his own program and probably won't begin playing in Cactus League games for several more weeks. It's a slow and steady approach, but just getting back into the outdoor batting cage was a nice first step for Hafner, who can't imagine going through another season like 2008.

"You miss the competition," he said. "That's the big thing. I felt like I rehabbed all summer. You don't feel like a baseball player. It's definitely exciting to get back at things here."

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/al...422244698_x.htm

Beanpot

CIMO. · February 23, 2009

Great thread once again. That Hafner article was fun to read, I'm definitely rooting for him this year. Hearing that it hurt him just to eat and now he's feeling no real pain, hopefully it's just a matter of time til he's a regular in Pronkville again.

Also...

1. The Tribe watches Carlos Santana take batting practice and thinks "Victor Martinez." Like Martinez, Santana is a switch-hitting catcher and even wore No. 41 like Martinez, who is his hero.

I always get a kick out of hearing about star players' heroes. Hopefully Castro or someone can get a good interview and story out of this.

Beanpot · June 3, 2009

In an article about "rookies to watch" (LaPorta was included), Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune wrote about the next big thing. Bryce Harper, a 15 year old catcher from Nevada. He's been talked about pretty much since he was 12 and he knocked the crap out of the ball here in Tampa during the power showcase and in the area code games. He's 6'3" 205 and won't even graduate until 2011, but all of the eyes of baseball are on him.

Beanpot

Looks like Harper is going to be featured in SI this week, may even be on the cover. He's being called "Baseball's Lebron" and "Baseball's Chosen One" in this article from Verducci. Can't imagine *anyone* can live up to this sort of hype, though the same was said about Lebron:

June 08, 2009

Baseball's Lebron

His name is Bryce Harper. You don't know him, But every big league scouting director does. He hits the ball a desert mile, clocks 96 on the gun, and he's only 16, more advanced than A-Rod and Junior were at the same age. and his ambition is as great as his talent

TOM VERDUCCI

One rainy February day in Las Vegas, home to a fake pyramid, a phony volcano, a faux Eiffel Tower, an ersatz New York skyline, a pirated copy of a pirate ship and the clever sleights-of-hand of magicians and plastic surgeons, Sam Thomas watched two men stretching a tape measure across South Hollywood Boulevard, reaffirming that there was at least one real deal in town. Thomas is the baseball coach at Las Vegas High, and the two men were his assistant coaches. The pair had come out in the rain to revisit the spot where, in a game the previous spring, a baseball had made landfall, a dimple in the desert, a tiny crater left in the sand by a home run off the bat of Las Vegas High catcher Bryce Harper, then a 15-year-old freshman.

The lefthanded Harper had hit the ball over the rightfield fence, two trees, another fence, a sidewalk, five lanes of traffic on elevated South Hollywood Boulevard and yet another sidewalk, until it finally landed in the brown, undeveloped desert. It might as well have been a flying saucer, judging by the grin on Thomas's face as he recalls the distance the ball traveled.

"Five-seventeen," it sounds as if Thomas is saying.

Five hundred seventeen feet?!

"No," Thomas says. Of course not. That would be preposterous. No 15-year-old kid could hit a baseball 517 feet.

"Five-seventy," Thomas clarifies.

• Golf has Tiger Woods, basketball has LeBron James, hockey had Wayne Gretzky and military history had Alexander the Great, but baseball, like jazz, is a discipline that does not easily engender prodigies. Since 1967, only one player has hit a home run in the major leagues before his 19th birthday: Robin Yount of the '74 Milwaukee Brewers. The sport is so skill-specific that even the best, most physically mature young players typically must endure several levels of minor league apprenticeship to learn the game.

So good and so young is Bryce Harper, however, that he explodes baseball convention. He has hit the longest home run in the history of Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays, and he did so in January, at age 16, with a blast that would have flown farther than the measured 502 feet had it not smashed off the back wall of the dome. Still only 16, Harper stands 6'3", weighs 205 pounds, has faster bat speed than Mark McGwire in his prime and runs so fast that he scored on wild pitches six times this season from second base. As a catcher he picks off runners from his knees, and when he pitches, he throws a fastball that has been clocked at 96 mph. He also does volunteer work, holds down a 3.5 grade point average and attends religious education classes nearly every morning before school.

When James was 16, he was a high school sophomore with an NBA game and a body to match. Harper has been compared to Justin Upton, Alex Rodriguez and Ken Griffey Jr., each a freakishly advanced high school player and each the top overall pick of his draft. But Harper, say the baseball men who are paid to make such assessments, has the ability as a sophomore that the aforementioned trio had as seniors. That is why Harper—to his own approval—is best compared to James. Indeed, Harper nearly fell off the couch one day last month when he heard a sports announcer call San Diego State pitcher Stephen Strasburg, the presumptive No. 1 pick in next week's draft, "the LeBron James of baseball."

"What?" Harper exclaimed with playful exasperation. "Hey, they stole that from me!"

Strasburg turns 21 next month and went undrafted out of high school, a late bloomer who is nothing at all like James. Just about everyone in the baseball industry has known about Harper for at least two years. To a man they describe him as an impact player with the skills, body and attitude—he says he models his game after those of Mickey Mantle and Pete Rose—perfectly suited for the sport. "If Bryce were in the draft this year," says one American League scouting director, "he'd go in the top five picks."

"Wrong," says a National League amateur scouting director. "He'd go higher than that."

Higher than top five?

"Top two," he says. "And that's taking nothing away from the guys in the draft this year. He's honestly that good. He is a once-in-a-generation talent."

• So good is Harper, and so bleak the prospect of his spending two more years with high school pitchers who can't (and won't) throw their sloppy 80-mph fastballs over the plate to him, that his parents—Ron, a steelworker, and Sheri, a paralegal—are looking for ways to make their son eligible for the draft next year rather than in 2011. One of their advisers is agent Scott Boras, who has a well-earned reputation for maximizing dollars and exploiting loopholes. "I heard one of the things they're considering is taking him to the Dominican Republic to make him a free agent," says one AL executive.

"No," Sheri says. "We are not taking our son out of the country."

What the Harpers are considering, however, is having Bryce earn a GED credential this summer and enroll in a junior college this fall, which would expose him to more challenging baseball competition as well as make him eligible for next June's draft, in which he would likely be the first pick in the country. Under that scenario, assuming the Nationals keep losing games at something close to their current rate (they have the worst record in baseball, and it isn't even close), Washington could wind up with Strasburg and Harper in the next 12 months—the baseball equivalent of the Cavaliers getting James and Dwight Howard in consecutive NBA drafts. Of course, in both cases the Nationals would have to negotiate with Boras, who represents Strasburg too. A combined outlay in the neighborhood of $100 million is entirely possible. Boras, according to league sources, will use the six-year, $52 million deal he negotiated with the Red Sox for Daisuke Matsuzaka in December 2006 as the benchmark for a Strasburg deal.

"It's not just about the draft," Ron Harper says while seated on metal bleachers and watching Las Vegas High win a mockery of a game, 31--1, in May. His son hit one line drive so hard that the second baseman jumped out of its way, as if dodging gunfire. The ball smacked against the rightfield fence for a triple. "It's to get him to play better baseball right now," Ron continues. "We have to do what's best for Bryce. He wants to play baseball. Always has. The Number 1 thing guiding us is to do what's right for Bryce and his future."

Says the NL scouting director, "He's not going to make any more money [by] playing two years of high school ball."

Bryce leaves no doubt about what he wants. At 16, an age at which he still leaves piles of empty bowls of Fruity Pebbles in his bedroom, he has a clear vision of who he is, where he wants to go and how his enormous capacity for work is even more valuable than his great talent. Asked when he expects to play in the majors, Harper says, "Hopefully as soon as 18 or 19. The fast track."

When asked about his goals as a ballplayer, he replies, "Be in the Hall of Fame, definitely. Play in Yankee Stadium. Play in the pinstripes. Be considered the greatest baseball player who ever lived. I can't wait."

What's more jolting than his words is the manner in which Harper delivers them. The kid speaks with a measured, unemotional certainty, as if he were playing not the Natural but the Preternatural.

Last year Harper played in the Area Code Games in Long Beach, Calif., a showcase otherwise reserved for the best juniors and seniors in high school baseball. During batting practice, swinging a wood bat, he bombed balls over light towers and scoreboards in Blair Field. Damon Oppenheimer, the amateur scouting director for the Yankees, took note of his attitude as much as his power.

"One of his first at bats, he hit a ball into the gap, and there was no doubt in his mind from the moment he hit it that it was going to be a double," Oppenheimer says. "And it was close. He went into second sliding hard and got dirty and got his double. He played the game with a real ferocious type of attitude. He was out there to win. It was an old school way.

"He's the real deal. You know why? It's like he doesn't take the game and the gift that he has for granted. He's maximizing everything. You're not worried about him going out there and living on talent alone. He's working hard. He's playing hard. He has a maturity about him, a toughness that says he's going to work his butt off. It's really refreshing to see these kinds of skills and talent, and the work ethic and dedication to go with it."

• Bryce Harper was playing T-ball at age three against six-year-olds, partly to be with his older brother, Bryan, who was drafted by the Nationals in the 31st round last year but elected to attend Cal State--Northridge. By the time Bryce was nine, travel teams from California to Colorado to Oklahoma were calling the Harpers and offering to put their son on a plane, lodge him in a hotel and provide his meals so he could play for them in tournaments. A travel player for hire. He went, of course. Most times either Ron or Sheri went with him, but sometimes, for work or monetary reasons, they could not go, so Bryce went alone. He has played between 80 and 130 baseball games a year each year for the past seven years, in more states than he can remember.

"People say, 'Weren't you deprived of your childhood?'" Bryce says. "No way. I would not take anything back at all. Everything about it was great. I got to go places, meet people, play baseball against older kids and better competition. I had a great time."

According to Sheri, "A reporter once talked to us for a story about the travel baseball experience, but they didn't quote us because we had nothing but good things to say about it. Bryce is a normal kid. He snowboards. He played football up until last year. We don't limit him in any way. He loves to play baseball. He would come home after being away playing baseball all weekend, get off the plane and not an hour later be bored and say, 'Dad, let's go to the cage and hit.' I mean, he still sleeps with his bat. He'll get a new bat and go, 'Dad, isn't she a bee-yooty?'"

It was after one of those player-for-hire trips that Sheri began to understand that her son was really special. Bryce, then 12, was playing in a tournament in Alabama on a field with 250-foot fences. It was a trip Sheri could not attend. When Bryce phoned home, Sheri asked him how he'd done. "I did all right," he replied.

Later one of the coaches called Sheri. "Did he say anything to you?" the coach asked.

"No, not really," Sheri said.

"He went 12 for 12. Eleven home runs and a double."

"That," Sheri says, "is when I knew."

Nearly every chance they could, the Harpers had Bryce play against kids two or three years older than he was. "I love playing against the older guys," Bryce says, "because I love showing up the older guys."

• Bryce Harper is the product of a travel baseball industry that mushroomed, just as he himself was growing up, into big business. There seems no end to the tournaments, all-star games, showcases, wood-bat leagues, USA Baseball youth teams, "scout teams" sponsored by major league clubs. Premier players such as Harper can end up playing more baseball than minor leaguers, which can quicken baseball's traditionally long development process. This summer, for instance, Harper will play two weeks for a travel team in Oklahoma, participate in an 18-and-under all-star tournament in North Carolina, go up against college players in a wood-bat league in California, compete in Yankee Stadium for a scout team sponsored by the Yankees, play in Fenway Park at an all-star benefit game, attend the USA Baseball 18U team trials and, assuming he makes that club, play in the Pan Am Championships in Venezuela in late September.

Last year, as part of USA Baseball's 16U team in the Pan Am Championships in Mexico, Harper signed autographs for 45 minutes, until the wee hours of the morning, after pitching the 11th inning of a 3--1 win over Cuba. He batted .571 in the tournament, with four home runs in eight games, a 1.214 slugging average, a .676 on-base percentage and six stolen bases in six tries—all team highs among regular players—and was named MVP.

It was during an international home run hitting showcase in January that Harper, with a metal bat, walloped his 502-foot shot at the Trop, part of a run of six consecutive homers that averaged 469 feet. (The night before the competition Babe Ruth's granddaughter displayed a commemorative bat to be awarded to the player who hit the longest home run. In his own version of a called shot, Harper told the Babe's kin, "I'm going to win that bat." He did.)

"In some cases it may be helpful," Mets scout Ian Levin says of the explosion in high-profile amateur playing opportunities, "and in some cases it may be hurting. Kids don't get into a regimen, a schedule. It is not a very structured system, and especially for pitchers, if it means they're not getting rest, that can hurt them. With all of that play, they still need a break too. So some guys it may help. It definitely suits some guys well in terms of speeding up their development. But it's not for everyone. And the other thing to remember is that these showcases cost money, and it often winds up being about the families with money."

• Bryce Harper plays baseball with a viciousness, a seeming contempt for whoever and whatever dares get between him and victory. "I'm going to play against you the way Pete Rose did," he says. "I'm going to try to rip your head off. That's just the way I am. Old school. If I could play for a guy like Lou Piniella or Larry Bowa, I'd love it."

Before he hits, Harper lays his bat down in the batter's box, takes two steps toward the pitcher, bends over, scoops up dirt in his bare hands (batting gloves? Hah!), rubs it between his palms and then returns to grab his bat and take his place in the box. "He's got this thing for dirt," Sheri says. It looks like an act of defiance, a marking of territory—in this case, home plate—as his alone.

"I love the way people talk crap," Harper says. "I hear it all the time. Overrated. You suck. I'll just do something to shut them up, like, I'll show you. It's like in regular pregame work. I like to show off my arm. Just so it's like, There you go. Don't even think about trying to run."

His swing is downright violent, the bat whooshing through the zone at more than 100 mph. It is not pretty. Neither was Al Capone. 2 min. of fury, it says inside his cap, a reference to the time of the average plate appearance.

"What do I like about him?" says the NL scouting director. "Everything. He's got a great body. The perfect frame for baseball. A big-time arm behind the plate, but a good enough athlete to do anything you want. His bat speed is ridiculous. I've never seen anything like it. And since last year he's calmed down his approach a little bit. He used to want to go out and get everything. Now it's more under control."

His dad has been his lifelong hitting coach. Up at 2 a.m. to lay rebar to help build the Strip in Vegas, Ron Harper, a former high school baseball and football player, spent many afternoons, evenings and weekends on the field and in the cage with Bryan and Bryce. To further sharpen Bryce's hand-eye coordination, Ron pitched him sunflower seeds, bottle tops, dried red beans—just about anything small that didn't move straight.

• Twilight in Vegas is when dreams take wing, when sunlight gives way to neon. Dreams—of making it big, of being the lucky one, if only for one night, for one roll of the dice, for one pull of the handle—are what built this place as much as the steel rebar laid by men such as Ron Harper. The neon lights are winking again, beckoning like a pretty girl, as Bryce Harper stands in the parking lot of a restaurant off the Strip with his mom and dad. In T-shirt and shorts—no baggy uniform, no eye black, no dirt—Bryce looks younger and slimmer than he does on the ball field. He is a wiry-strong kid with room to grow. He is not one of the dreamers. He is on a mission: Baseball has been his purpose, not his dream, for as long as he can remember.

"Bryce has a saying," Ron says. "Whenever people say how good he is, he likes to say, 'I'm not done yet. I still have work to do.' He's going to get a lot better, and I say that because of how hard he works. I don't think he'll ever rest on his laurels."

Bryce Harper is a scouting director's perfect prospect. He has size, speed, power, intelligence, a lefthanded bat, an appetite for work, a strong arm, the ability to catch and the athleticism to play almost any other position, plus a happy home life. To be this good and this complete at age 16 is something that just doesn't happen in baseball. And maybe being the next LeBron in a sport that doesn't have LeBrons is the worst part of being Bryce Harper: to have such expectations thrown at you at such a young age. But this, too, is what makes him Bryce Harper: He gladly accepts the pressure as something else he can smack 570 feet clear over South Hollywood Boulevard.

http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vau...215/1/index.htm

Beanpot

kshutchins · June 4, 2009

Bryce Harper sounds like an exceptional kid. He sounds like he really loves what he's doing and is mature enough to handle it. I look forward to seeing how he matures.

JohnG71097 · June 5, 2009

And this kid's legend grows.....

Here's what Baseball America's Dave Perkin observed at a Perfect Game event last year:

Bryce Harper was one of three catchers in rotation to receive throws during pregame infield/outfield. Halfway through warmups, Harper stepped back from home plate and turned his body toward the first base line. Suddenly and without warning or provocation, Harper fired a screaming, straight line trajectory, missile down the line and over the fence in the right field corner, covering a distance of 340 feet.

Most scouts had departed after the Aflac scrimmage, but the few left were stunned. Whispered comments included: "Did you see that?", "Why did he do that?" and "I can’t believe it!"

http://prospectsparadise.blogspot.com/2009...yce-harper.html

Then there is a young man who just fell off of the face of the earth

Remember Edward Salcedo, supposed to be 16 and the Indians were runored to be hot on the Trail of this kid

when he fell of the face of the earth.

Here is the latest I could find out about him.

Posted: 2/19/2009 4:33 PM

Re: What Ever Happened to Edward Salcedo?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Salcedo was very much the real deal and the Indians were not happy at the time that their work fell through. He may never make it to America because of allegedly lying on birth certificate papers and visa applications. The government always moved very slowly on these matters anyway -- but in these heightened security times, really puts a dim view on any underhanded dealings.

Reportedly, Salcedo and his representatives shopped around to other teams, then tried to falsify some paperwork in order to speed up the process of getting to America.

He's considered a big-time talent as a teen-ager and you can find scouting video of him here:

http://video.google.com/videos...;emb=0&aq=f#

I spoke to Indians scouting director John Mirabelli about him. In the December issue of our magazine, Mirabelli was quoted in a story:

Edward Salcedo, was widely publicized to have signed for millions with Cleveland. That was in February. As of October, he had not signed anywhere.

“He could sign somewhere today, tomorrow, or three years from now,” Mirabelli said. “Everything changes so quickly in the international market. A player can change his mind, or have it changed for him. There are teams trying to undermine other teams. It’s a wild west show.

"No holds are barred. They can sign wherever they want, wheneve they want. There are no deadlines. That makes it a highly competitive market."

Mirabelli said the Indians had stopped negotiating with Salcedo, adding that “anything is possible internationally,” when asked if the team would again be interested in the infielder who has been described as a young Alex Rodriguez.

“He can wait as long as he wants to wait and get whatever money he thinks he can get,” Mirabelli said. “I might, I might not (re-enter talks) and all the media expectations that we were close – that was never my perception.

“I’ve been involved in hundreds of these. Close? There is no close. You either sign a guy or you don’t. The process is challenging, but not frustrating. We look to sign players who fit our structure, who we can get into our system right away, and get them moving on their careers.”

http://forums.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=264&...6&t=3962136

Beanpot · June 5, 2009

Good stuff, JG. Nice to see you back.

Rich Lederer had an article about Harper after the Area Code games last August:

Remember This Name

By Rich Lederer

Let me introduce you to the No. 1 pick in the 2011 amateur draft . . . Bryce Harper. I know, that particular draft won't take place for three more years. As such, how in the world could I make this type of a prediction now? Well, if you watched the 15-year-old, lefthanded-hitting catcher take batting practice, infield, and two plate appearances on Tuesday at the Area Code Games, as I did, then I have no doubt that you would be as enthusiastic about this phenom as I am.

Harper is one of only six athletes from the 2011 graduating class competing in the 22nd annual Area Code Baseball Games at Blair Field in Long Beach, California this week. Of the remaining 172 players, 19 will graduate in 2010 and 153 in 2009. Although I have only seen two games and four of the eight teams thus far, I would be surprised if there is a player who rivals Harper's talent. Yes, I believe Harper just may be the most outstanding prep in the country right now.

I'm not the only one who feels this way about the 6-foot-2, 197-pound sophomore-to-be from Las Vegas. I spoke to a handful of the more than 300 scouts in attendance on the first day of the tournament about Harper and the responses – from those who have followed him closely to others who had seen him for the first time that day – ranged from "wow" to shaking head in disbelief to "the best high school hitter I've ever seen."

Using a wood bat, Harper put on a hitting clinic toward the end of BP, blasting one shot after another. Several hours later, the prized prospect hit the two hardest balls during the opening day of the six-day tournament in which pitchers dominated the action. In his first at-bat, Harper, serving as the designated hitter for the Cincinnati Reds, lined out to center field. He hit the ball about as squarely as possible, directly up the middle but straight into the glove of Washingon Nationals center fielder Kyrell Hudson.

In Harper's second trip to the plate, he jacked a towering shot off the right-field wall for a stand-up triple to open the sixth inning. It is important to note that Blair Field is a pitcher-friendly ballpark played at seaside altitude with 348-ft dimensions down the lines that exceed those of every major-league stadium in existence. He scored the only run of the game on a subsequent ground out to short. Harper was replaced in the ninth, ending the night with one of the only two hits in the contest as seven Reds pitchers combined to no-hit the Nats.

Harper has a power bat and a plus throwing arm that "already grades out to 70 on the 20 to 80 scouting scale," according to Dave Perkin of Baseball America. During infield prior to the game, Harper, in full gear, rifled the ball out of a crouch to second and third base with precision. Upon seeing him in action, I marked down "+ + arm" next to his name in my program. Although the rap on him is that he's not all that fast, I thought he ran very well from home to third on that triple, especially considering his age, size, and power. The kid is nothing if not impressive.

While I didn't witness Harper during the SPARQ (acronym for Speed, Power, Agility, Reaction, Quickness) testing that morning, he earned a score of 63.93, the 54th highest total out of 178 participants. It was the fourth-highest rating among the 25 underclassmen. Interestingly, he ran a 3.91 in the 30-yard dash, ranking in the top 10% in that category.

Check out Harper's explosive swing in the cage during a recent batting practice session.

You can also see Harper going yard in an actual game in this video clip.

As shown, Harper employs a slightly open stance with the right heel off the ground and his hands held high. He uses his body well, gets into a good position at the point of contact, and goes after the ball in a very aggressive manner. Bryce doesn't use batting gloves and tends to lean over and grab a handful of dirt before each at-bat. The youngster displayed a good eye and a mature approach on Tuesday, waiting for his pitch and peppering the offerings that he can handle.

I am planning on catching some more games between now and Sunday and will report back on Monday with added commentary on Harper as well as a number of other standouts. The Area Code Games, long considered one of the top talent showcases in the country, has produced more than 300 major league players in just over two decades. There may be 15 or 20 participants who will eventually don big-league uniforms, and the best of the bunch just might be a kid who is still too young to drive. While Bryce Harper has a long ways to go (three more years of high school for the Las Vegas Wildcats and a few years in the minors) before reaching the Show, the June 2011 draft couldn't come any sooner for the MLB team lucky enough to select him.

http://baseballanalysts.com/archives/2008/...mber_this_n.php

Beanpot · June 24, 2009

Here's Keith Law with an excellent take on Harper's decision to leave high school early. For all of the *experience-all-that-high-school-has-to-offer* crowd, I think this is a most terrific rebuttal:

Harper looking for a challenge

By Keith Law

Scouts Inc.

CARY, N.C. -- Bryce Harper recently announced he will take his GED, leave high school after two years and enroll at the College of Southern Nevada this fall. This should make the Las Vegas High School catcher eligible for the 2010 Rule 4 draft, when he'd be the overwhelming favorite to be the No. 1 overall pick.

This move -- expected among major league scouts and team executives since last summer -- has raised all manner of questions and stirred up controversy over who is making the decisions for Harper and whether he is making the right move.

Playing on Tuesday at the Tournament of Stars event held at USA Baseball's stunning complex, Harper is the nation's best high school player right now. The same was true a year ago, when he exploded onto the scene at the Area Code Games as a rising freshman, a 15-year-old facing and dominating competitors who were mostly 17 and 18. He's been hitting against older competitors for years; Harper has earned invitations to play on travel teams of older players since he was 10 years old.

He's played in prestigious events, including the Area Code Games -- which he called the biggest baseball challenge he's faced and a "phenomenal experience" -- and on the national team in the age 16 and under division. He's a potential five-tool talent who plays the most difficult position on the field. He puts on a display in batting practice, launching balls out to right field with a sound so loud it leaves bystanders looking for the shattered-bat remnants.

One problem extremely talented prep players like Harper can face is the lack of a challenge. Harper has had no trouble hitting against high school pitchers in Nevada or in summer ball, and in high school he finds himself pitched around frequently.

"High school was a great experience for two years, I loved it," Harper said Tuesday. "I just want to get out of there where I'm getting walked 40, 50 times a year."

His father, Ron, put it more bluntly: "I think his overall average was around .630 with the playoffs, and [he] didn't really get pitched to; that's not a lot of fun for him. There's a lot of frustration there."

Budget cuts in Nevada have made matters worse, according to Ron Harper, reducing the regular season for Las Vegas High to 18 games. At the College of Southern Nevada, Harper will be able to play 60 games, and will do it in a more challenging environment.

"College is going to push him academically, and also on the field it's going to push him," Ron Harper said. "He's going to play a lot of older guys, bigger guys, stronger guys, for 60 games."

At CSN, Harper will play in one of the top junior college baseball programs in the country. The 2009 nonconference schedule included games against most of the major two-year programs, including Central Arizona, San Jacinto (Texas), Miami-Dade and Chipola (Fla.). The school also uses wood bats, which should ease the transition into pro ball. Harper prefers wood bats -- "I've always wanted to swing the wood. If I could have swung the wood in high school, I would have" -- but couldn't use them in high school games.

Harper's readiness on the baseball field, at least for the jump to junior college, isn't really in question. His readiness for the emotional or mental challenges to come is more difficult to ascertain, although to his credit he recognizes that at some point he's going to fail.

"There's always going to be failure; baseball's a game of failure," he said. "If you K, you can't go back on that game and say, 'Oh, crap, I went 0-for-4.' There's a million more games to play. You've got to get better, you've got to progress. You can't say, 'Well, I K'd that game so I'll just quit.' It's a team game; as long as your guys won, that's what matters."

As for the increasing pressure as he moves up the baseball ladder, Harper isn't concerned.

"I love pressure," he says. "If there is any pressure on me, I thrive on it. Two outs, bottom of the ninth, I want to be that guy. We played Cuba last year, in the 16U [age 16 and under] championships. I came in the last inning. I pitched. It was the biggest pressure of my life -- don't lose the game for the USA -- but it was awesome, a great experience. I've had pressure on me since I was 8 years old."

Ron Harper has come under fire for what some members of the media argue is a dereliction of his parental duty. Bryce is still a minor, and Ron has ultimate responsibility for his son. Ron says he's happy to take the criticism if it allows Bryce to concentrate on playing, and for his part, argues that this was a family decision.

"I said, 'Are you sure you want to do all this? It's OK -- you can always go back to high school'," Ron said. "But he said, 'No, Dad, I want to do it. I want to do it.' And people say, well, you're the adult, you need to make that decision for him, but he's a pretty mature kid, and he's a good kid, and the level of baseball that he's been playing at, and the level of school he's been at, he needs to be pushed. And I believe that, and my wife and the coaches and the whole staff from the HS believe it too."

If Bryce wants to take this step, and all indications are that he is ready to do so, why would his father stand in his son's way?

In fact, much of the hue and cry over Harper's plan to leave high school two years early is rubbish. If Harper is eligible for the 2010 draft after his first year of junior college -- and he should be, although Ron indicated he has yet to receive a "100 percent answer" on that question from MLB -- he'll be 17 years and almost eight months old on draft day. That would make him just two months younger than Mike Trout and Randal Grichuk were June 9, when they were selected in the first round of the 2009 draft. The Marlins' third-round pick, Da'Shon Cooper, is one year to the day older than Harper. None of their fathers were criticized for allowing their sons to enter pro ball at such a young age.

Inevitably, there's also a backlash in the scouting community, among the same scouts who dropped what they were doing at the 2008 Area Code Games to watch every one of Harper's at-bats. On Tuesday, when one scout learned I was writing a piece about Harper, he said "Don't feed the machine," referring to the tremendous hype that already surrounds the player.

It's perfectly natural for a talented player like Bryce Harper to want to be challenged further when he has already shown he has mastered his current level. It's not the place for anyone, including MLB or the media, to deny him the chance to succeed or fail at a higher level of play. The smart money is on him succeeding.

Keith Law, formerly the special assistant to the general manager of the Toronto Blue Jays, is the senior baseball analyst for Scouts Inc.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/stor...&id=4283157

Beanpot

kshutchins · July 1, 2009

Here's Keith Law with an excellent take on Harper's decision to leave high school early. For all of the *experience-all-that-high-school-has-to-offer* crowd, I think this is a most terrific rebuttal:

Harper looking for a challenge

By Keith Law

Scouts Inc.

CARY, N.C. -- Bryce Harper recently announced he will take his GED, leave high school after two years and enroll at the College of Southern Nevada this fall. This should make the Las Vegas High School catcher eligible for the 2010 Rule 4 draft, when he'd be the overwhelming favorite to be the No. 1 overall pick.

This move -- expected among major league scouts and team executives since last summer -- has raised all manner of questions and stirred up controversy over who is making the decisions for Harper and whether he is making the right move....

It's always tough for parents of a genuinely gifted child to make these decisions. This kid appears to be the genuine article and the parents seem to know their child, his frustrations, and his motivations very well. It sounds like they've made a thoughtful decision.

Beanpot · January 16, 2010

Just a brief update on Bryce Harper. He passed his GED last month and is ready to play for Southern Nevada in a week or so:

College of Southern Nevada catcher Bryce Harper received his GED results in the mail yesterday and "passed with flying colors," according to CSN baseball coach and athletic director Tim Chambers. Passing the GED was required for Harper to play with the Coyotes this spring.

Harper took the test on Nov. 20, Chambers said—adding he wasn’t ever losing sleep over the results.

"I was one of the few people who weren’t worried," Chambers said. "He’s plenty intelligent."

Harper played well for Team USA and during CSN’s fall scrimmages. The Coyotes kick off their schedule in late January and February with some high-profile juco tournaments.

Playing at CSN should make Harper eligible for the 2010 draft, where he would be the top talent in the class.

Conor Glassey at BA wrote about Harper and the rest of his juco teammates back in November of 09:

This spring, all eyes will be on Las Vegas.

The last time the state of Nevada produced a first-round pick was in 2000 when the Brewers selected outfielder Dave Krynzel out of Green Valley High in Henderson. That was a great year for the state, with six picks in the top 10 rounds, but 2010 should be even better.

Of course the crown jewel for the Silver State will be catcher Bryce Harper, who skipped his final two years of high school to enroll at one of the nation’s top junior-college programs, the College of Southern Nevada, and become draft-eligible this season. He is the favorite to be the No. 1 overall pick when the draft rolls around next June. The Nationals hold that pick, after going 59-103 in 2009.

It was a busy summer for Harper. He was with his new teammates for a couple weeks and then left for about six weeks to play for USA Baseball’s 18-and-under team, helping his country win a gold medal by hitting .294/.375/.588 with four doubles and two home runs over 34 at-bats. He also led the team with two stolen bases in as many attempts.

He continued to hit well when he returned to Southern Nevada for fall ball.

With about 35 scouts—including four high-ranking Nationals executives—and 350 fans in the stands for the team’s final fall game, Harper put on a show, hitting a triple off the center-field wall in his first at-bat and a double in his second at-bat. He grounded out in his third at-bat but saved the best for last, hitting an opposite-field blast over the trees beyond the left-center field wall, more than 400 feet away.

While Harper will certainly be the center of attention at CSN, he won’t be the only one to watch. The Coyotes’ pitching staff will rival many Division I programs—which is part of the reason why head coach Tim Chambers called this year’s class the best the school has ever had, on paper.

Sophomore righthander Tyler Hanks was extremely impressive this spring, pumping 94-97 mph fastballs and a 81-84 slider. The 6-foot-2, 195-pounder from Spanish Fork (Utah) High is committed to transfer to Oklahoma State next season. However, with that kind of stuff, he shouldn’t last long in the draft.

Righthander Donnie Roach, a Top 100 draft prospect in 2008 out of Bishop Gorman High in Las Vegas, transfered to CSN from Arizona this year and also looked sharp this fall. He was sitting 90-94 mph with his fastball and mixed in an above-average splitter, as well as a curveball. He and Bryce’s older brother—lefthander Bryan Harper—have committed to South Carolina next year. Bryan Harper’s fastball sat at 88-91 mph this fall with a curveball and a changeup.

Three more sophomore righthanders also lit up the radar guns: Joe Robinson, a Georgia signee, was 90-95 with his fastball, Aaron Kurcz, a transfer from Air Force, was 91-94 and Kenny McDowall, who is committed to Hawaii, was 90-92.

The Coyotes will also have some offensive talent. Outfielder Trevor Kirk was a 47th-round pick by the Brewers last year after hitting .366/.425/.466 with 30 stolen bases, but returned for his sophomore season. First baseman Marvin Campbell, catcher Ryan Scott and outfielder Jordan Keegan were all late draft picks out of high school in 2008. Campbell is a big, strong hitter that led the team in home runs last year with six. Kirk is so good behind the plate that he and Harper are expected to split time back there 50-50, with Harper spending the rest of his playing time in the outfield—although he also saw some time this fall at shortstop.

The 2010 Power Showcase HR Derby took place this week at the Trop and a familiar name finished second. Harper's distance record was bested by another kid:

At the fourth annual International High School Power Showcase Home Run Derby, over 70 prep hitters put their strength on display. Travis Flores, a third baseman from Desert Ridge High in Mesa, Ariz., hit nine home runs in the first round and eight in the championship to claim the 2010 power crown. An Arizona State signee, Flores sent his farthest home run 471 feet and had a total of 13 home runs that traveled over the 400 mark.

However, it didn't come easily. Dante Bichette Jr., a junior infielder from Orangewood Christian in Maitland, Fla. and 2009 finalist, led off the 2010 edition with 13 home runs. He fell just one long ball short of Flores in the championship round with seven, good enough for second place. Bichette's longest home run traveled 465 feet.

Bryce Harper, who is now a freshman at Southern Nevada, put on a spectacular show at the event in 2009, but his record 502-foot home run was broken this year. Travis Harrison, a junior third baseman/outfielder from Tustin (Calif.) High sent his best shot 504 feet.

The rest of the finalists were shortstop D.J. Peterson (Gilbert, Ariz., HS) with six home runs; outfielder Thomas Zengel (Annandale, N.J., HS) with five and third baseman Cole Gleason (Red Mountain HS, Mesa, Ariz.) with four.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/draft/?p=1916

http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/draft/?p=1912

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/high-...010/269385.html

Beanpot

Beanpot · January 16, 2010

Just like Harper last year, Bichette has his own highlight video from the showcase. Looks a lot like his dad, swing and all:

Beanpot

BuckeyeBulldozer28 · January 18, 2010

Cleveland doesnt have a shot to get harper so why does this stuff keep getting posted?

CIMO. · January 18, 2010

Cleveland doesnt have a shot to get harper so why does this stuff keep getting posted?

I can't speak for the Beaned one, but based on my time on the Tribe board, I'd say the answer to that question lies somewhere among the following....

1. We like baseball.

2. We read a lot about baseball.

3. Continuing numbers one and two, we care enough about baseball to recognize things more interesting than Mike Redmond

- and Mark Grudzielanek

- and Shelly Duncan

- and Austin Kearns

- and Mitch Talbot

- and Jason Grilli

4. The thread is "Sunday Notes"....not "IF U WERE GM...WHO WUD U DRAFT..."

But since you seem eager to read up on the Tribe....

Here's Pluto on our shiny new 38-year old backup catcher

http://www.cleveland.com/pluto/blog/index....eland_brow.html

Here's Hoynsie wishing we would spend more on marginal, old, stopgap free agents

http://www.cleveland.com/tribe/index.ssf/2...gn_veteran.html

And here's Castro on our "big-name" free agent pickup

http://castrovince.mlblogs.com/archives/20...lanek_with.html

BuckeyeBulldozer28 · January 19, 2010

I can't speak for the Beaned one, but based on my time on the Tribe board, I'd say the answer to that question lies somewhere among the following....

1. We like baseball. [/color]so find a MLB board im pretty sure this boards for Indians news

2. We read a lot about baseball. see 1

3. Continuing numbers one and two, we care enough about baseball to recognize things more interesting than Mike Redmond

- and Mark Grudzielanek

- and Shelly Duncan

- and Austin Kearns

- and Mitch Talbot

- and Jason Grilli see 1

4. The thread is "Sunday Notes"....not "IF U WERE GM...WHO WUD U DRAFT..."

But since you seem eager to read up on the Tribe....

Here's Pluto on our shiny new 38-year old backup catcher

http://www.cleveland.com/pluto/blog/index....eland_brow.html

Here's Hoynsie wishing we would spend more on marginal, old, stopgap free agents

http://www.cleveland.com/tribe/index.ssf/2...gn_veteran.html

And here's Castro on our "big-name" free agent pickup

http://castrovince.mlblogs.com/archives/20...lanek_with.html

CIMO. · January 19, 2010

Well I guess I'd suggest you take it up with the forum mods. I'm sure one of them will know what to do with this "Beanpot" fellow.

Beanpot · January 19, 2010

Cleveland doesnt have a shot to get harper so why does this stuff keep getting posted?

"Keep" getting posted? In addition to everything CIMO mentioned (thanks for that, BTW - dead on), the last time I posted anything about Bryce Harper was on June 24th of last year. I don't know if you're old enough to remember June 24th of last year, but the Indians had the worst record (Link) in the AL on that date. Mind you, I didn't care one whit about our chances of landing the kid when I posted that, I simply found it interesting and figured the few people here who read this board would do the same.

As for the latest post you seem to struggle with, the recent Power Showcase was covered here locally and Harper's name came to mind. Trust me, I thought long and hard before hitting the "add reply" button. I just knew there was someone out there who was sick of reading about this kid. What I didn't figure on was that his name would be "BuckeyeBulldozer28". Guy, that name brings up images of an Alpha Male deluxe. I know it worries me that you're upset about the topics discussed here. So what I'm going to do is never, EVER again post about Bryce Harper.

EVER.

You have my word.

Beanpot

Beanpot · January 19, 2010

BTW, Olney had a paragraph about Harper that was picked up on Rotoworld:

Bryce Harper, at this time, is considered the consensus No. 1 pick in next summer's draft. Scouts love his potential, and as with all players, there are areas of concerns, and in Harper's case, it's his size. "He's 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds at age 17," said one talent evaluator. "So you wonder how much bigger he can get." Another evaluator: "You worry that if he gets too big, his swing just won't be quick enough when he starts facing guys who throw harder." Joe Mauer is the prototypical big catcher. "But the thing about Mauer is that he's so athletic," said one evaluator. "He does everything with ease. He moves with ease, he swings with ease. Nothing is forced. Harper has a strong arm, but there is not nearly the fluidity that Mauer has."

http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index...me=olney_buster

Beanpot

kshutchins · January 20, 2010

Beans,

Since our newest poster seems dissatisfied by the content here, I feel the need to intervene. Please post anything interesting you can find about baseball. Or else.

Oh... and I'd like to continue following that Harper kid. It's an interesting story.

You do an excellent job keeping us informed.

CIMO. · January 25, 2010

BTW, Olney had a paragraph about Harper that was picked up on Rotoworld:

lol.

And in Sunday Notes tradition....here's the latest example of the truly amazing discrepancy of the quality of PD beat writers. Brian Windhorst is one of the best in the business covering the Cavs, while Hoynsie is answering questions like these....

Hey, Hoynsie: Is there any reason to have hope this season or are we in for a very long season? -- Angelo Costanzo, Cleveland.

Hey, Hoynsie: Mark McGwire made a dumb statement when he said performance-enhancing drugs did not help him hit more home runs. What do you think about such a stupid statement?-- Jim Jones, Las Vegas

Hey, Hoynsie: Do you feel that the Dolans misled MLB when they were allowed to buy the Indians? How does MLB police how a team or owner uses revenue sharing money? -- Justine Potter, Cleveland.

Hey, Hoynsie: Shouldn't the Tribe have tried to minimize its mistake by trying to trade for Kevin Kouzmanoff? -- Ken Powers, Cleveland

Hey, Hoynsie: Can you find out if Larry and Paul Dolan and the front office took pay cuts this year since money is supposedly so tight? -- Pierce Allen, Columbus

Hey, Hoynsie: I have followed the Indians since 1954. Are we seeing the same thing that we saw in the 1960s? We are the minor-league team for the rest of Major League Baseball. -- John Sandor, Marion, La.

Feel free to click through for his answers.

http://www.cleveland.com/tribe/index.ssf/2..._answer_63.html

Side note - how long will it take for people to stop thinking they're clever by using the "we're the farm team to MLB" line?

Side note 2 - of all the things for Shapiro bashers to latch on to....why Kevin Kouzmanoff? The guy is a worse, older version of Jhonny Peralta...only Peralta played short.

CIMO. · January 25, 2010

As for good outlets for Tribe talk....here's another good Lazy Sunday from the Diatribe. Click for the full story/links

http://clevelandtribeblog.blogspot.com/201...how-we-got.html

I'll highlight where he starts talking about the Tribe's front office strategy. He refers to a Baseball Prospectus article ranking Cleveland the #3 best-run organization of the 2000s in MLB, with Shapiro the #6 GM, and Oakland/Billy Beane getting high marks.

Both the Indians and Athletics realize what they are and while the off-season may be boring for Indians’ fans and may cause an inordinate amount of hand-wringing over Mike Redmond and his ilk (present company included), how does the alternative look for teams that aren’t nearly as self-aware of their place in the MLB pecking order?

Would you prefer an off-season where our team “adds” a guy like Rick Ankiel (who posted a .285 OBP last year…Trevor Crowe’s was .278) for $3.25M, leading Joe Posnanski to evaluate his Royals-related stages of grief?

It goes back to the Passan piece in that he asserts that “the disconnect between the Cleveland Indians and their fans has spread from fissure to full-fledged canyon, and this offseason is doing nothing to heal a relationship gone rocky” and while I don’t disagree with that, it points to the idea that people want activity for a team to point to in an attempt to show that the team is improving, even incrementally. However, the quiet offseason that “is doing nothing to heal a relationship gone rocky” shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who was around last July when Lee and Victor were dealt with a club option for 2010 on their contract. Debate all you like about whether adding those two to the 2010 Indians’ team makes it a contender, but in the case of Lee, there’s no question what he has his eyes on this coming offseason, at least according to Jayson Stark’s sources:

“Everyone in baseball knows,” said one AL executive, “that the two things Cliff Lee and Darek Braunecker will want next winter are a lot of years and a lot of dollars. This guy just played with a Cy Young (CC Sabathia) who got seven years on the open market. So why would anyone think he wouldn't be saying, ‘Why shouldn't I get that, too?’”

If that was the Lee’s position when he approached the Indians before 2009 about a contract extension and the Indians were sitting at 42-60 at the time he was dealt, is there any question that Lee wasn’t going to be around for 2010?

That being said, did the Indians get enough for him?

We’re not going to know for a while, though people are quick to forget that Carrasco, Marson, and Donald were among Baseball America’s top 100 prospects entering 2009 with Carrasco at 52, Marson at 66, and Donald at 69. While each started 2009 off slowly in the Phillies’ system (causing much of the consternation when the trade was made), the bodies of work that put them at that level in prospect rankings still exist.

In terms of why the Indians included Lou Marson and Jason Donald in the deal (in the context of the addition of Mike Redmond and, to a lesser extent, Brian Bixler and Mark Grudzielanek), I had an e-mail exchange with a consistently insightful reader (who asked not to be named) who had some interesting thoughts as to why the Indians opted to acquire Marson and Donald instead of OF Michael Taylor, who was reportedly available to them and has now been traded twice this off-season, once to the Blue Jays in the Halladay deal, then to the Athletics for Brett Wallace last month.

His thoughts on the inclusion of Marson and Donald (as well as perhaps why the Indians chose Carrasco) do make sense on a number of levels and it goes a little something like this…hit it:

The Lee trade ... I've been saving this one, but as a very belated baby shower gift, I'll give it to you...

A-21(A-): 227/300/365, 23:53 BB/K

B-21(A-): 263/347/362, 23:42 BB/K

A-22(A/A+): 346/412/557, 50:89 BB/K (671 mleOPS)

B-22(A/A+): 304/395/473, 64:109 BB/K (603 mleOPS)

A-23(AA/AAA): 320/395/549, 48:70 BB/K (730 mleOPS)

B-23(AA): 307/391/497, 47:86 BB/K (689 mleOPS)

You probably guessed: Player A is Michael Taylor, Player B is Jason Donald. The grains of salt here are that Donald is about 15 months older, and spent all of last year hurt. On the other hand, Donald is a middle infielder. Taylor's a left fielder. Taylor's numbers are gaudy, for sure, but his viability as a major leaguer will be contingent on his making the power translate; otherwise, he's Ben Francisco the Younger. Donald's defensive value -- and, look closely, his roughly equal effectiveness as a baserunner -- mean that even if his pop falls off a little against MLB pitching, he's still pulling his weight.

And remember the Andy Marte Rule: Do not get worked up because a minor leaguer hits 20 home runs.

So how's this for a trade narrative: The Phils offer Taylor, and the Tribe counters with Donald -- a legitimately better prospect but for the injury -- and Marson to make up the difference, thereby filling the need for a right-handed, MLB-ready middle infielder, and getting a young, solid, cost-controlled catcher who serves as Santana insurance, and whose presence allows the Indians to clear payroll and beef up the starting depth by moving Shoppach.

You could make a similar case for Carrasco/Knapp over Drabek, except, of course, for the fact that Carrasco compares favorably to Drabek already, as you've pointed out plenty.

So, Dave Cameron at FanGraphs (who ripped the deal saying Shapiro got “taken to the cleaners” or something to that effect) would be happy if we'd hauled in Drabek/Taylor. But the reality is, we needed two pitchers more than we needed one, and we needed skill position players more than we needed Yet Another GD Left-fielder, and Cameron, bless his heart, wouldn’t have to live with the Lee trade failing to equate to long-term MLB production.

Perhaps it was that idea of quantity in light of the attrition rate of these prospects (particularly the pitchers) and perhaps the Indians have put more stock into the idea that Carrasco, Marson, and Donald were “undervalued” a bit because they didn’t positively light up AAA Lehigh Valley in their first 3 months there. Perhaps it was the idea that a body of work longer than 3 months could be leaned upon more heavily in terms of taking a guy like previous flavor-of-the-month Carrasco over current flavor-of-the-month Drabek and likewise with Marson and Donald over Taylor (who did not appear among Baseball America’s Top 100 prospects entering 2009) in that they put more stock in three years of performance over three months of performance.

At this point, only time will tell if the Indians chose the prudent path…

Beanpot · January 27, 2010

Side note - how long will it take for people to stop thinking they're clever by using the "we're the farm team to MLB" line?

Side note 2 - of all the things for Shapiro bashers to latch on to....why Kevin Kouzmanoff? The guy is a worse, older version of Jhonny Peralta...only Peralta played short.

I'd go with "forever" to your first side note. Now the second one gives me pause. Could well be the granny he hit in his first AB but more likely it had to do with his success in the minors. Once that success is attained and the player is dealt to another organization, that player is placed in the "what could have been" category. And it's nearly *impossible* to be removed from that category until retirement. Doesn't matter one bit if the current starter is performing better than the former player. No sir. That former player would surely have fit in "somewhere" on this team and Shapiro was an idiot to get rid of the guy.

It's an interesting dynamic that is most often presented without a bit of logical reason.

Beanpot

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