Even A-Rod is gushing about Bryce Harper these days
Any baseball fan being honest with him or herself has to acknowledge that Bryce Harper has been a joy to watch the past few weeks. He’s captured back-to-back NL player of the week honors and he’s hitting .411/.529/.982 with nine homers and 22 RBIs since May 1. That’s ridiculously good.
We’ve covered the whole Bryce Harper is not overrated/not a bust thing before — he’s not a bust, people! — but Harper is doing so well right now that even A-Rod is gushing about him. Talk about a pair of polarizing baseball players.
A-Rod’s New York Yankees and Harper’s Washington Nationals meet in D.C. for a two-game set that starts Tuesday. And ahead of that, A-Rod was singing Harper’s praises so loudly to the New York Daily News you’d think he were investing in Harper. Rodriguez told the Daily News’ Mark Feinsand:
“I like how relentless and how aggressive he is; you don’t see that often these days,” Rodriguez said. “Most people want to play it safe, but he goes for it every time. That’s very admirable. Hopefully not the next two days, though.”
Wait, there’s more:
“I love everything about him,” Rodriguez said. “I like players that play hard. He wears his emotion on his sleeve, he’s a gamer and he’s a winner. As a fan of baseball, I would pay big money to watch him play — especially to watch him hit.”
Harper has given fans their money’s worth this season. He leads the NL in home runs (14), RBI (37), runs (36), walks (36), on-base percentage (.476), slugging percentage (.729) and total bases (97). The power is what gets Harper on the highlight shows, but to A-Rod, his game goes far beyond the home runs.
“His home runs don’t tell the whole story,” Rodriguez said. “His body language, how he’s carrying himself, his plate recognition, the balls he’s hitting all over the field. He’s not just hitting home runs; he’s hitting home runs, he’s walking a lot. He’s maturing right in front of our eyes and you love to see that.”
Say all the bad things you want about A-Rod, but recognize that he’s exactly right in this instance. Harper plays hard, puts on a show and is a joy to watch. This looks like the transformative season for Harper, if he can continue to shake off the injuries that have limited him the past two years.
This is a topic A-Rod knows well, because like Harper, he was a lauded teen prospect, who was drafted No. 1 overall and came into league at an obscenely young age. Harper was 19, A-Rod was 18. There are high expectations that come along with that, too high probably.
High enough to have a 22-year-old labeled as overrated after a rather productive start of his career and high enough to make one of best players of a generation turn to PEDs.
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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
