Now that Bryce Harper is in his second season and new
exciting rookies have appeared on the scene, the wunderkind is expected to
mature and round out his potential. One aspect of Harper’s play, one of
Harper’s defining aspects, that has been under discussion this season is
whether he plays too reckless and aggressive. Most people say Harper’s
forceful style of play is an injury risk that would lead them to take Mike
Trout as a franchise player over him.
Watching the Braves vs. Nationals game last night I watched
as Harper flat out teed off on a fastball sending it deep to centerfield
without any kind of showboating he watched the ball fly out as he put his head
down and ran the bases like a professional. On his next at bat he was promptly
hit in the thigh by rookie pitcher, Julio Teheran, this would have angered me to no end but
Harper said his piece and headed to first base. The benches cleared and
additional words were shared before the game resumed.
Harper’s aggressiveness has been compared many times to that
of Pete Rose. Rose himself weighed in on this topic in an interview I read.
“There’s a difference between playing hard and playing recklessly. And Bryce
plays recklessly.” This is coming from the guy who dislocated Ray Fosse’s
shoulder in an exhibition game. Rose bruised his knee on that play and missed
three games as a result. Nobody ever talks about that.
This year we have been treated to the overly aggressive and
reckless styling’s of Yasiel Puig the Dodgers Cuban Rookie. I also caught the interview
with Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly on PTI where Mattingly critiques Puig’s game
saying he is exciting and that the weakest and most reckless part of his game
is his base running and that he feels that Puig will sometimes seem to run
until he is tagged.
The misadventure that sticks out most in people’s minds is
when Harper crashed into the Dodger Stadium wall. But there’s nothing wrong
with Harper’s “mindset” or “style” that will have him colliding full steam with
unpadded walls his whole career. He got a bit lost in the outfield which in
that same interview, Rose pointed out, is still a fairly new position for him.
Less than two weeks later, the mortal Harper may even have cost himself an
important catch because the Dodger Stadium episode was still in his head.
If you remember Puig ran into the same wall and although he
injured himself and missed a few games he did not miss a month like Harper did.
I have not seen Bryce Harper play recklessly this year. In
fact, Harper has matured in much the same way people expected he would. Last
year, he was prone to high-intensity, low-percentage throws when there were
smarter plays available. Watching Adam LaRoche gave him a talking-to in the
dugout after one error on an overthrow led to a run against Colorado last year.
This year, he’s been throwing back to the infield more often instead of trying
for every play at home. I believe that Harper has proved that concerns about his
emotional maturity from the minor leagues were overblown. People will hopefully
soon realize that he’s not a danger to himself physically, either.
I believe that luck has a lot to do with the fortunes of
baseball and baseball players. The ball bounces in odd ways for a round object.
Injuries are a part of all sports but playing hard should never be an option.
Going all out day in and day out is the only way you can become a legend. Look
at Sandy Koufax and his short career, pitching with an elbow that was really
non-functional and he was unhittable. Or look at Eric Davis and his injury plagued
career, the man was 6 foot 2 and 165 pounds during his playing days and played
like he was 6’6” 240 pounds. Watching him try to run through walls to catch a
ball or in the 1990 World Series where he actually ruptured his spleen? Who
does that? The great ones do that’s who!
