Video above (clip by jmhsports) shows Bryce Harper absolutely crushing a baseball for his 12th home run of the season Wednesday night in a 14-12 Suns loss to the Greenville Drive. Jump to the 1:45 mark.
Mike Rizzo acknowledged that Harper would be promoted from Hagerstown eventually...just not yet:
"He's having a terrific season there. I like the setup he has there - he's very comfortable in his surroundings and has a great staff around him. But I don't see him staying there for the entire season. He'll be moved at some time. We're just not at the point where he's ready to move yet."
(Mike Rizzo, via MLB.com, 6/1/2011)
Davey Johnson tells MASN's Byron Kerr that he sees Harper sticking around for half the season:
"I see him being there probably, for sure, through the half season. I am not a big believer in moving guys during the season. Let them put the numbers up so they have an idea of what they are probably required to do every year."
(Davey Johnson, via MASNSports.com, 6/1/2011)
Translation: Potomac sucks rocks right now and we'd rather leave him in a lineup where he actually has protection.
Smart move. Let him represent H-town in the league All Star Game and bump him up to Woodbridge to bail out the P-Nats in the second half.
Posted by: bdrube | June 02, 2011 at 09:20 AM
Have you seen what Harrisburg is doing. They are leading their division. Maybe, it wouldn't be a bad idea to bump him with to AA, and he flounders, drop him back. It would be a real motivator
Posted by: DCJohn | June 02, 2011 at 12:16 PM
Yes, for the vast majority of players it makes the most sense to keep them in a relatively stable environment and not promote them quickly.
Bryce Harper does not belong to that group though. He's obviously a special player who is, right now, being artificially retarded in his development by facing pitching that is beneath his talents. Whenever he DOES get to AA and he starts seeing some real breaking stuff and better control, he'll have to spend months un-learning all the stuff about facing low-minors pitching he didn't need to learn in the first place.
Posted by: Rob | June 02, 2011 at 12:28 PM