Bryce Harper Joining the AFL (Taxi Squad)

Sweet. :mrgreen:


Nats sending Harper to Arizona Fall League

Bryce Harper - OF - Washington NationalsMore team newsToday - 12:45 PM ET
According to Bill Ladson of MLB.com, Nationals prospect Bryce Harper will play in the Arizona Fall League.

Harper will begin playing for the Scottsdale Scorpions immediately, according to Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo. He will be on the team's taxi squad, meaning that he will play two days a week. There were some concerns that the teenage hitting sensation would be in over his head against some of the game's top prospects, but the Nationals did not want Harper sitting idle for the next two months.

"Rizzo, manager Jim Riggleman, hitting coach Rick Eckstein, special assistant Phil Rizzo, a special advisor to the general manager, will also be in Arizona to help develop Harper."

http://therocket.mlblogs.com/archives/2 ... ona_f.html

Very interesting! Should be fun to watch at least.

Just in time for his birthday.

I'm more interested in the treatment from the other players than his actually production numbers.

They need him to put butts in the seats...tourist's $$$$

PeteD said:

They need him to put butts in the seats...tourist's $$$$

Click to expand...

You are vastly overrating the power of Harper.

I doubt he is going to put many butts in the seats.

More info.




Harper "stoked" to play in Arizona Fall League
By Byron Kerr, October 13, 2010 2:35 PM | 0 Comments

Nationals number one draft selection Bryce Harper has confirmed that he will play in the Arizona Fall League and will report to the Scottsdale Scorpions on Sunday night.

Harper will be on the team's taxi squad and play in Wednesday and Saturday games.

"I am stoked. I am so excited," Harper said. "It has been a goal of mine to be able play in the Arizona Fall league."

Harper will spend time at home this weekend in Las Vegas with his family to celebrate his 18th birthday on Saturday, and then he'll head for Scottsdale Sunday.

Nationals player development director Doug Harris called Harper into his office Sunday and at first jokingly told Bryce he was going to play in the Dominican for four weeks.

After Harper said, "Wow, really!?", Harris told him he was kidding and instead said the team would send Harper to the Arizona Fall league.

Harper feels he is ready for this next step after hitting against top prospects in the instructional league and was thrilled to get the call to play in Arizona.

"I just wanted to keep playing baseball. I was thinking maybe Team USA if I wasn't going to do Arizona. So, when I found out I was going to get to play AFL, I was really happy."

While at instructs, Harper worked extensively with coach Tony Tarasco in the outfield on running routes to the ball and tracking high flyball outs.

"He helped me so much with things I needed to learn in the outfield. It was like riding a bike for the first time and taking the training wheels off - a great experience. I learned a lot."

Harper remembers those first few at bats against Atlanta's top pitcher.

"The Braves' Julio Teheran was very tough. He was incredible. It was a great challenge to go in and face that kind of pitcher."

Harper says he was boosted when Michael Burgess, Steve Lombardozzi and Derek Norris joined the camp, and knew he had to step it up at the plate.

"I really picked up my game when those guys came down to Florida. I said to myself, 'Okay, let's go.' It really helped me to see them there. I got my game going and got in a groove by making some small adjustments to my swing. I did pretty well."

All three fellow prospects will be alongside Harper as he embarks on the next step in his baseball career, an invitation to play in Arizona.

That's good news. Now maybe Michael Burgess can do some things (besides strike-out) and gain more attention in the prospect world.

boxbreaker44 said:

PeteD said:

They need him to put butts in the seats...tourist's $$$$

Click to expand...

You are vastly overrating the power of Harper.

Click to expand...

no he isn't


But he is overrating the AFL's desire to sell tickets and the amount of influence ticket sales have on the placement of players in it.

His first game will be a week from today. His (tentative) schedule will look as follows:


October 20 vs. Mesa, 6:35 p.m.
October 23 vs. Phoenix, 12:35 p.m.
October 27 at Mesa, 12:35 p.m.
October 30 vs. Peo Saguaros, 12:35 p.m.
November 3 at Surprise, 12:35 p.m.
November 10 at Peo Saguaros, 12:35 p.m.
November 13 at Surprise, 12:35 p.m.
November 17 vs. Mesa, 6:35 p.m.

http://www.tbd.com/blogs/chamberlain/20 ... -3082.html

well dang. I have my schedule all planned out and didn't fit in any taxi squad days.
Will have to catch him at the rising stars game I guess. He'll still be around I'd imagine. Maybe I can run into him on a monday or tuesday.

The AFL doesn't care who comes or even if people know there's a thing in the valley called the "arizona fall league" It's like baseball underground. No one I talk to knows about it. When I say I'm going to a AFL game, they ask what I play :lol:
The average attendance (without looking at actual numbers) is about 200-400 people per average game. Bryce might make that spike to 500 on a busy day - but it's still a stadium sitting at 5% capacity.
I don't mind, I just wish it was more of an event around here.

cgilmo said:

boxbreaker44 said:

PeteD said:

They need him to put butts in the seats...tourist's $$$$

Click to expand...

You are vastly overrating the power of Harper.

Click to expand...

no he isn't


But he is overrating the AFL's desire to sell tickets and the amount of influence ticket sales have on the placement of players in it.

Click to expand...

No he is.

Compared to last years aflac game when Harper was there and this years there werent many more people.

Honestly as someone who has seen harper for 3 days of practice then the game he really isnt that dominate besides his HR Derby ability. Quality pitchers can get this guy out.

boxbreaker44 said:

cgilmo said:

boxbreaker44 said:

PeteD said:

They need him to put butts in the seats...tourist's $$$$

Click to expand...

You are vastly overrating the power of Harper.

Click to expand...

no he isn't


But he is overrating the AFL's desire to sell tickets and the amount of influence ticket sales have on the placement of players in it.

Click to expand...

No he is.

Compared to last years aflac game when Harper was there and this years there werent many more people.

Honestly as someone who has seen harper for 3 days of practice then the game he really isnt that dominate besides his HR Derby ability. Quality pitchers can get this guy out.

Click to expand...

Every professional, reputable scout in America disagrees with you. There is no dissenting opinion that I can find.

cgilmo said:

boxbreaker44 said:

cgilmo said:

boxbreaker44 said:

PeteD said:

They need him to put butts in the seats...tourist's $$$$

Click to expand...

You are vastly overrating the power of Harper.

Click to expand...

no he isn't


But he is overrating the AFL's desire to sell tickets and the amount of influence ticket sales have on the placement of players in it.

Click to expand...

No he is.

Compared to last years aflac game when Harper was there and this years there werent many more people.

Honestly as someone who has seen harper for 3 days of practice then the game he really isnt that dominate besides his HR Derby ability. Quality pitchers can get this guy out.

Click to expand...

Every professional, reputable scout in America disagrees with you. There is no dissenting opinion that I can find.

Click to expand...

Yea they are always right. Guess we shall see

Curios though for his supporters what kind of numbers would he have to put up to be considered the phenom he has been showcased as.

I am not against Harper hes a nice guy he signed a ball for me but I just think we will see some disappointed people.

ALRIGHT!!! I am in Arizona till next thursday (Glendale!!) sweet

Yanksfan said:

I doubt he is going to put many butts in the seats.

Click to expand...

Ask any of the fellow members that are going down, if they're excited now that's he's showing up.

Or do you read those threads?

My butt will be in the seat in Surprise on Monday afternoon.. lets hope he signs a few cards/balls

brianga26 said:

My butt will be in the seat in Surprise on Monday afternoon.. lets hope he signs a few cards/balls

Click to expand...

Expect one signature and he'll probably personalize it. He's typically really good about signing for everybody, but just expect personalizations and no duplicates.

He's been doing this for two years now and he's good at keeping tabs on who is in front of him all of the time.

The caveat is what the wording was in the exclusive contract that he signed.

Got this before his exclusive contract. He was still wearing # 24.

Wonder if it would fetch a decent price.

boxbreaker44 said:

cgilmo said:

boxbreaker44 said:

PeteD said:

They need him to put butts in the seats...tourist's $$$$

Click to expand...

You are vastly overrating the power of Harper.

Click to expand...

no he isn't


But he is overrating the AFL's desire to sell tickets and the amount of influence ticket sales have on the placement of players in it.

Click to expand...

No he is.

Compared to last years aflac game when Harper was there and this years there werent many more people.

Honestly as someone who has seen harper for 3 days of practice then the game he really isnt that dominate besides his HR Derby ability. Quality pitchers can get this guy out.

Click to expand...

Quality pitchers can get anybody out.

In fact, a mix of quality pitchers and stiffs combine to get out even the best players more than 75% of the time (or something like that).