SI.com article on 16 year-old Bryce Harper (1 Viewer)

[Don Quixote]

Harper plays softball on the National Mall.

As someone who has played in many a softball game on the mall over the years... awesome. This might turn me into as big a douchenozzle fanboy as JZilla.

 

[dgreen]

Harper plays softball on the National Mall.

As someone who has played in many a softball game on the mall over the years... awesome. This might turn me into as big a douchenozzle fanboy as JZilla.

I can already tell I'm going to fall in love with him like I did Ovechkin. I only hope Harper doesn't break my heart like Ovechkin has.

 

[TobiasFunke]

Harper plays softball on the National Mall.

As someone who has played in many a softball game on the mall over the years... awesome. This might turn me into as big a douchenozzle fanboy as JZilla.

Now all he needs is a run-in with a drunken Congressman and an STD contracted from someone he met at Smith Point for the full DC Summer Intern experience.

 

[Gadabout]

Harper plays softball on the National Mall.

Big fan of embroidered butt print on the back of jeans.

 

[The Flying Elvis]

How do you not love this kid? Seems to be a throwback ball player. sure, he has a bit of a douchey vibe about him but he is only 19 and seems to have a great respect for the history of the game and hustles every play. I'd gladly trade any of the pricks on the Red Sox for this kid. Should be a treat for Washington fans for years to have this kid and Strasburg on their team.

 

[dgreen]

An absolutely amazing throw by Harper on a sac fly and the ump misses the call at home.

 

[Raider Nation]

Man, what a gorgeous swing this kid has. Just missed a HR. Wall double instead.

 

[dgreen]

3 for 4, two doubles

 

[Raider Nation]

3 for 4, two doubles

Makes you wonder how he swung and missed at a softball. Shtick?

 

[Raider Nation]

0-3 with 3 BB. Average "down to" .316 now.

I don't know why anyone would have thought this would be too big/too soon for someone with his skill set. B.J. Upton was batting third for the Rays when he was the exact same age that Harper is now.

 

[jamny]

I don't know why anyone would have thought this would be too big/too soon for someone with his skill set. B.J. Upton was batting third for the Rays when he was the exact same age that Harper is now.

It probably was due to the fact that he was slow to adjust at each level. If he was mashing every where he went, it would never have come up.Still blown away by that throw to the plate. What a rifle!

 

[TobiasFunke]

The latest from Tales of Bryce Harper:

Early spring training the Post beat writer interviewed Nats hitting coach Rick Eckstein, who shared a story about Harper having already watched an NL East starter extensively and explaining to Eckstein how he might approach an AB against that starter. It was Halladay, and Harper had noticed a tendency to throw a first pitch get-me-over curveball for strikes. Harper had yet to play above AA at the time. Yesterday he smacked a first pitch curveball from Halladay for a two-run triple that was part of a four run inning against Halladay.

Link

The kid works really really really hard.

 

[The Flying Elvis]

The latest from Tales of Bryce Harper:

Early spring training the Post beat writer interviewed Nats hitting coach Rick Eckstein, who shared a story about Harper having already watched an NL East starter extensively and explaining to Eckstein how he might approach an AB against that starter. It was Halladay, and Harper had noticed a tendency to throw a first pitch get-me-over curveball for strikes. Harper had yet to play above AA at the time. Yesterday he smacked a first pitch curveball from Halladay for a two-run triple that was part of a four run inning against Halladay.

Link

The kid works really really really hard.

Have to love a kid with all world talent having an all world work ethic too. He may be a bit of a head case at times but he wants to be one of the great ones.

 

[Premier]

Why are we supposed to not like him again? I would think all the wanna-be purists would love how he high-tails it around the bases.

 

[Balco]

Why are we supposed to not like him again? I would think all the wanna-be purists would love how he high-tails it around the bases.

He might be immature, but not sure why people don't like him. Hustles all the time and has a great work ethic. I felt the same way about Barry Bonds.

 

[Don Quixote]

Why are we supposed to not like him again? I would think all the wanna-be purists would love how he high-tails it around the bases.

I thought the contrast with Heyward on Saturday was great. Heyward played a basehit to him like he was in a beer softball league (did not run up to the slow-bouncing ball and then lackadaisically bobbled it off his glove). He seemed surprised when he finally picked up the ball and looked up to see Harper about ready to slide into second.

 

[Raider Nation]

This kid just might have a future.

 

[The Flying Elvis]

I mean, I probably shouldn't have been happy to see Harper hit a Fenway bomb last night as a Sox fan but you have to admire the kid. Becoming a big Harper fan. He runs out ground balls, he plays a good outfield and he hits moonshots. Rarely does somehow with his hype live up to it but he is the real deal. 19 years old and he is hitting close to .300 and the most impressive thing is lefties don't bother him and his BB/K ratio is pretty damn good, also the HRs don't hurt.

 

[dgreen]

Leading his team in BA, OBP, SLG, and OPS.

 

[scrumptrulescent]

He's been good. He's no Mike Trout but he's good.

Hopefully the immaturity was officially left in the minors. So far he's played hard-nosed baseball. The bat in the face thing was pretty stupid but I can overlook it.

I need to keep telling myself to not hold against him that the Booyah Network bows down to him every night.

 

[Don Quixote]

Leading his team in BA, OBP, SLG, and OPS.

I was reading last week that he would be 11th in the NL in OBP, SLG, and OPS if he had enough at-bats to qualify, which should happen in another week or so. Not bad for a 19-year old.

 

[dgreen]

And after his 7th HR of the season, he's now tied for the team lead in runs.

 

[The_Man]

From ESPN's Buster Olney:

Bryce Harper first 25 games: .267, 2 HR, 9 RBI, a very respectable .818 OPS. His last 15 games: .368, 5 homers, 10 RBI, 1.147 OPS.

Did you see his response to the Toronto reporter who asked him last night if he was going to have a post-game beer because Canada's drinking age is 18?"That's a clown question, bro. I'm not going to answer that."

 

[dgreen]

From ESPN's Buster Olney:

Bryce Harper first 25 games: .267, 2 HR, 9 RBI, a very respectable .818 OPS. His last 15 games: .368, 5 homers, 10 RBI, 1.147 OPS.

Did you see his response to the Toronto reporter who asked him last night if he was going to have a post-game beer because Canada's drinking age is 18?"That's a clown question, bro. I'm not going to answer that."

Do they know he's Mormon and reportedly doesn't drink? Right?He also had this quote:

I just feel really good up there. At the beginning, I usually struggle. Once I get going, it’s scary.

Do we have a measurement yet on his HR last night?

 

[The_Man]

Harper's OPS for the season is now .943.

Highest OPS by a teenager (minimum: 150 plate appearances) going back to 1876:

Year Age OPS

1928 19 Mel Ott .921

1964 19 Tony Conigliaro .883

1951 19 Mickey Mantle .792

1970 19 Cesar Cedeno .790

 

[E-Z Glider]

From ESPN's Buster Olney:

Bryce Harper first 25 games: .267, 2 HR, 9 RBI, a very respectable .818 OPS. His last 15 games: .368, 5 homers, 10 RBI, 1.147 OPS.

Did you see his response to the Toronto reporter who asked him last night if he was going to have a post-game beer because Canada's drinking age is 18?"That's a clown question, bro. I'm not going to answer that."

That's a clown question, bro

 

[TobiasFunke]

From ESPN's Buster Olney:

Bryce Harper first 25 games: .267, 2 HR, 9 RBI, a very respectable .818 OPS. His last 15 games: .368, 5 homers, 10 RBI, 1.147 OPS.

Did you see his response to the Toronto reporter who asked him last night if he was going to have a post-game beer because Canada's drinking age is 18?"That's a clown question, bro. I'm not going to answer that."

That's a clown question, bro

That's a clown question, bro

 

[Thunderlips]

I'll admit. I wanted to hate this dude with the fury of a thousand suns.....but I can't. He plays the game right.

 

[Don Quixote]

I thought the contrast with Heyward on Saturday was great. Heyward played a basehit to him like he was in a beer softball league (did not run up to the slow-bouncing ball and then lackadaisically bobbled it off his glove). He seemed surprised when he finally picked up the ball and looked up to see Harper about ready to slide into second.

This was apparently a metaphor for the collapse of the old liberal order. Clown article, bro (and somehow it is not the most embarrassing thing done by the Daily Caller today).

 

[Smack Tripper]

0-6 with 5 K's against the good guys so far today

 

[Raider Nation]

0-6 with 5 K's against the good guys so far today

But nobody could have looked any cooler K'ing five times.

 

[Dr. Awesome]

0-6 with 5 K's against the good guys so far today

Clearly no team or player in baseball can compete with the mighty Yankees of New York.

 

[Raider Nation]

0-6 with 5 K's against the good guys so far today

Clearly no team or player in baseball can compete with the mighty Yankees of New York.

Not lately.

 

[Smack Tripper]

0-6 with 5 K's against the good guys so far today

Clearly no team or player in baseball can compete with the mighty Yankees of New York.

you know itIn all seriousness, I'm guessing he's geeked up and wanted to dial up some numbers and is aggressively getting himself out and the Yanks were owning him with slow, slower, slowest, just as should be done. 1-11 with an infield single and 6 K's is surprising but he's got one more act against his idols.

 

[Raider Nation]

D-bag Matt Kemp snubs Harper for the HR derby.

Because it's not like this is an event for the fans or anything.

 

[Time Kibitzer]

D-bag Matt Kemp snubs Harper for the HR derby. Because it's not like this is an event for the fans or anything.

Kemp just saved Harper from a terrible 2nd half, fans should be thanking Kemp.

 

[shuke]

D-bag Matt Kemp snubs Harper for the HR derby. Because it's not like this is an event for the fans or anything.

Yes, it's such a shame the fans won't get to see the guy with the NL's 66th best AB/HR ratio hit in the HR derby.

 

[urbanhack]

 

[Raider Nation]

D-bag Matt Kemp snubs Harper for the HR derby.

Because it's not like this is an event for the fans or anything.

Yes, it's such a shame the fans won't get to see the guy with the NL's 66th best AB/HR ratio hit in the HR derby.

Well, it would be much more difficult hitting a batting practice fastball for a HR than an 89 mph slider. EDIT: HR derby at 16 years old

500 foot shot after 500 foot shot.

Yeah, he would be terrible in this event. And NOBODY would watch.

 

[Hoos First]

I would love to see him in the derby.

 

[Raider Nation]

I would love to see him in the derby.

Perhaps you are unaware that he has the NL's 66th best AB/HR ratio.It doesn't matter what the fans want. This is a very scientific process!

 

[Dr. Awesome]

It seems soft tossing crafty lefties give him a lot of trouble.

 

[flysack]

From ESPN's Buster Olney:

Bryce Harper first 25 games: .267, 2 HR, 9 RBI, a very respectable .818 OPS. His last 15 games: .368, 5 homers, 10 RBI, 1.147 OPS.

Did you see his response to the Toronto reporter who asked him last night if he was going to have a post-game beer because Canada's drinking age is 18?"That's a clown question, bro. I'm not going to answer that."

That's a clown question, bro

That's a clown question, bro

His expression is priceless. Are you kidding me with this crap?

I love this kid.

 

[shuke]

I would love to see him in the derby.

Perhaps you are unaware that he has the NL's 66th best AB/HR ratio.It doesn't matter what the fans want. This is a very scientific process!

You keep saying this is what the fans want. You mean you and the other guy from the internet?

 

[shadyridr]

D-bag Matt Kemp snubs Harper for the HR derby. Because it's not like this is an event for the fans or anything.

meh, i wanna see guys who actually, ya know, hit hrs in the hr derby

 

[Man In The Box]

I think Kemp is taking the fall for the Nats. I don't think they want him anywhere near the HR Derby.

 

[Raider Nation]

I would love to see him in the derby.

Perhaps you are unaware that he has the NL's 66th best AB/HR ratio.It doesn't matter what the fans want. This is a very scientific process!

You keep saying this is what the fans want. You mean you and the other guy from the internet?

I'm sure I'm the only person on the planet who wants to see him in the HR derby.

 

[Swing 51]

Posted at 03:35 PM ET, 06/28/2012http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/nationals-journal/post/bryce-harper-uses-clown-question-bro-beer-to-raise-money-for-fallen-policewoman-in-denver/2012/06/28/gJQArErc9V_blog.htmlBryce Harper uses ‘Clown Question Bro’ beer to raise money for fallen policewoman in DenverBy Adam KilgoreIt has been 16 days since Bryce Harper uttered, “That’s a clown question, bro” to a Canadian reporter tying to inquire about a possible postgame beer in Toronto. The quote inspired dozens of t-shirts, various online memes, countless bad jokes, a quip from a sitting Senator, a copyright trademark and an actual beer. Out of all that noise, because of action take by Harper, there may come some real good.In the days after Harper’s quote, Denver Beer Co. brewed a small, special batch of Canadian lager and named it, “Clown Question Bro.” They tapped the first keg Monday afternoon, in time for the Nationals’ arrival in Colorado.Early this week, Charlie Berger, the co-owner of the brewery, received a surprising call: it was someone in Harper’s camp, and he wanted to talk about the profits from the beer.On Monday morning, after the Nationals had arrived in Denver, Harper learned from local news reports about the killing of Officer Celena Hollis, a veteran policewoman who was raising a 12-year-old daughter on her own. Harper had recommended Denver Beer Company donate a chunk of the proceeds to a memorial fund that will support Hollis’s daughter.“It’s exciting to hear from Bryce,” Berger said. “We were making this beer just for fun. We never thought it would pick up to this extent. First of all, we’re definitely flattered. More important, the fact that he was making a lot of good come from it, it’s valiant. It says something about Bryce.”Berger said the brewery will act on Harper’s idea and donate to the Celena Hollis Memorial Fund. Berger has not yet reached out to the family, wanting to give them time to grieve. He hopes the recognition provided by “That’s a clown question, bro” and Harper will increase the effort to raise for Hollis’s family.“At Denver Beer Co, we only made a small amount of the beer,” Berger said. “We’d love to use this as opportunity to make a much, much bigger impact.”You can make a donation to the Celena Hollis Memorial Fund through the Rocky Mountain Law Enforcement Federal Credit Union. The relevant information is available by clicking through this link. If everyone who reads this donates just a couple bucks, that would be a huge contribution to a great cause from our little corner of the internet.By Adam Kilgore | 03:35 PM ET, 06/28/2012

 

[shuke]

D-bag Matt Kemp snubs Harper for the HR derby. Because it's not like this is an event for the fans or anything.

meh, i wanna see guys who actually, ya know, hit hrs in the hr derby

BUT HE HITS THEM IN BATTING PRACTICE!

 

[Time Kibitzer]

D-bag Matt Kemp snubs Harper for the HR derby. Because it's not like this is an event for the fans or anything.

meh, i wanna see guys who actually, ya know, hit hrs in the hr derby

BUT HE HITS THEM IN BATTING PRACTICE!

That's actually a good reason for a player to be in the HR derby though.