(Bryce Harper's aggressiveness got the best of him Friday night. Screen grab of TV/MASN.)
Another gentle reminder that Bryce Harper is both human, and 18: Harper entered Friday night's game as a pinch-runner for Jayson Werth (who walked) with two outs in the sixth -- Nats trailing the Astros 5-1. Moments later, Harper's aggressiveness on the basepaths got the best of him. Harper got gunned down at third attempting to go first-to-third on Ryan Zimmerman's infield hit to short. A bad decision by the kid.
Chalk it up to rinky dinks, huh? Or just inexperience:
"There are always things I can get better at -- hitting, catching, throwing and baserunning. There are a lot of things I could get better at, and that's how I feel. I want to be perfect in every aspect of the game. That's how I've always been. I've been blessed. I've had the good success. I'm excited to be up here. As long as I can stay up here as long as I can and be around the big league guys, that would be great."
(Bryce Harper, via Bill Ladson/MLB.com, 3/11/2011)
*Harper grounded out to first in the 8th inning, hustling down the line and nearly beating Roger Clemens' kid Koby to the bag.
*Facing the immortal Cesar Carrillo, Harper singled up the middle in the 9th (feeling hitterish!) to drive in a run with two outs, making it 7-5. Game ends 7-6 with Harper stranded on third.
Required reading: Dave Sheinin's fantastic story on Harper in this week's Washington Post Sunday Magazine.
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All the great ones have haters, so I will add you to the column!
Why don;t you write about veteran Nyjer Morgan's continued horrendous defense!!
Posted by: Harper_ROY_2012 | March 11, 2011 at 10:43 PM
Aww, come on now --we're not hating. Love the kid...just being realistic!
Posted by: The Nationals Enquirer | March 11, 2011 at 11:37 PM
BHarper is 7-for-18 (.389) with five RBIs and while he has made some mistakes they are more of mistakes on the side of aggression and he will learn that while he could run the basepaths more freely in College, it may not work at the MLB level.
I saw Werth in the dugout already schooling him after the running error. Probably told him with 2 outs you are going to score from 2nd on a single anyway....
Posted by: Michael L.G. | March 12, 2011 at 03:56 AM
Love the kid. Definitely belongs in the minors. Wouldn't be surprised to see him get a cup of coffee in September, though.
Posted by: pbsenerchia | March 12, 2011 at 09:24 AM