Fantasy Baseball: Bryce Harper or Anthony Rendon?

by Ray Guilfoyle on Dec 16, 2025 8:00 AM EST in Events

SCOTTSDALE AZ - OCTOBER 23: Washington Nationals prospect Bryce Harper #34 playing for the Scottsdale Scorpions warms up on deck during the AZ Fall League game against the Phoenix Desert Dogs at Scottsdale Stadium on October 23 2010 in Scottsdale Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

In Wednesday's blog post, Buster Olney had this to say about Rice third baseman Anthony Rendon:

The Pirates will have the No. 1 pick in next year's draft, and the player widely considered to be the best player is Rice third baseman Anthony Rendon, who scouts say has the talent to play in the majors within a year after the draft. "If he and [Bryce] Harper were in the same draft, I think I'd take Rendon because he plays in the infield," said one rival talent evaluator. "Their [offensive] skills are comparable."

In 2010, Rendon hit .394-.539-.801 with 26 HRs, 85 RBIs, 14 SBs, and an incredible 22/65 K/BB rate. In 2009, he hit .388-.468-.702 with a 23/31 K/BB rate.

Harper is probably one of the top 2 or 3 prospects in the game, and could see the big leagues by 2012. It sounds like Rendon could be right behind him once he is drafted.

Who would you rather have in a long term keeper/dynasty league-Harper or Rendon?

Poll

Who would you rather have-Bryce Harper or Anthony Rendon?

Harper

610 votes

Rendon

586 votes

1196 votes | Poll has closed

Tweet Comment 20 comments | 0 recs |

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Read More: Bryce Harper (CF - WAS), Pittsburgh Pirates

Comments

very close

i voted rendon, but if the talents are similar, I’d want the player in the organization longer. doesn’t hurt that the HS draftee has used wooden bats since he was 15, either

by JMonteroFanatico on Dec 16, 2025 8:25 AM EST reply actions

In terms of long term dynasty keeper which is what I’m in, I have Rendon already, but want to acquire Harper. To me, they are both going to be great players, but I have to give the slight edge to Rendon just because of the position. There’s not a ton of studs out there that play 3B. It’s kind of like asking a few years ago, do you want Longoria, or Braun. Answer would probably be both, but you’d just be happy to have one or the other because they’re both special players.

by OrangeAlert on Dec 16, 2025 8:40 AM EST reply actions

Depends ...

.. on whether or not your leagues tallies fantasy points for eye-black.

by Frayed Knot on Dec 16, 2025 8:47 AM EST reply actions

lol

it is close….both should be very good hitters

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by Ray Guilfoyle on Dec 16, 2025 8:51 AM EST up reply actions

Rendon

The fact that defense doesn’t count makes it much closer, but I still think I’d go with him.

http://bullpenbanter.com/

by Jeff Reese on Dec 16, 2025 9:02 AM EST reply actions

I also voted Rendon.

It is very close but for some reason, I have very little faith in Harper.

Baseball makes the world go 'round, or at least in my world it does.

by Whiteyballer on Dec 16, 2025 9:23 AM EST reply actions

I'm surprised how close the vote is

by Yankees10 on Dec 16, 2025 12:07 PM EST reply actions

I think that somehow I voted 2x

for Rendon…

by theatlfan on Dec 16, 2025 12:19 PM EST reply actions

Rendon

l would take the guy with 3B eligibility. Plus I think though Harper will likely have more HRs, Rendon will put up a substantially higher BA. Both will be middle of the order hitters with great counting stats. I don’t see either one running a whole lot.

It’s hard to put a comp on Rendon. I think Harper could be similar to Adam Dunn with a slightly better contact rate. Rendon? His approach at the plate reminds me a lot of Pujols… in that he seems to only swing at strikes, works the count, and when he gets a pitch to hit he hammers it. Most kids his age have nowhere near that kind of patience.

by guru4u on Dec 16, 2025 12:55 PM EST reply actions

Here is where I think people end up getting too hard on Harper

You say most kids Rendon’s age have nowhere near his sort of patience, but what would we be saying about Harper if he had followed the normal path? You wouldn’t be hearing questions about Harper’s contact abilities if he was going into his senior year in high school beating up on 17 and 18 year old kids while hitting with a metal bat, which is funny because he wouldn’t have improved nearly as much as he did by using a wood bat playing against guys a few years older than him playing juco.

by nixa37 on Dec 16, 2025 1:50 PM EST up reply actions

I think you would

Harper has a long swing. It works great for power, and he does have good bat speed. But the length of the swing is always going to create contact issues for him. I’ve been saying that since I first saw the youtube video 2 years ago.

Listen, I love Harper. The kid is a beast. Just because I point out really the only weakness of his game does not mean I do not like him.

by guru4u on Dec 16, 2025 11:20 PM EST up reply actions

When I've seen him hit with wood his swing doesn't look long at all

He’s not a guy who brings his hands way back before initiating his swing like Dunn and he seems to take a real direct path to the ball. I get the knock on his upper body drifting forward during the swing and how that could affect him, but that’s the only possible problem I see. Well, aside from the fact that he always swings hard because its always worked up to this point (I’m not going to assume be won’t be able to adjust if it becomes a problem in pro ball).

If he were a kid coming out of high school, the only thing you might hear is that his swing might need some adjustments with the move to wood. Now that we’ve already seen him dominate with wood, that’s not even a question. The contact questions mostly strike me as an attempt to find some flaw with Harper’s hitting. Of course he’s not perfect, he just recently turned 18. Still, if he were coming out of high school right now, I bet you the questions about his ability to hit for average in the future wouldn’t be nearly as loud as they after he struck out a decent amount with wood bats against guys a few years older than him.

by nixa37 on Dec 16, 2025 11:42 PM EST up reply actions

A long swing

would be a bigger deal if he wasn’t displaying solid pitch recognition and an ability to adjust to pitchers.

by blackoutyears on Dec 17, 2025 6:17 PM EST up reply actions

Evan Longoria

Is this a good comp for Rendon?

by Trashman on Dec 16, 2025 1:40 PM EST reply actions

Maybe...gotta go Rendon though

Longoria at 20 for Long Beach State…
.353/.468/.602 with 29 k/ 44 bb in 201 AB

Rendon at 20 for Rice
.394/.539/.801 with 22 k / 65 bb in 226 AB

Rendon had a much better freshman year though too.

by OrangeAlert on Dec 16, 2025 2:29 PM EST up reply actions

Longoria played in the best pitchers park in college

Look at Tulo’s numbers there

by Bravesin07 on Dec 16, 2025 5:47 PM EST up reply actions

Look at Tulo's numbers in the majors. So that doesn't say much, but yeah, I get what you're saying.

Let’s say that college stats aren’t nearly the indicator that you’d hope they would be and Rendon is an excellent college prospect.

by Kenneth Arthur on Dec 16, 2025 7:52 PM EST up reply actions

Incredibly close

And the voting says so. The injury to Rendon, while not considered serious, is a slight concern that separates two pretty concern-less players for me. Sure, he had no history of injury before that and this was a fluke play, but the area might now be more susceptible to future re-aggravation on non-fluke plays for all we know. Until we see Rendon healthy for an extended period of time, that will keep me preferring Harper on this.

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"ENERGY BEEYUH!" "I can't wait to eat Chipotle latuh." "They removed us from the club." "I fed my fat friend a lot of cake." "I just lightly punched it until it died."

by Dan Strittmatter on Dec 16, 2025 2:09 PM EST reply actions