LeBron James of Baseball

[jakesdaddio]

Check this out! Pretty impressive. Might be worth sucking in 2010 to get a shot at this kid. Bryce Harper is a sophomore in Las Vegas High School that looks Major League ready right now.

 

[Invader3K]

Trying to tank a season in baseball to get a specific draft pick is almost impossible, and also dumb since there's virtually no chance he would be up with your big league club right away.

[cwolf2012]

He loads his hips incredibly well. As his body matures even more, he's going to develop an amazing amount of power.

 

I would have like to see him hitting with a wood bat, but whatevs.

[Patrick425]

A. From the video I'm assuming he's a catcher. Any relation to Brian Harper?

 

B. Can he hit a breaking pitch from a lefty?

[bullox]

It's possible that he doesn't even have a driver's license yet. I'll give him a mulligan if he can't yet figure out breaking pitches from lefties.

 

He goes to school not terribly far from where I live. I might have to catch a game or two of his before he gets out of high school.

[Fatter than Joey]

I don't know if that leg kick was strictly for the HR contest -- but I would imagine it would make him susceptible to off-speed pitching.

 

He is a catcher.

[sbrylski]

I don't know if that leg kick was strictly for the HR contest -- but I would imagine it would make him susceptible to off-speed pitching.

 

He is a catcher.

Yeah, he has that odd twisting he does with his front ankle. Probably should ditch that.

[Diskono]

I hope somebody tanks in order to draft him, and then he decides to go to college.

[RyDogg66]

I thought this was going to be a video of people walking off the field without shaking hands. Kid looks good.

[jakesdaddio]

Obviously I don't really want the Brewers to tank, but if they did, Harper would be a nice pick. He will be on this weeks cover of SI.

[Brewbadger]

6'3 205 lbs as a sophomore? He has some good genes. Great swing.

[PlayerHader]

6'3 205 lbs as a sophomore? He has some good genes. Great swing.

I'd feel more confident if his name was Bryce Moeller.

[PrestigeWorldwide]

I hope somebody tanks in order to draft him, and then he decides to go to college.

 

I just read the SI article. His parents are trying to find a way for him to enter the draft early so he doesn't have to spend another two years being intentionally walked. Thus, I don't think he'll be able to use college as leverage.

[JonnyLungs]

I hope somebody tanks in order to draft him, and then he decides to go to college.

 

I just read the SI article. His parents are trying to find a way for him to enter the draft early so he doesn't have to spend another two years being intentionally walked. Thus, I don't think he'll be able to use college as leverage.

 

Maybe he could be a good test for the possible loophole of moving to Latin America for a year (or elsewhere that makes the player not subject to the MLB draft). Hence, he'd be a free agent able to sign with any team. I'd like to see it done. While it would probably allow him to go to one of the richer teams, it may bring some changes to the rules of the draft and perhaps a worldwide draft.

[Invader3K]

Before stuff like that starts happening more regularly I would hope MLB would fix the draft system in general, particularly with international players, like you cited.

[JonnyLungs]

Before stuff like that starts happening more regularly I would hope MLB would fix the draft system in general, particularly with international players, like you cited.

That would be ideal, but like a lot of things in baseball's history, when has Major League Baseball as an entity taken the initiative? On most occasions it's hand is forced by maverick individuals.

[RU Rah Rah]

Nothing like a little pressure. Unless he becomes an MLB star, this kid is going to be tagged a "failure" for the rest of his life. And he's going to have a lot of people rooting against him.

[FVBrewerFan]

I think it's ridiculous to project a 16 yr old will be a stud in MLB. Forget off-speed pitches from a lefty, how many 96MPH fastballs with movement has he seen? Not to mention flithy sliders, curves and change-ups. Great talent, interesting story, but let's not dust off a shelf in the HOF for the kid just yet.

[cwolf2012]

This guy has "Billy Beane" written all over him. I could see this guy batting .200 and being out of the league in 6 years because of mental issues. We'll have to wait and see. His swing is beautiful, though (except for that weird leg twist, that'll be gone as soon as he hits the minors).

[PlayerHader]

I didn't read the book. How does he have "Billy Beane" written all over him?

[crewcrazy]

I didn't read the book. How does he have "Billy Beane" written all over him?

Beane was seen as the ultimate 5-tool can't-miss prospect as a teenager, and was drafted by the Mets. It's been awhile since I read Moneyball, but if I remember correctly, he struggled to adjust to playing against higher competition and only put more pressure on himself because he thought too much about the hype and his struggles at the plate. He came up through the minors with Lenny Dykstra, and the argument was made that while Dykstra was clearly the inferior talent, he fared better because he was "too dumb" to succumb to pressure.

 

It's been a couple years since I read the book, though, so I'm sure someone else can provide a more accurate explanation. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[PlayerHader]

Ah I see. I did a wiki search on Beane and found the same. Thanks for the scoop. I hadn't known Beane as anything but a GM until now.

[phxMILWfan]

I think it's ridiculous to project a 16 yr old will be a stud in MLB. Forget off-speed pitches from a lefty, how many 96MPH fastballs with movement has he seen? Not to mention flithy sliders, curves and change-ups. Great talent, interesting story, but let's not dust off a shelf in the HOF for the kid just yet.

 

Other than his own 96mph fastball? Probably not many. I'm assuming everyone read the SI article. I wanted to think that the parents were just trying to get rich off of him but then I read it and they seem like decent people. He's hitting almost .600 in high school and OPS over 1200. Honestly I'm shocked anyone is pitching to him. I think the point of wanting to get him out of high school ball is that he isn't be challenged and he isn't going to continue to develope at the high rate he currently is because he isn't being challenged. I liked that his mom said that they aren't considering moving him to a Latin American country. That would be insane. You have to like his work ethic. I wonder where you put him if you draft him. I don't think you waste him as a pitcher even though at 16 he is hitting 96 on the gun. As a catcher he's going to get banged up a little bit and eventually lose the speed that is one of his assets. With the kind of arm he has would he be best as a third basemen?

[tommyboy42609]

I think it is very ridiculous to call any amateur baseball player the "Lebron James of Baseball." Lebron entered the league and basically had his way with it for the most part comparing his rookie year with any other rookie players in the histoy of the NBA and now look what he is. . . almost every other story on him is him being compared to MJ fair or not you get the point. . . I highly doubt that once this kid eventually gets called to the bigs he will heir comparisons to the greats of the history of the MLB.

[phxMILWfan]

I agree with you tommyboy about the impact he will have on the game. He may not even make it to the majors. I think their reasoning for calling him the Lebron of baseball is how talented he is in all areas of the game. Baseball is so different from basketball that you won't have a player be a dominating hitter, fielder and pitcher all in one. In basketball Lebron can be a dominating defender, scorer, passer, shooter and so on. The fact that this 16 year old hits 96 on the gun already and is a dominating defensive catcher, hits for power, hits for average and has great speed is what makes people draw comparisons to Lebron. When you add the fact that he is playing the way A-Rod and Griffey did when they were seniors you could say he is 2 years ahead of them and their talent is obvious. The fact that he went to a tournament with other talented kids his age and older and went 12 for 12 with 11 home runs and a double is amazing. It's not like he did it in little league. When you look at the fact that no one has dominated in all areas of the game the way he has at 16 years old in baseball before and Lebron dominated at 16 years old in all areas in basketball it's not that crazy of a comparison. Also when you consider these writers are trying to draw attention to their article it's not going to work by saying "He is a modern day Robin Yount that also throws a 96 mph fastball". What I'm interested in seeing is what position he ends up at. You can be extremely talented in all areas but if he ends up not being able to throw a 2nd pitch, hit MLB quality breaking balls or throw out MLB runners... what difference does it make? Like I said before I didn't want to be interested in this kid or excited to see him play before I read the article. After reading it, he doesn't seem like a bad kid and depending on his position he could be in the pros in 3 years.