The Nats made an interesting decision this week to promote Bryce Harper straight to AA Harrisburg, bypassing high-A Potomac. Much has been made about how much this might have to do with the shoddy field conditions at Potomac, where the field floods quite easily, especially in the outfield. I think that this probably has something to do with it, but not as much as has been reported. I think another contributing factor is the current outfielders at Potomac. In Eury Perez, Destin Hood and J.P. Ramirez, the Nats have three prospects in the outfield. These aren’t just minor-league filler-players, but rather players that the Nats think could make it to the big leagues. However, none are really ready to make the next step to AA. Hood is having a nice season, and was an all-star for Potomac, but he is still relatively new to baseball after being a two-sport star in high school (he had committed to play football at Alabama), and rushing him to the next level might not be a wise decision at this stage of the game. On the other hand, Harrisburg’s outfield isn’t nearly as crowded. No important player’s development would have been stunted by the addition of Harper to the outfield.
Another interesting note about Harper’s promotion is how he has gone from hitting third and playing mainly right field to hitting seventh and playing left field. I like the move to have Harper learn all three outfield positions. Why limit yourself with such an athletic player? The more concerning development is why Harper is hitting seventh? I understand that it might be a bit of a slap in the face to current Harrisburg players to move this kid immediately into the prime spot in the lineup, but this is a business. Don’t worry about people’s feelings. I think the more likely concern is that Nationals management realizes it is a pretty big jump from low-A to AA. As much as they don’t want to admit, I think they know they are taking a gamble in having Harper skip high-A. By hitting Harper lower in the lineup, maybe they feel like they are hedging their bets.
Last thought on this topic: I saw a piece on CSN yesterday about the Harper promotion. Chick Hernandez sat down with Harper, and Harper talked about how he had gotten “bored” at low-A. If you look at his numbers, this would certainly explain his recent batting trend. After hitting around .340 or .350 most of the year, Harper’s average fell down below .320 before his promotion. I had chalked this up to the nagging injuries that Nationals management had claimed were affecting Harper. The news that Harper was bored is actually more concerning to me. Now Harper has taken his share of criticism: from the eye black to the now famous “kiss” incident, some in the media have been looking for reasons to label Harper as a punk. I haven’t been concerned by any of those incidents because, at the end of the day, all of those stemmed from an inner drive and competitiveness that you want out of your top athletes. Think Jordan would have been as good as he was if he wasn’t the most competitive guy on the floor? No way. If it were Jordan, he would have gotten upset with losing any game. Granted, one player can influence a game more in basketball than in baseball, but you see where I’m coming from. The idea that a top athlete could get bored with playing the game they love and dominating the competition is concerning. Especially after all we heard about leading up to Harper’s selection last spring was about how competitive he was and how hard he played the game. Let’s hope this is just another example of an 18-year-old being acting like an 18-year-old.
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