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Bryce Harper punches his ticket to Cooperstown at age 16By 'Duk I have no idea if there's a difference in pressure between having every baseball wonk following you around at age 16 and having every sports fan in the country learn your name, but I suppose Bryce Harper will soon be able to tell us. Following in its grand tradition of predicting can't miss future superstars like Schea Cotton and Tamir Goodman, Sports Illustrated is using the cover of this week's magazine to tout the 16-year-old Las Vegas resident as "the most exciting prodigy since LeBron."Writes SI's Tom Verducci:Quote"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. "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(notes), Alex Rodriguez(notes) and Ken Griffey Jr.(notes), 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."Whether or not Harper will eventually save SI from the limb it just walked out on remains to be seen, but it should be said that Harper certainly believes he can.
"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. "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(notes), Alex Rodriguez(notes) and Ken Griffey Jr.(notes), 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."
Mon Jun 15, 2009 12:13 pm EDTWhy I mostly support Bryce Harper's decision to skip high schoolBy 'Duk When big Bryce Harper made the cover of Sports Illustrated two weeks ago, I knew we'd soon again be hearing from the 16-year-old 'chosen one.' But not quite this soon. On Sunday, the sophomore from Las Vegas found his way into national headlines again when his father announced that Bryce will forgo his final two years of high school and use a GED to enroll in a community college this August. Though it more or less makes a mockery of our education system, the Harpers' plan would make Bryce eligible for the 2010 draft, where he could conceivably be the Nationals' No. 1 pick and eventually join forces with Stephen Strasburg to save Washington baseball from itself.It's a controversial decision, to be sure, but Ron Harper says he and his son are prepared to hear from the inevitable haters.
And now he's quit high school . . .The rest is at:http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Why-I-mostly-support-Bryce-Harper-s-decision-to-?urn=mlb,170270
Todd, Lawrence Phillips, Ryan Leaf, Mark Prior, Sebastian Telfair, Ki-Jana Carter, Tony Mandarich...take your pick.Great--kid is gonna be a cripple, broke, AND unemployable/uneducated. Whee!
The best part will be that he wants to be a Yankee!
Yeah, all that money the Bankees spent in the off season for Sabathia, Burnett, and Texeira worked out so well, didn't it? And how much did they pay Wang back in the day?
Speaking of busts, I hear Ryan Leaf got nailed in WA over the weekend for burglary.
