Top pick is batting .366 at Low-A Hagerstown
Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said in a radio interview on Wednesday that top prospect Bryce Harper will not play in Washington at all this season despite a promising start to his pro career.
Rizzo spoke on ESPN 980’s “The Sports Fix” with Washington Examiner columnist Thom Loverro and co-host Kevin Sheehan during a scheduled weekly segment on the show. The 18-year-old Harper — the No. 1 pick in last spring’s Major League Baseball draft — is currently playing in the minors at Low-A Hagerstown (Md.), four levels below the big leagues.
“It’s not going to happen because he’s not ready for that to happen. [Harper] has got to learn the nuances of the game of baseball,” Rizzo said. “We certainly don’t want to push him to a level where he’s overmatched and struggles even for a short period of time. We’re just not going to put him in a place where he has a chance to fail until we feel that he’s 100 percent ready for that level.”
Despite a recent 0-for-11 skid, Harper is still batting .366 at Hagerstown, the third-highest mark in the South Atlantic League, and has nine home runs. He had an 18-game hitting streak snapped on Sunday and was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk in Wednesday morning’s win over Kannapolis.
“I think early on he was putting a little too much pressure on himself. He was really pressing early,” said Hagerstown manager Brian Daubach, who played for four major-league clubs during an eight-year career. “But the last three weeks or so he’s real relaxed, swinging the bat well. His talent is taking over.”
Rizzo has said since January that Harper would not be promoted to higher levels until team officials believe he has fulfilled their development goals for him. Daubach noted in an interview last Thursday that Harper is still adjusting to playing right field.
He was primarily a catcher both in high school and during his one prolific season playing junior college baseball at the College of Southern Nevada.
Harper also remains a work-in-progress on the base paths, where his speed is an asset, but his aggressive nature can get him in trouble.
In last Thursday’s game against Delmarva, Harper bunted for a hit, but when he advanced to second on a poor throw he was called out for failing to touch first base on the way around the bag. That is all part of the development process for a first-year pro who won’t even turn 19 until October 16.
“When he is [ready] we will certainly bring him up, because we want to win as bad as anybody else,” Rizzo said. “Nobody wants to win worse than I do. Believe me, if I felt he was ready to hit in the big leagues right now and perform in the big leagues right now, he would be up in the big leagues. If he gave us the best chance of winning, he’d be up there trying to help us win.”
