SB Nation DC - Bryce Harper Will Begin At Class-A Hagerstown Next Season

Bryce Harper Will Start Next Season At Class A Hagerstown

2010-11-17T18:13:18Z

So far, No. 1 pick Bryce Harper has looked every bit as good as advertised, and more. In eight games in the Arizona Fall League, Harper is hitting .323 with a .400 on-base percentage, one home run and a .613 slugging percentage, which is outstanding considering his age. But despite his strong performance, Harper will start next season at the same level the team originally anticipated.

General Manager Mike Rizzo said today that Harper will start next season at Class A Hagerstown, the lower of the Nationals' two Class A teams. Via Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post:

"I would assume [Harper] starts in Hagerstown," Rizzo said. "That could change. If the minor league season opened today, it would be Hagerstown. I think he needs to start in a comfortable position for him and succeed and move on."

The Nationals could have started Harper at the higher Class A team, Potomac, but decided that comfort was more important. They did something similar last season, starting Stephen Strasburg at AA-Harrisburg despite him being much better than the competition.

Bryce Harper To Make Arizona Fall League Debut Wednesday

2010-10-13T20:26:46Z

On the heels of a report that he's heading to the Arizona Fall League, Bryce Harper, as well as general manager Mike Rizzo, confirmed that Harper will indeed start play in the league next Wednesday, according to CSN Washington's Mark Zuckerman.

Harper is reportedly going home to celebrate his 18th birthday before joining the Scottsdale Scorpions on their "taxi squad," according to Zuckerman. It's fairly unprecedented for someone so young to play in the league, since the league is seen more as a final step for more polished prospects, but Rizzo told Zuckerman Harper is a special case.

"I recognize that this kid is going into a situation that is pretty unprecedented,"Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said. "He's going to be an 18-year-old player in an extremely accelerated league. But we feel the trade-off of getting this kid to work out for two months in that environment was well worth the opportunity of him struggling a little bit in such an advanced league. With this kid's ability level and this kid's attitude, it's certainly not going to retard his progress."

The Nationals had to receive a special exemption to get Harper into the league, but they got it from Major League Baseball.

Nationals Send Bryce Harper To Arizona Fall League

2010-10-13T16:43:18Z

Yesterday, we passed along a report that the Nationals would be sending Bryce Harper home to rest instead of having him participate in the Arizona Fall League. Harper must have a hyperbolic chamber or some magic dust or something, because the Nationals already feel like he is ready to go.

Bill Ladson at the Nationals blog has reported that the Nationals will be sending Harper out to the Fall League "effective immediately." Ladson also reports that Harper will be part of a unit that plays twice a week. He'll be joined in Arizona by a number of important people from the organization.

(general manager Mike) Rizzo, manager Jim Riggleman, hitting coach Rick Eckstein, special assistant Phil Rizzo, a special advisor to the general manager, will also be in Arizona to help develop Harper.

We'll have updates from his performance here in this stream, including the first time he hits a home run over the Grand Canyon.

Bryce Harper Will Not Initially Play In Arizona Fall League

2010-10-12T16:12:59Z

Once the Nationals were able to sign Bryce Harper, a big question was whether they would elect to have him play in the Arizona Fall League. The answer, it seems, is not yet.

According to Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post, the Nationals will send Harper home to rest instead of having him play in the first few games in the Arizona Fall League.

Nationals Director of Player Development Doug Harris and General Manager Mike Rizzo will speak in the next few days to decide if Harper's next step includes playing in the AFL. For now, they want to give Harper time to relax and reflect in a comfortable setting.

"He's going to go home," Harris said. "Mike and I are going to talk about it. This is the first time he's really been away from home. He needs to go home."

Harper can still receive a special exemption to play in the league, though the Nationals would have to petition for it since they already have the maximum two players below AA on the roster. The team does have an open roster spot, and Kilgore writes that they should be able to use in on Harper if they would like.

The Arizona Fall League begins today and lasts until the middle of November.

The Bryce Harper Era Starts Friday

2010-09-15T12:59:20Z

Bryce Harper, the 17-year-old phenom who the Nationals made the first overall pick in the MLB draft this spring, will begin his career with the team on Friday. According to Mark Zuckerman, Harper will join other Nationals prospects at the team's spring training club facility later this week.

The Nationals' top draft pick will report to the club's spring training complex in Viera, Fla., this week and begin working out with Washington's instructional league squad on Friday, the first of several steps toward his eventual arrival in the big leagues.

Harper is still somewhat of a mystery. He played in college, but at a school so small that nobody really got to see him play. At this point, his greatest attribute is his legend. We might not be able to see him on Friday, and I'm sure the Nationals will not be in a hurry to rush to judgement on a few at bats with instructional league players.

We won't know exactly what the Nationals have in Harper quite yet, but this is a very important first step.

Bryce Harper Not On Nationals' Initial Arizona Fall League Roster

2010-08-31T15:19:07Z

When Bryce Harper was introduced as a member of the Washington Nationals, general manager Mike Rizzo said there was a chance he would play in the Arizona Fall League after the season.

As of right now, though, it appears that will not be the case. The Nationals have announced their initial list of participants in the league, and it doesn't include Harper. Via Mark Zuckerman:

The full list headed to Arizona in October...

OF Michael Burgess
RHP Adam Carr
RHP Cole Kimball
INF Stephen Lombardozzi
C Derek Norris
LHP Sammy Solis

This list isn't final, to be clear, and Rizzo did say that there's a chance Harper would be added depending on how he played in the Florida Instructional League. As of right now, though, Harper isn't on the Nationals' Arizona Fall League roster.

Bryce Harper Displays Uncommon Maturity In Introductory Press Conference

2010-08-26T23:22:31Z

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Listening to Bryce Harper talk, it's hard to believe he's only 17 years old. His responses during today's 15-minute introductory press conference were subdued, yet mature, to the point where one media member even asked him how he learned how to handle, well, the media.

"Exactly what I'm doing right now," he said. "Smile, and have fun."

That was among the lighter moments of today's press conference, during which Harper addressed everything from his much-discussed batting practice session to why he decided to have a faux mohawk. While he clearly looks and speaks like he's mature beyond his years, he also demonstrated that he still is a kid at heart.

"It felt like home," Harper said about hitting batting practice today. " It was a blast going out there with a couple of the other guys, and it's always fun to hit on a pro field. That's a kid's dream, and I'm like a little kid in a candy store right now."

Harper said he's not worried about how fast he enters the Major Leagues, saying he doesn't have a target year in mind and will let "the higher powers" take care of that. His father, Ron Harper, agreed with his son.

"I don't believe there's a huge rush," Ron Harper said. "If he feels the need to rush, that could backfire."

General manager Mike Rizzo said the team's plan is to prepare Harper to play in the Florida Instructional League in two weeks and potentially have him play in the Arizona Fall League. However, he added that "from [the Florida League,] we're not sure" what will happen with Harper in the near future.

"We're going to take that step by step, and prepare him for spring training next season," he said.

More notes:

Harper will wear number 34 because of his devotion to Mickey Mantle. "I grew up loving Mickey Mantle," he said. "When I was a kid, I always wore number seven, so I chose 34 because 3 plus 4 is seven."
After the press conference, Ron Harper addressed the lingering concerns that Harper is a bit too cocky for his own good. "You have to be confident in this game. It's like you [media] guys. You don't show up every day and say 'I hope I write a mediocre story today.' You have to believe you're the best writer." He added: "[But] you do have to have a fine line there, because this is his job now. He's got to go out there and believe he's the best. He's got to go out there and work hard, and the hard work while keeping your mouth shut is probably the best way to go about it. I want him to be humble. You're right, people can mistake [your confidence] for something else, but he works really really hard and he's confident."
Ron Harper also said that he wants his son to remember the negative coverage to fuel his fire, though not necessarily because he needs to specifically prove everyone wrong. It's more that it will help ensure that he works hard
Scott Boras, Harper's agent, said what most impressed him about Harper was Harper's devotion to going to junior college. "He really took on a unique academic challenge, which was to go to college, take courses and take a GED exam. That shows what that says about Bryce academically as well as his talent."
Harper was asked how he was able to perfect his swing. He thanked his father and said that it took "a lot of work in the [batting] cage," before finally admitting, "I really don't know how I was able to get that swing. [Like], I do, but I don't know where I generate all that power from."
In case you were wondering about Harper's mohawk of sorts, here's how he explained his decision to get it. "My sister is a beautician, and she's tried a few different things on me. The ladies like it."
Harper said he hasn't met Stephen Strasburg yet, but did enjoy hanging out with several players today, saying that Adam Dunn in particular "might be one of the funniest guys I've ever met."
Harper was so anxious with his inactivity that he actually played football at his local high school while trying to get his contract figured out.
Harper admitted he's already started to receive some instructional work on how to play outfield.
As is their custom, the Nationals had Ryan Zimmerman, the "face of the franchise" as Mike Rizzo put it, formally put the Nationals jersey on Bryce Harper. I'd post pictures, but they were pretty blurry, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

Bryce Harper Takes Batting Practice, Impresses

2010-08-26T20:00:36Z

Later this afternoon, Bryce Harper will be introduced to the media as an official member of the Washington Nationals. Before that, though, he took batting practice and wowed the assembled crowd with some towering home run balls.

MASN's Ben Goessling described the scene:

Dressed in Nationals workout gear and sporting a mohawk, Harper has already knocked one off the facing of the third deck, and then put one in the third deck. He hit back-to-back shots into both bullpens, has put several balls in the second deck and is consistently driving the ball out of the park to right center. You can tell Harper's natural power gift by the way the ball jumps off his bat; it looks like it's heading out of the park as soon as he makes contact.

Not that we needed any more confirmation of Harper's natural ability, but that's good to hear.

SB Nation D.C. will have full coverage of Harper's press conference starting at 5:45.