Phenom to Skip Last 2 Yrs of HS

A-Rod look out this guy is amazing at 16 years old

Click on cooperstown and take a look at his swing


Bryce Harper punches his ticket to Cooperstown at age 16

By 'Duk
I have no idea if there's a difference in pressure between having every baseball wonk following you around at age 16 and having every sports fan in the country learn your name, but I suppose Bryce Harper will soon be able to tell us.
Following in its grand tradition of predicting can't miss future superstars like Schea Cotton and Tamir Goodman, Sports Illustrated is using the cover of this week's magazine to tout the 16-year-old Las Vegas resident as "the most exciting prodigy since LeBron."
Writes SI's Tom Verducci:

"Still only 16, Harper stands 6'3", weighs 205 pounds, has faster bat speed than Mark McGwire in his prime and runs so fast that he scored on wild pitches six times this season from second base. As a catcher he picks off runners from his knees, and when he pitches, he throws a fastball that has been clocked at 96 mph.
"When James was 16, he was a high school sophomore with an NBA game and a body to match. Harper has been compared to Justin Upton(notes), Alex Rodriguez(notes) and Ken Griffey Jr.(notes), each a freakishly advanced high school player and each the top overall pick of his draft. But Harper, say the baseball men who are paid to make such assessments, has the ability as a sophomore that the aforementioned trio had as seniors."
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Whether or not Harper will eventually save SI from the limb it just walked out on remains to be seen, but it should be said that Harper certainly believes he can.

"Be in the Hall of Fame, definitely," says Harper when asked by Verducci about his goals. "Play in Yankee Stadium. Play in the pinstripes. Be considered the greatest baseball player who ever lived. I can't wait."
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Under normal circumstances, I'd say it's getting ahead of ourselves to point out that he doesn't mention winning the World Series as a goal or that he'll likely have to play the first several years of his career for a team not named the Yankees before his current "adviser" Scott Boras negotiates the first billion dollar contract in MLB history.
But since we're talking about a kid who's hitting 570-foot home runs and already has a frame that looks like it was constructed by a team of uber-intelligent robots, why not get a little crazy and predict that Harper will finish his career by passing Barry Bonds'(notes) home run mark, Pete Rose's hits mark AND Cy Young's wins total? Of course, that'll only be after he hits .400 in a season, hits safely in 57 straight games and throws eight no-hitters ... in the same year.
(Hey, everyone else is doing it ... why can't I?)
To get a glimpse of Harper in action, check out the video below. Impressive, to say the least.

 

Braves what do you think? Sounds like pinstrips are in his future

 

George is going to stay alive long enough to sign this kid...His biggest adjustment will not be hitting ML baseballs, but living the life in the minor leagues where every test you can conceive of will happen---even girls.

 

You are correct but they are projecting him straight into the bigs and did you see what Boras is proposing. Insane at best!!!!!!

 

Luis

This is the kid I mentioned to you on Mon. Watch him on YouTube.

 

Boras- the Drew Rosenhaus of baseball. He's one that gives baseball a black eye

 

Bryce Harper was in cooperstown when we were there. At the age of twelve he was hitting mid 80's, 20 some homeruns for the week(even hit one out when he was getting intentionally walked), and looked like a man amongst boys. He was very impressive.

 

IDK Braves. I'm not a big fan of the guy but he gets the most money for his clients it seems. Obviously the more his clients get the more money he gets so its a win-win situation. You have to blame the teams for signing off on these deals. The more money they agree to give these guys, then Boras will keep raising the price tag. If you didn't have guys like Borus, then what would these guys be getting?

 

He's too young for all of this. He'll kill a hooker by the time he hits 20.

 

You only hear his successes. You don't hear about the kids he represented that had their careers ruined because of his negotiations....heck, even ARod determined that nothing was getting done with Borass---so he fired him...Manny Ramirez is another one that lost a ton of money with Boras.

I have no problem an agent working hard for his client. I do have a problem when an advisor's ego gets in the way of a contract negotiation.