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US Presswire photo Bryce Harper hit his 20th homer and stole his 17th base during last night's win. |
Just about every positive thing Harper has done on the field in the last couple of weeks has carried the 19-year-old over a new threshold, further cemented his status as one of the best players in his age group ever to perform in the major leagues.
And Harper was up to his old tricks again last night during the Nationals' 8-4 win over the Phillies. Let's recap...
With his first-inning blast into the stands in deep left-center, Harper recorded his 20th home run. The only teenager ever to hit more, of course, was Tony Conigliaro for the 1964 Red Sox.
Asked about getting No. 20, Harper responded: "I like those 93 runs a lot better."
Ah, yes. By crossing the plate on his home run trot, Harper recorded his 93rd run of the season. The only teenager ever to score more runs: Buddy Lewis of the 1936 Senators, who finished with 100.
So, would reaching the century mark in runs scored mean something for Harper?
"Absolutely," he said. "Being on base for all the guys to drive me in, just being key in that respect and getting the momentum going early, doing things on the basepaths, I think that's huge."
Harper obviously takes a lot of pride in his baserunning, so surely he was fired up to notch his 17th stolen base last night. That makes him the first teenager ever in the 17-17 Club (17 homers, 17 steals). Three more stolen bases over the season's final seven games, and Harper obviously would become the first-ever teenager in the 20-20 club.
Pretty amazing stuff, right?
"No, nothing really amazes me with him," teammate Ian Desmond said. "Regardless of all the home runs, the great throws, things like that, he impacts the baseball game every single day, whether it's on the basepaths, everything. Nothing surprises me with him. I think he's got the brightest future, and he's a good kid. That makes it so much better."
59 comments:
Last week at the Nats/Dodgers game there was a guy in CWS hat and jersey sitting in front of me that first was telling me how stupid the Nats were in the Strasburg "fiasco," and then went off with vehemence on Harper's "lack of respect for the game" because of his gold cleats at the All Star game. I just wouldn't even bother to talk with him anymore. He was a seemingly knowledgeable Sox fan, but didn't know didly about the Nats. I still think that a lot of folks that haven't seen much of Bryce still have a negative view of him, even national media writers.
I'm closely watching this Rookie of the Year race. Miley had another bad outing last night and even though he has 16 wins, he is 26 years old and Bryce is still a teenager putting up numbers that have never been accomplished before.
3 more steals and Bryce is 20/20
yup, i want to see 3 more steals, 7 more runs, 1 more triple, and 2 more doubles...
that would give him 25 2B, 10 3B, 100 R, 20 HR, 20 SB. a whole bunch of nice, round numbers.
Most sports writers have ignored Harp's runs scored figure. I've always thought that it was his best stat. It shows how complete a ball player that he is. I'm glad that he thinks the same way. It may be more of a 'team' stat than any of his other great achievements.
It will be totally neat if he can push it to 100 in the remaining games.
GooooooooooooooBryce! GoooooooooNats!!!!!
Mark Zuckerman writes...Ah, yes. By crossing the plate on his home run trot, Harper recorded his 93rd run of the season. The only teenager ever to score more runs: Buddy Lewis of the 1936 Senators, who finished with 100
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down Mark. That is not true. Buddy Lewis only scored 66 runs as a teenager as he turned 20 during the 1936 season.
I will also add that Buddy had 629 ABs in 1935-1936 to accomplish those 100 runs.
Doc said...
Most sports writers have ignored Harp's runs scored figure. I've always thought that it was his best stat. It shows how complete a ball player that he is. I'm glad that he thinks the same way. It may be more of a 'team' stat than any of his other great achievements.
It will be totally neat if he can push it to 100 in the remaining games.
GooooooooooooooBryce! GoooooooooNats!!!!!
September 27, 2012 12:24 PM
I wrote over 2 weeks ago about Harp's amazing R/AB ratio.
Truly amazing and no surprise the national media misses the mark on it.
If he steals 3 more bases, he joins the 20/20 Club in a league of his own.
GoSM, anyone born after July one is considered a year younger during MLB season. Buddy's date of birth is of August so he was 19 in 1936. Just like Machado's year this season will be 19 in record books.
Faraz, when you are counting stats as a teenager, it counts until you turn 20.
What has impressed me most aren't his numbers its been his ability to keep his yap shut. I thought that would be a problem and happily I was wrong.
Faraz, Mel Ott had 99 run scored in his teenage years which would be the teenage record.
And we need every one of those milestones. Go Uncle Bryce, go Nats!
Maybe I should have clarified these beings stats recorded during a player's "Age 19 season," which is the way MLB officially treats such stats.
Regardless, few, if any, players Harper's age have ever done what he's doing.
Ghost Of Steve M. said...
Faraz, when you are counting stats as a teenager, it counts until you turn 20.
Maybe for you it does, but for the official record keepers a player is considered to be a teenager for the entirety of his age 19 season.
Bryce is scoring runs at a 18.2% R/AB ratio. That is impressive and the best in teenager MLB history with at least 500 ABs.
FeelWood, great. I get the point, and the distinction I am making is comparing what makes someone a teenager which is up until the day before you turn 20 and once you become 13 you are considered a teenager.
Faraz's point may be correct for age as calculated by MLB and you see records all the time of the "oldest" and "youngest" and it is done by the actual date. Bryce doesn't turn 20 until next month.
Mark Zuckerman said...
Maybe I should have clarified these beings stats recorded during a player's "Age 19 season," which is the way MLB officially treats such stats.
Regardless, few, if any, players Harper's age have ever done what he's doing.
Thanks Mark. As I said, Mel Ott still holds the teenager runs record at 99 but Bryce is ahead of all of them on R/AB at 18.2%
Bryce can put it all to rest by scoring a bunch more runs, HRs, and steals and take all the records! ;)
The nightime crew at MLB Network had the pitcher choosing Miley as his Rookie of the Year and all the rest had Bryce Harper. Forget Frazier and the rest.
SteveM, the Buddy Lewis stats were making their way around Twitter last night. Didn't think to check birth dates on any of these guys. Glad you did the research.
Bryce is setting numbers and records beyond anyone's imagination. I hope he gets above the 800 OPS by the end of the season.
Somebody gets borned. That whole next year is the first year of their life, Year #1. The next, after their first birthda, is Year 2.
So Bryce is really 20 already, and I declare the whole discussion moot.
Faraz's point may be correct for age as calculated by MLB and you see records all the time of the "oldest" and "youngest" and it is done by the actual date. Bryce doesn't turn 20 until next month.
Seriously, that's because the records in question are relevant to a single date, and since that date is known for most players (*coughSMILEYcough*), or at least is theoretically knowable, they can slice it thinly. Records that go only by year only need to identify the year in question, which they do by picking the year of his 19th birthday.
Peasy.
Could they do it your way, and count what he does, birthday to birthday, across MLB seasons? Sure. But they don't happen to.
Section 3, MLB Network had Mel Ott at 99 runs for the teenage runs record so somewhere somehow some are calculating that way. Elias has the ability to come up with almost any stat and situation.
That's why this stuff is so much fun because the stats behind the game tell an amazing story and heritage of this game.
By the way, Bryce will be 20 years old when the World Series wraps up.
We're talking about single-season records as teenagers.
Check Baseball Reference. It says Buddy Lewis scored 100 runs in his year 19 season, George Davis scored 98 runs in his year 19 season and Bryce Harper is climbing the ladder at 93 in his year 19 season.
Drew, I don't know. Mel Ott hit 1 HR as an 18 year old and 18 as a 19 year old and they had his record as 19 as a teenager until Conigliaro broke it.
Baseball Reference sets their standard based on seasons.
Looks like Bryce will turn 20 on the off day between games 2 and 3 of the NLCS. (Indeed, if Game 2 goes late, he could be 20 before it's over.) Let's hope that the announcers have good reason to comment on that, and we all have a reason to celebrate it with him.
AHA! But 222, what TIME was he born on the off day between games 2 and 3? Can he REALLY become a 20 year old during the game, or would it have to go until like SIX PM the next day?
Didn't think of THAT, did you????!!!
Clearly, this is a matter that MUST be addressed.
:-)
Oh, and let's also hope that if Game 2 goes late, there aren't thousands of fans who miss singing happy birthday to him because they had to leave to catch that last metro train out of the Navy Yard.
Scooter -- Nope I sure didn't. I don't even know my own birth time, do you? But never fear, I'm sure peric or Ghost can track down the exact time of his birth.
whatever suits you GoSM. Most people will refer to age 19 stats, the way MLB keeps it.
either way, not much doubt about Harper's potential.
Ghost Of Steve M. said...
FeelWood, great. I get the point, and the distinction I am making is comparing what makes someone a teenager which is up until the day before you turn 20 and once you become 13 you are considered a teenager.
Faraz's point may be correct for age as calculated by MLB and you see records all the time of the "oldest" and "youngest" and it is done by the actual date.
If you don't want to use the definition of a teenager as set forth by MLB, then you also should broaden your scope to include Negro Leagues, Japan, etc, etc., because your current definition of what constitutes a teenage player is limited to MLB. Get to work, research the performance of teenagers in all those other places baseball has ever been played, and get back to us when you're done.
Section 222 said...
Scooter -- Nope I sure didn't. I don't even know my own birth time, do you? But never fear, I'm sure peric or Ghost can track down the exact time of his birth.
Do you really think Peric can come up with that intel? He's busy with his next barage on Lannan and his FIP xFIP and WHIP.
I will ask Ron Harper! LOL
Feelwood, show me the MLB rules that state that on a teenager because I can't find it.
The Brewers are trying to go 7-3 on this 10 game road trip today so the Nats split this past week end looks pretty good especially when one was lost to the Sun Monster.
And the other was lost by Clippard. The whole Brewers series was one massive eyewear fail.
Ghost Of Steve M. said...
Feelwood, show me the MLB rules that state that on a teenager because I can't find it.
MLB's definition of Age 13 through Age 19 seasons defines the teenage seasons implicitly. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is a duck. You OTOH are a quack.
Is it time for baseball yet?
222, why on earth would I know your birth time? Now you're just being silly.
You OTOH are a quack.
Feelwood, when you don't get your way or someone questions you, you always get personal.
Don't address me again. I've asked you that before. You are just another hater.
Feelwood, when you don't get your way or someone questions you, you always get personal.
You OTOH think you are always right. How wrong you are. You also have no sense of humor, a common symptom of chronic self-righteousness.
Don't address me again. I've asked you that before. You are just another hater.
I see. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. Okay, great and powerful Oz.
This might be the most meaningless thread on this blog in months: Topic One: Who is a teenager? Topic Two: Who is Oz? (Hint: Not Smith, not Guillen.) Next up, Topic Three: How many Angels (not LAA) can dance on the top of a pinhead?
This is the greatest compliment I can give to Bryce. If no one told me how old he was and all I had to go on was the way he played, I would never guess 19. He fits in with his peers on the field and out- plays a lot of them. I think he wants to be one of the guys as much as Stras does. Until he does one of his throws, or runs the bases like his hair is on fire, I barely notice him. I think he would appreciate that.
In my mind, Harper stands alone as the best teenage player in the modern era. The comparison isn't really fair since many of the records he's chasing were accomplished pre-WWII, with quite a few coming from the dead-ball era.
The best thing is that Harper's hustle and enthusiasm is rubbing off on his teammates. Zim has tagged up from 1st a few times (although last night he might have made it to 2nd if he hadn't admired his almost homer a little too long). People are beating out infield hits. Even ALR went 1st to 3rd once. He's showing (or reminding) everyone else how to play the game. So like all great players, his impact goes far beyond his own accomplishments. We are witnessing the beginning of the career of not only a Hall of Famer, but very possibly one of the all time greats. And we get to watch him for another five years after this one. I feel very, very lucky to have that opportunity.
In fairness to Tony C., he only played in 111 games in 1964, with 444 PAs and 409 ABs, so he was a more productive power hitter than Bryce, per AB. But he was also playing his home games in Fenway with that hitter friendly Green Monster in LF.
Bryce is a much more complete player. Tony had only 2 SBs vs. 4 CS, for example. Bryce can produce runs with his base running, and Tony could not. Bryce can dominate an opponent's running game with is arm. Tony could not. Bryce is a good enough athlete to convert from catching to playing CF. Tony was a talented athlete, but not that talented.
If Bryce stays healthy, he is going to break a lot of other records besides those he has already broken. I've seen a lot of baseball, but that kid is special.
Mantle was a better athlete, but he was un-coachable. Bryce not only listens, and learns, he deliberately seeks out all the advice he can get from every source available, and uses it. As good as he is as a teenager, he is going to get a heckuva lot better, very soon.
I would take him over Tony C., Mel Ott, the Mick, or any other teenager from the past, any time.
Manny out. They didn't even wait for the end of the season. Good luck to Bo, really. I hope they didn't hire him just to fire him in a year or two.
Manny Acta
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/09/27/manny-acta-out-as-indians-manager/
Sect222, great points on Bryce's intangibles and still 6 more years if team control.
His full impact is beyond stats or like Juan Pierre says about his own stats don't show up well in cryogenics. I think Bryce's stats are actually fine in sabremetrics also.
Swami
i concur with you! How great is it that we get to watch him everyday.
NatsLady, Bo has a Herculean task. Almost setup to fail but it's a start for him and you take it.
Manny started strong then his weaknesses were magnified. Same with Hurdle.
Espinosa gets the start tonight.
Good point on Harper's coachability Laddie. He's like a sponge out there, learning something from every inning in the field and every at bat. Wasn't it great that he finally figured out Bastardo last night, getting his first hit in 8 ABs? And a triple at that. Fantastic.
And how great he found a kindred spirit and mentor in Werth. Someone who plays hard and knows that you can take control of a game from the basepaths. That, more than his power, is why he's going to be an all time great, and win lots of championships.
"That, more than his power, is why he's going to be an all time great, and win lots of championships."
And at 19, he is already one for the books.
I never saw anything in Manny that made him a good manager. His strategy or handeling of the bull pen (yes I know it was crappy) was lacking IMO.
And that stoic - totem pole pose that he took during the game, almost never moving or saying anything really bugged me. The fact that he left the dug out only once that I can remember to argue with an ump or protect and stick up for his player was a real negative. I get his explanation that he was too argumentative in the minor years but he took not arguing to an extreem.
I don't think there will be multiple teams looking to hire him this time.
Manny Acta is not a bad manager. He has been put in 2 bad positions and he didn't have enough of a strong personality to squeeze an extra 10 wins out of poor teams nor did he come across as someone who lives and dies with the teams won lost record; I hope he gets a chance with a legitimate team although it is quite likely that he'l need to take a step back to coaching and/or minor league managing before getting another shot.
Bo is going to a team at rock bottom but with a rebuilding system and management which understands how to do things right. I hope he gets more time than Manny to show what he can do and perhaps he gets to grow with the team; the odds are not in his favor.
Manny had plenty of time, and not bad raw materials to work with. He might not be responsible for the Indians' collapse (two years in a row really), but someone has to take the fall for that kind of failure. I too don't miss him at all. The stoic demeanor, the excuses (remember Anderson Hernandez and the cut of the grass?), the devotion to mediocre players like Austin Kearns. All remnants of a past in Natstown that should be recalled only as a cautionary note.
Davey is a superior manager in every way you can think of, and I bet Bo will be too. At the very least, he's going to stick up for his players. Just ask Jamie Quirk.
I suppose it's debatable whether anyone could have managed Milledge/Dukes/FLop/Anderson Hernandez/Meathook, et al., but Acta just let the inmates run the asylum. He was so bad he made Riggleman look good for about a year.
For that he deserves exile to the darkest corners of organized baseball. Maybe he can get Guillen's job in Miami. On second thought, I don't want to have to see him eighteen games a year.
Manny Acta was third base coach of the successful Mets when he was hired to manage the Nats. They could do a lot worse than bringing him back as third base coach to replace Bo Porter.
I always liked Manny and I wish him nothing but the best.
Storen savin
Philly cavin
O lord
Bang zumbaya
Nitey nite
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