Bryce Harper

[ThunderBolt]

Good article by Verducci about Bryce Harper, the apparent heir two years down the line to Strasburg’s #1 pick. This kid's almost worth losing for. Almost. http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vau...215/1/index.htm

Edited June 3, 2009 by Thunderbolt

[ChiSox_Sonix]

More information about him here. There was a discussion about him a while back

 

http://www.soxtalk.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=70280

 

[dasox24]

As far as the parents trying to get him eligible a year earlier, quit being selfish and let the kid finish out his time in high school. Even if he thinks he wants to go pro early, I think down the road he'd regret missing out on his senior year of high school. There will be plenty of time for baseball, and if he's as good as everyone thinks, he'll be up in the majors before you know it.

[NorthSideSox72]

As far as the parents trying to get him eligible a year earlier, quit being selfish and let the kid finish out his time in high school. Even if he thinks he wants to go pro early, I think down the road he'd regret missing out on his senior year of high school. There will be plenty of time for baseball, and if he's as good as everyone thinks, he'll be up in the majors before you know it.

Yeah that is fairly idiotic, trying to get him out of high school a year early. Its hard enough in the world without a college degree, not having even a high school diploma is a nightmare. And despite what some people think, there is NEVER such thing as a can't-miss prospect. That extra year would just be spent developing further anyway, go ahead and finish high school, he'll still have plenty of time to play.

 

[harfman77]

They are trying to get him into college earlier, a lot of kids do that for all sorts of reasons, he wants a higher level of competition.

[Chisoxfn]

If you get him out a year earlier and he gets a 15M contract than so be it. Thats why you go to school. The guy isn't a can't miss but as long as you get the guaranteed dough go for the green.

[BearSox]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, it wouldn't surprise me one bit if it turned out he has been/still is on HGH. I remember reading about him a couple months ago, and it seems like his father has been really pushing for him a long time in hopes of getting a huge contract. If this is the case though, it's really not Byrce's fault, because it would be his parents using him for their gain.

 

IMO, he's either a freak, once in 10-15 year type of player, or he has been on HGH. There's no doubt he has talent, but last year when he was 15 and a freshman in high school he already looked older than most seniors and was hitting 500 foot bombs.

[SoxAce]

As I'll quote a scout, he has a good chance to be "The modern-day Griffey/A-Rod with the bat at catcher" (IRC, some teams look at him as a shortstop as well) He has that kind of talent. I'll say this. no high schooler has ever been this talked about since those two that's for sure. The only recent guy that was even a scratch of this much of being hyped about was Mauer.

[BearSox]

As I'll quote a scout, he has a good chance to be "The modern-day Griffey/A-Rod with the bat at catcher" (IRC, some teams look at him as a shortstop as well) He has that kind of talent. I'll say this. no high schooler has ever been this talked about since those two that's for sure. The only recent guy that was even a scratch of this much of being hyped about was Mauer.

 

And Mauer was over shadowed by Prior that year as well.

 

IIRC, a lot of people flamed the Twins and called them idiots for going with Mauer over Prior.

[SoxAce]

And Mauer was over shadowed by Prior that year as well.

 

IIRC, a lot of people flamed the Twins and called them idiots for going with Mauer over Prior.

 

Yep. Actually posted that in the AL Central thread if I can find it. Though I gotta say.. Prior was really something special till Dusty Baker f***ed up his career.

 

EDIT: Found it. http://www.soxtalk.com/forums/index.php?sh...69983&st=15

[BearSox]

Yep. Actually posted that in the AL Central thread if I can find it. Though I gotta say.. Prior was really something special till Dusty Baker f***ed up his career.

 

EDIT: Found it. http://www.soxtalk.com/forums/index.php?sh...69983&st=15

 

Prior was a PED user no doubt. When he had to get off the juice, that's what f***ed up his career, IMO.

[SoxAce]

Prior was a PED user no doubt. When he had to get off the juice, that's what f***ed up his career, IMO.

 

I was gonna say..

[ThunderBolt]

Prior was a PED user no doubt. When he had to get off the juice, that's what f***ed up his career, IMO.

All of Prior's detractors pointed to his mechanics coming out of college. There's strong evidence that they contributed to his shoulder problems that and colliding with Marcus Giles. The connection is obvious and it ain't roids.

[BearSox]

All of Prior's detractors pointed to his mechanics coming out of college. There's strong evidence that they contributed to his shoulder problems that and colliding with Marcus Giles. The connection is obvious and it ain't roids.

Prior's mechanics were as close to perfect as you can get. I ain't buying that stuff about the inverted W and so on.

 

Look at Prior's injury history. It's not one thing. Its his elbow, its his shoulder, its his hamstring, its his obliques, its his back, etc. Also, it's never the same thing with the elbow or shoulder. One year it's elbow tendenitis, the next it's inflamation, and so on. He's been injured all over and have had a bunch of freak injuries. That's a big time indicator that he was a steroid user.

 

Plus, there's his tremendous drop in velocity between the years of when the MLB started enforcing doping penalties. And if you say that's because of his arm surgeries, how do you explain the severe body mass change in Prior. If you look at pictures of him from 04 and look at him now, his lower body is simply not the same size and is a lot smaller.

 

I'm sorry, but this guy was a definite PED user, IMO.

[ThunderBolt]

Prior's mechanics were as close to perfect as you can get. I ain't buying that stuff about the inverted W and so on.

Why wouldn’t you buy it? Because you’re a rebel? It’s practically a universal consensus. I'm not saying roids weren't a factor, i just thing a crap motion and Dusty Baker didn't help.

[BearSox]

Why wouldn't you buy it? Because you're a rebel? It's practically a universal consensus. I'm not saying roids weren't a factor, i just thing a crap motion and Dusty Baker didn't help.

It's not a universal consensus. I, and many other people still think he had pretty near perfect mechanics. And I don't believe the workload Dusty Baker gave him didn't ruin him either. He was a work horse in high school and college, and he was still young when Dusty used him as much as he did.

 

I believe the whole movement saying it's poor mechanics that ruined his career started because he got all these injuries so people began to over analyze his mechanics and look for anything in his mechanics that didn't look perfect and read too deep into it. No pitcher has perfect mechanics. You can look at most pitchers mechanics, and say "Oh that's adding unneeded stress on their elbow", but that very pitcher could have been injury free for the past 10 years.

 

If he was all natural, I'd say he'd have limited injuries and still be an ace for the Cubs. However, I think he was just another product of steroids who fizzled out because he got off the juice.

[Jack Parkman]

On the inverted W pitching mechanics topic, if, in fact, that motion of pitching is a cause of injuries, expect Strasburg and Crow to get injured and flame out quickly because that is their motion as well. I'm not sure if this is a problem or not, and I haven't read anything about it, but everything I've heard about Prior's injuries said it was his mechanics. There always was that allegation that he was a steroid user, but the most notable steroid users in MLB were very healthy from an injury standpoint and two HOF caliber hitters who had their prime years in the 90s who are most likely clean(Griffey and Frank) had a long list of injuries in their 30s, while those who were roiders were staying healthy longer and extended their prime years into their late 30s and early 40s, most notably Bonds and Clemens. I do not buy that steroids cause injury problems. If that were the case why didn't Clemens and Bonds always have freak, nagging injuries, because they were the most obvious hitter and pitcher who used. I would lean toward the inverted W being the culprit of Prior's demise. On that note, the Nats would be high to give in to Strasburg and Boras's ridiculous contract demands. If the inverted W is an injury prone motion, he is an injury waiting to happen. Crow too. I also think that this motion creates the high velocity fastball that they possess. I wonder what their fastball velocity would be if they didn't pitch that way.

Edited June 4, 2009 by Elgin Slim

[BearSox]

Once players get off the juice, they usually become less durable and have a lot more freak injuries. So for players in the 90's, they never got off the juice.

[Buehrle>Wood]

I remember a big part of the hype around Prior is that he had "perfect mechanics". Funny how that changes after a career full of injuries.

[SoxFan1]

Harper's bat speed is just insane. I'm not a fan of the leg-work he does in the swing, but God damn this kid can hit.

[WhiteSoxfan1986]

As far as the parents trying to get him eligible a year earlier, quit being selfish and let the kid finish out his time in high school. Even if he thinks he wants to go pro early, I think down the road he'd regret missing out on his senior year of high school. There will be plenty of time for baseball, and if he's as good as everyone thinks, he'll be up in the majors before you know it.

 

Couldn't agree more. I wish MLB had a rule in place that said you had to be 18 to be eligible for the draft to make sure this stuff wouldn't happen. I also have a problem with 16 year olds in latin america being able to sign with pro teams. IMO there should be a worldwide draft and you should have to be 18 to be eligible.

[Flash Tizzle]

I remember a big part of the hype around Prior is that he had "perfect mechanics". Funny how that changes after a career full of injuries.

From an aesthetic point of view, even when he was dominating in 2003, it never looked comfortable watching Prior pitch. As if he just appeared awkward throwing the baseball with his large frame.

 

The motion of throwing a baseball at a high velocity goes against the arms natural motion, anyways. Prior could have just had a precondition for elbow/shoulder tear, and when that occurred, he altered his motion and that affected his other joints.

 

 

 

 

[southsider2k5]

I remember a big part of the hype around Prior is that he had "perfect mechanics". Funny how that changes after a career full of injuries.

 

I distinctly remember the full page Tribune back page article, complete with color graphics on the topic.

[Kyyle23]

LOL, all of Priors injuries were steroids, not mechanics. Thats funny

[BearSox]

“I think he’s got a good delivery,” Black said. “Good mechanics. Good fundamentally. Sound thrower.”

 

Traditional pitching coaches still see Prior’s delivery in all of its six-years-ago splendor, and knowing how effective it was, they’re loath to change it. Prior has worked with only the Cubs’ Larry Rothschild and the Padres’ Darren Balsley – along with Black, a former pitching coach – and none has suggested he tinker with how he throws.

 

“I’m not saying they’re the be-all, end-all, but they’re major-league pitching coaches,” Prior said. “If something was really wrong, don’t you think they’d change things?”

 

If the inverted W is the reason for so many injuries, why aren't more and more pitchers who use the inverted W getting injured? Why aren't pitching coaches trying to change Prior's mechanics?

 

The inverted W is what a lot of pitchers do, and in fact, players are usually taught to throw like that early on. I'm not buying that it was mechanics that caused his injuries.

 

I firmly believe it has been a combination of steroids and getting off the juice (this would explain the loss in body mass and the random freak injuries) and that his arm wasn't destined to pitch a long time (this would explain why he can't throw more than 5 pitches now without blowing out his arm).