Nationals rookie Bryce Harper has shown few holes in his swing since being promoted to the major leagues April 28. But there still are ways for pitchers to take advantage, and when they do Harper must adjust. Case in point: Tuesday’s at-bat against Mets reliever Elvin Ramirez. With the game tied at 5-5 and Xavier Nady on first base, Harper struck out on three pitches — the last one a flailing attempt at a fastball tailing way outside the strike zone. It was as ugly a swing as Harper has shown this season, and his frustrated curse was audible seven stories above the playing field.
Move ahead an inning. Washington again had tied the score and Harper again faced Ramirez, this time with the bases loaded and two outs. Ramirez went back to the well with a four-seam fastball out over the plate. This time Harper was ready. He didn’t reach. He went with the pitch and slapped it the opposite way into left field for the game-winning hit.
“[Ramirez] struck [Harper] out the time before on three pitches, and I said, ‘He can’t go through that again,’?” Nats manager Davey Johnson said. “And then he made a good pitch for the second strike, and he hit an almost identical pitch for a base hit. A great hit.”
But it takes consistent results on those type of pitches to force the scouting report in another direction, and Harper is showing he can do that. Remember his opposite-field home run off Atlanta reliever Jonny Venters last month? That came on a similar pitch. Early in Tuesday’s game, Mets starter Chris Young tested Harper with a breaking ball away. He virtually took the ball out of the glove of catcher Josh Thole and softly dropped it into left field for an RBI.
“[Ramirez] got me in my first [at-bat] chasing, and I’ve been pretty patient throughout the whole time I’ve been up here,” Harper said. “So for him to get me like that — I was pretty [angry] about that right there. I wasn’t going to go up there and do the same thing.”
– Brian McNally
