Harper Called Up

by jwa1417 on Apr 27, 2025 4:57 PM EDT

whoa....... per Nationals PR twitter:

"On Sat., the Nationals will place 3B Ryan Zimmerman on the 15-Day DL & recall OF Bryce Harper, who will make his MLB debut at Dodger Stadium"

Meanwhile, Washington burns to the ground as fans go insane over Capitals in second round of Stanley Cup Playoffs, Redskins drafting RGIII and the Wizards not having anyone suspended for an extended period of time this year!

let the madness begin on April 28th!!!

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Read More: Ryan Zimmerman (3B - WAS), Bryce Harper (LF - WAS), Washington Nationals

Comments

RF

to begin, yes (planning my ticket purchase)?

by sourstuff on Apr 27, 2025 5:19 PM EDT reply actions

well, I don't think it exactly hurts him

He hasn’t hit much yet this year, but he hasn’t been overmatched either. Assuming the Nationals are willing to handle the growing pains and that they’re cool with paying him whatever he wants to stick around in the years to come, there’s no harm in getting him started now.

by mrkupe on Apr 27, 2025 5:21 PM EDT reply actions

Living in DC

This makes me very happy.

by Woodland League on Apr 27, 2025 5:23 PM EDT reply actions

LF

Rizzo actually said he’s going to be the everyday left fielder for the forseeable future. Their production from LF is well below the Mendoza line and he’s simply the best AAA bat to fill that hole

by jwa1417 on Apr 27, 2025 5:38 PM EDT reply actions

RE: "Meanwhile, Washington burns to the ground " for the second time?

by pedrophile on Apr 27, 2025 5:44 PM EDT reply actions

1814

by mrkupe on Apr 27, 2025 5:52 PM EDT up reply actions

And this is the aniversary year of the War of 1812

So it works

by MjwW on Apr 27, 2025 5:53 PM EDT up reply actions

In other news: Delmon Young - is he now finished in Detroit?

He isn’t good enough to get the star treatment, but Detroit has been struggling a bit. Do they release him?

by pedrophile on Apr 27, 2025 5:45 PM EDT reply actions

who knew

Baseball America once called him “Albert Belle without the attitude”. Turns out what they really should’ve said was, “Albert Belle without the bat”.

by mrkupe on Apr 27, 2025 5:55 PM EDT up reply actions 2 recs

lol, too funny

by pedrophile on Apr 27, 2025 7:15 PM EDT up reply actions

HA!

Dan Henderson is a motherfucking BOSS!!!

by ViolentMike on Apr 30, 2025 12:11 PM EDT up reply actions

this is example one on how to ruin a prospect

The kid needed 3 months of AAA.

by Bravesin07 on Apr 27, 2025 5:47 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs

Has he proven he can hit pitching above high Single-A?

He posted a .720 OPS in Double-A last year.

I have seen enough of Harper where I wouldn’t be surprised if he makes the quick adjustments and surprises us, but I wish they would have at least let him get his confidence up against upper-level pitching. Is that too much to ask?

by sdbaseballfan on Apr 27, 2025 5:56 PM EDT up reply actions

CORRECTION

Harper had a .724 OPS in Double-A last year, not a .720 OPS.

by sdbaseballfan on Apr 27, 2025 6:02 PM EDT up reply actions

The Nationals didn't have a lot of good options

They are getting nothing out of the LF position. As in, guys playing LF for the Nats aren’t just below the Mendoza Line, they aren’t even on the interstate (hitting below .100). With Zimmerman going down and Morse still out for several more weeks they could no longer afford to get nothing from the position. Nady, Bernadina and DeRosa have just not been good.

Their AAA options included:
(1) Perennial tease Corey Brown. He’s better defensively than Harper and has actually been hitting OK (.256/.376/.449), but is not currently on the 40 man roster. They’d have to add him to the 40 man and, more importantly is out of options. They’d have to keep him on the team or risk losing him through waivers.
(2) Tyler Moore. Moore is off to a great start in Syracuse, finally getting his K/BB down to a more manageable 2/1 and tearing it up with the bat (six HRs, .278/.354/.556). But Moore has played THREE games in the OF in his professional career. If 1b was open, sure, bring up Moore. But 1b is about the only position that Nats are getting offensive production out of.

Looks like it’s Harper.

by d_c_guy on Apr 28, 2025 3:45 PM EDT up reply actions

They could have made a move like Boston did for Byrd, it's not like they had no other choices.

I’m OK with the call, but they had options.

by pedrophile on Apr 28, 2025 9:02 PM EDT up reply actions

I'm not sure it's possible to ruin a player with Harper's talent.

He’s not overmatched in the high minors, a look at his BB:K rates will tell you that. He’s just not hitting for power yet. It’s not quite ideal, but I have no problem with the callup.

by PissedMick on Apr 27, 2025 6:51 PM EDT up reply actions

sure it can, Ruban River, Clint Hurdle, Todd Van Popple

by Bravesin07 on Apr 27, 2025 7:06 PM EDT up reply actions

Arod, Ken Griffey Jr, Felix Hernandez

. . . A-Rod was even terrible when he was called up. There is really no eveidence that the guys you listed were really very good.

Just sayin’

"Does it make your life easier to just throw a quick, racist term at somebody? A man who has seen the things I’ve seen… experienced the loss and pain that I’ve experienced… I transcend race, hombre." - Kenny Powers

by casejud on Apr 27, 2025 7:42 PM EDT up reply actions

There was just as much "evidence"

that there is that Bryce Harper is any good. Those guys were all elite prospects. Bryce Harper is an elite prospect. An elite prospect that hasn’t been an above average minor league hitter since last June. This is a bad decision by the Nats.

Buried Treasure - As long as we're jumping to conclusions

by KentuckyPirate on Apr 27, 2025 9:23 PM EDT up reply actions

he absolutely destroyed the AFL, no?

thats generally considered above AA, right?

Fire Everyone

by billybeingbilly on Apr 27, 2025 10:49 PM EDT up reply actions

nope

by pedrophile on Apr 27, 2025 11:05 PM EDT up reply actions

Brandon Wood hit 15 HR's there and looked like Superman

by Bravesin07 on Apr 28, 2025 12:27 AM EDT up reply actions

if only he had been a prospect before MLB started using kryptonite in baseball stitches

by mrkupe on Apr 28, 2025 3:35 AM EDT up reply actions

Robbie Grossman

was arguably the best hitter in the league. Think the Nats would wanna make a deal? Although the competition level in the AFL can be fairly high, it’s also a notoriously hitter-friendly league.

Buried Treasure - As long as we're jumping to conclusions

by KentuckyPirate on Apr 28, 2025 12:19 PM EDT up reply actions

MikeTrout sucked in the AFL

I hear he’s still regarded pretty well, though

by d_c_guy on Apr 28, 2025 3:45 PM EDT up reply actions

No there wasn't

Rivera didn’t even make his full season debut until he was older than Harper was at his MLB debut. He wasn’t even considered an elite prospect when he was Harper’s age. It wasn’t until his breakout at age 20 that he cracked the top 75 on BA’s list. He wasn’t ruined by being pushed too hard too fast. He was just overrated.

If Hurdle was considered as talented as Harper, why did he last until the 9th pick in his draft class? He also wasn’t nearly as good at the same level at age 18. And honestly, Hurdle may have worked out as a hitter if he could have stuck at C or had been given enough ABs elsewhere. The problem was that by the time he had shown the ability to hit at age 22 (.294/.349/.458) he was relegated to corner OF and wasn’t considered to be very good there. He didn’t get 100 PA again until 6 years later, so it’s kind of tough to judge what he would have been as a hitter.

As for Van Poppel, he was never even good in the minor leagues and he was hampered by injuries that kept him under 300 minor league innings before the A’s called him up for good. He never walked less than 6 per 9 innings in full season ball at the time, he had never posted an ERA better than 3.47 in full season ball, and he never managed to strike out a guy per inning in the high minors (and considering how many guys he was walking that means his K% was even less impressive than his K/9 rate).

by nixa37 on Apr 29, 2025 10:13 AM EDT up reply actions

Plus one

I’m with ya, thoughtfull post.

I doubt he’ll be swayed by well thought out eveidence though. He would have probably already known these things if he looked or, cared, enough. Or, picked a more compelling group of “ruined” players.

by casejud on Apr 29, 2025 11:36 AM EDT up reply actions

The guys that were "ruined"

are guys that are a difficult to name. There are a ton of players who were drafted very high and flamed out for various reasons. Nobody ever knows exactly why - despite common beliefs. I am inclined to believe that the mental aspect is the reason that most top prospects flame out. The organization has everything to do with that. The most important aspect of every hitter is how they handle failure. They will fail more often than they succeed. If a team sets a kid up for failure, then they can greatly contribute to his demise.

by huztler on Apr 27, 2025 10:29 PM EDT up reply actions

Keep in mind

He is coming up to replace an injured star, so if they decide to send him back down when Zim is well it’s not like a performance demotion.

by ADLC on Apr 28, 2025 5:56 AM EDT up reply actions

True

For some reason I wasn’t thinking of it like that. Maybe they are just looking to sell some tickets and generate some buzz with no intention of keeping him in the show.

by huztler on Apr 28, 2025 3:32 PM EDT up reply actions

FWIW there were analysts talking about his need to improve vs. quality breaking balls

and I would rather he do that in AAA. But Washington wants some serious excitement and they will get it with Harper.

by pedrophile on Apr 27, 2025 7:17 PM EDT up reply actions

There was a Strausburg start 2 weeks ago

and it drew only 14,000 fans. Granted it was a Monday night, but it’s all anyone talked about on sports talk radio in DC the next day. I wouldn’t be surprised if the lack of attendance is a contributing factor.

by Woodland League on Apr 27, 2025 7:47 PM EDT up reply actions

Horse nostrils

It’s all anyone talked about on sports talk radio in DC because the sports talk heads in DC know nothing about baseball. If it’s not Redskins or basketball, they’re not interested. And I mean literally not interested.

The Nationals attendance is actually up significantly from previous seasons; Amanda Comack in the Washington Times did a nice job pointing out that the knee jerk reaction was (as usual) wrong. The 16,485 (not 14,000) fans at the Strasburg game was actually the best for the first home Monday game in April since the year Nationals Park opened. This despite the fact that the matchup stank (according to one calculation, the Astros are the worst road draw in the NL, on average drawing 4,000 fewer fans than usual) and the fact that the Capitals were playing a home playoff game the same night.

This is not an attendance move. There is some desperation, but it’s because the Nationals’ LF have been hitting below .100. The other obvious options in AAA, Tyler Moore and Corey Brown, create different problems. Moore has played three games in LF in his professional career. Brown would require a 40 man roster slot (inconvenient) and would have to pass through waivers to be sent back down (so they’d risk losing him). I doubt Rizzo wanted to do this, but he doesn’t really have great options.

by d_c_guy on Apr 28, 2025 4:05 PM EDT up reply actions