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Is Bryce Harper overrated and just a semi-star and NOT a mega-star as we thought?

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jbmm161

Active member
Dec 19, 2010
1,377
1
Ft Worth
"That's a clown question bro!"
Somebody had to do it.

Guy will be a mega-star, has the passion and skill for it. And as a fan, I don't care if he is happy just win.
Harper was on a playoff team and hit in playoff situations, I take that over Trouts 2012 season on a crap team any day of the week.
Trout versus Harper, Bird vs Magic, and Cowboys vs 49ers. There is no winner just watch and enjoy.
 

RogerMarisCollector61

Active member
Jan 26, 2010
740
26
Follow his progression in OBP and K/BB ratio and tell me he's not developing into a star hitter. At his age to be approaching a .380 OBP with a .100 split in BA is remarkable. The numbers are remarkably Mantle-like. He needs to get better at driving in runs, but he'll get there. He also needs to tone down some of the Pete Rose hustle and stay on the field. Regardless of how you feel about him as a person, you're watching history. Don't take it for granted. People were saying the same about Griffey Jr.

Good point, his plate discipline has been excellent this year. I feel like he's gone under the radar the past couple of months with the media jumping on the puig bandwagon.
 

All The Hype

Active member
Aug 7, 2008
10,250
0
Indianapolis
While Harper is obviously still young, he's obviously not playing like an all-time great this year and has been getting sick and injured. Considering the best indicator of future performance is past performance it's fair to say he's lost some potential as a future all-time great.

I agree that past performance is usually the best way to predict future performance, but isn't he still 20 years old? We have to account for the fact that there is a learning curve when players are promoted to the Majors, and that generally players do not hit their prime until their late 20s.


Even so, right now he's on track to become the youngest player in baseball history to reach 100 homeruns, as long as he can stay healthy and continues to hit homers at the same rate (or higher rate) as he has so far in his career. There's no way to predict the future with certainty, but when that's all the info we have to work with, a logic-based prediction would say that Harper IS on track to be a future all-time great.
 

phillyfan0417

Well-known member
Administrator
Aug 7, 2008
43,551
43
Greenfield, Wisconsin, United States
Follow his progression in OBP and K/BB ratio and tell me he's not developing into a star hitter. At his age to be approaching a .380 OBP with a .100 split in BA is remarkable. The numbers are remarkably Mantle-like. He needs to get better at driving in runs, but he'll get there. He also needs to tone down some of the Pete Rose hustle and stay on the field. Regardless of how you feel about him as a person, you're watching history. Don't take it for granted. People were saying the same about Griffey Jr.

Wow, someone used statistics and this needed to be posted to the top. He is developing parts of his game in the majors where many would be in High-A trying to do this. Bryce Harper is developing his game at the highest level of competition in his sport.
 

JEBJJA

Active member
Aug 11, 2008
2,345
17
South Jersey- Near Philly
A new season....and I want to bring it up again. Where is the power? RBI's? Now problems with him about his personal stats and not wanted to face Jose Fernandez over losing a NINE game hitting streak? Don't get me wrong, I like Harper, I collect his stuff and my kid likes him but I am getting a little impatient as a fan. They play the Angels this week and Trout is gonna make the Harper fans a little envious me thinks....
 
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jeff550

New member
May 5, 2009
9,896
0
burke
What I dont get is why does Harper always have to be compared to Trout. Trout has done things that no one else ever has, and is on pace to be one of the all time greats. To date Harper has put up solid numbers and combine that with the fact that most players his age would be considered ahead of the curve if they were in AA. To put things in perspective, when Harper went on a rehab assignment with the PNats last year, he was the youngest player on the team. I think worst case senario for Harper is Justin Upton, and best case is a HOF worth career.
 

Mozzie22

Active member
Aug 7, 2008
1,648
24
A new season....and I want to bring it up again. Where is the power? RBI's? Now problems with him about his personal stats and not wanted to face Jose Fernandez over losing a NINE game hitting streak? Don't get me wrong, I like Harper, I collect his stuff and my kid likes him but I am getting a little impatient as a fan. They play the Angels this week and Trout is gonna make the Harper fans a little envious me thinks....

I don't like or hate him. Good player but not great. More importantly, why is the Topps cup in your sig not in the bottom right corner? Look a lot cooler if it was.
 

sportscardtheory

Active member
Aug 16, 2008
8,461
2
Buffalo, New York
Kevin Kouzmanoff had more extra base hits in his last 7 games than Harper has all season. I know he's young and he's going to go through rough patches, but he really needs to pull his head out of his ass if he doesn't want to start hearing the dreaded "bust" label. And by "bust" I mean hype compared to production. Clearly he's a good player, but he's been talked about since he was 16 and was the #1 overall pick. He isn't performing to those standards at THIS point.
 
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Lars

Active member
Aug 25, 2008
1,269
0
Glad Trout is a better player than him at this point but unless Harper is putting up mediocre numbers in his prime and unable to get healthy, he is such a young guy that anything is possible.

He's going to get 1,000 more chances than 'just another player' and looking at his talent, hard to bet against him succeeding rather than flopping.
 

sportscardtheory

Active member
Aug 16, 2008
8,461
2
Buffalo, New York
I think it's just frustrating for Nats and Harper fans to see a guy (Trout) who at Bryce's age last season was in the midst of doing everything they wanted and/or expected from Harper. He WILL get better and he WILL be a great overall player, just maybe not as immediately as Trout. Just like Mays and Mantle, Harper and Trout were great young rookies during the same season, so they will always be compared for the rest of their careers.
 

jeff550

New member
May 5, 2009
9,896
0
burke
I think it's just frustrating for Nats and Harper fans to see a guy (Trout) who at Bryce's age last season was in the midst of doing everything they wanted and/or expected from Harper. He WILL get better and he WILL be a great overall player, just maybe not as immediately as Trout. Just like Mays and Mantle, Harper and Trout were great young rookies during the same season, so they will always be compared for the rest of their careers.
I'm a Nats fan, and it no way, shape, or from am I frustrated with how Harper played. Again to compare anyone to Trout is just absurd because Trout has had one of the best, if not the best beginning of a career EVER. Even compared to the other players taken in the 2010 draft, only Chris Sale and Andrelton Simmons have a higher WAR.
 

RiceLynnEvans75

Active member
Feb 9, 2010
3,264
3
NOVA
Still way to early to tell. Comparing him to another player in no way, shape, or form determines if he is overrated or not either. The other player has nothing to do with how Harper performs. In regards to the hype, that's all on the media and fans, not Harper himself. Harper will do what he can do and, as far as I know, was never out there pimping himself to be the greatest thing since sliced bread. That was all on the fans and media. Not really sure why people have such a problem with Harper either. Guy goes out and plays hard he gets ridiculed for not being careful. Another player goes out and "does his thing" (a la Manny Ramirez) and he's lazy. I don't think it matters what Harper does, there will ALWAYS be those that, instead of just enjoying watching him play, will find something to nit pick at.
 

matfanofold

Active member
Aug 10, 2008
7,645
1
I think it is funny everyone thinks their opinion on how Harper should be judged is the only correct way.

If you stand back a bit and look from outside the tree's then you can see that he is a young, talented ball player with plenty of time to make a splash, the kind he is capable of. However, he is about 6 months away from being 22 now and no longer a 'baby' like some tend to think. With his talent and experience, he should now be showing signs of what his accredited 'talent' supposes. And with 71 plate appearances this year, having only 1 HR and 6 RBI is indeed disturbing.

Say what you will but he is not 16 anymore, he is not that unbelievably young kid taking on MLB anymore, he is a grown man approaching 22 years old working on his 3'rd year of MLB experience and so far is not doing well. To pretend this does not matter at all is just kidding yourself. But, and again, he is still young and with his talent and determination he should see many years of productivity. I honestly can see both points of view and both have validity in my humble opinion...
 

Lars

Active member
Aug 25, 2008
1,269
0
There are 22-year old guys who might still be in college and may turn out to be good professional baseball players - the thing with Harper is he is really young, if he lives up to the hype, these apparent growing pains will not matter.

To compare, a guy named Barry Bonds didn't end up really figuring things out until his fifth season in the major leagues and up through 2000, that guy was a hell of a ballplayer.
 

HPC

New member
Aug 12, 2008
6,709
0
Phoenix, AZ
Entering Age 21 season:

Bryce Harper: 8.6 WAR
Ken Griffey Jr.: 8.4 WAR
Babe Ruth: 1.8 WAR
Barry Bonds: 0 WAR
Willie Mays 3.9 WAR

WAR, huh, what is it good for?!

Absolutely everything!

:D

Harper is not overrated.

I'll give the same answer as I did the last time this thread came up: he's overexposed by the media.
 

Austin

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2008
5,706
41
Dallas, Texas
Entering Age 21 season:

Bryce Harper: 8.6 WAR
Ken Griffey Jr.: 8.4 WAR
Babe Ruth: 1.8 WAR
Barry Bonds: 0 WAR
Willie Mays 3.9 WAR
That's a very random and flawed list.
Ruth's first full season as a hitter was age 24.
Bonds has a 0 WAR entering his age 21 season because he didn't reach Majors until he was 21.
Griffey is the only player on that list who was Harper's age as a rookie, so comparing career WARs of other players makes no sense.
 

phillyfan0417

Well-known member
Administrator
Aug 7, 2008
43,551
43
Greenfield, Wisconsin, United States
That's a very random and flawed list.
Ruth's first full season as a hitter was age 24.
Bonds has a 0 WAR entering his age 21 season because he didn't reach Majors until he was 21.
Griffey is the only player on that list who was Harper's age as a rookie, so comparing career WARs of other players makes no sense.

It makes sense in that harper put up those numbers at the age of 21. It also put in perspective how whats considered disappointing is not so much...

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk
 

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