More questions were raised about his maturity later in the year, as he kept showing up umpires when disagreeing with strike calls. 377 the hot streak once again brought out questions about when and to where his next promotion would be, but the Nationals insisted he would not make his major league debut that year. After a slowish start, the cream quickly rose to the top in his case, as he was named the SALLY League's Player of the week for the first week in May, while in the midst of an 18-game hitting streak that pushed his batting average to. Harper singled in his first minor league game for Hagerstown on April 7th, then stole second he later got a bunt single to finish the day 2-for-4. However, he sprained his ankle in an intrasquad game on March 21, but this did not delay his minor league debut. 389 in 13 spring games before the front office decided to send him to the Class A Hagerstown Suns of the South Atlantic League to begin the season. He told reporters that he planned to make the Nats' opening day roster. While observers were wondering how long it would take him to reach the majors, Harper had definite views on the issue. ![]() He caused quite a stir when he made his first appearance at the Nationals' spring training camp in Viera, FL on February 21, 2011, hitting nothing but hard line drives in batting practice, then being mobbed by autograph seekers as he tried to leave the practice field. 343 in the Arizona Fall League, facing a significantly higher level of competition.Įven before he had played his first true minor league game, Harper was named Baseball's America's #1 prospect on its annual top-100 prospect list released in the off-season. 418 on-base percentage in that context, then hit. He was to begin his professional career with the GCL Nationals, but instead was used in the instructional league, where the games are more akin to exhibition games. On August 16, a minute before the midnight deadline for signing picks was to to expire, Harper signed a major league contract with the Nationals worth $9.9 million. It was expected that he would seek a signing bonus similar to the $15 million granted by the Nationals to Stephen Strasburg, the number one pick in the 2009 amateur draft. Harper was advised by Scott Boras, who was known for pushing contract negotiations to the limit. Still, after the season, he was the recipient of the 2010 Golden Spikes Award honoring the best college baseball player in the United States he was only the second player at a community college to receive the award, after Alex Fernandez in 1990. These concerns about his attitude and maturity were reinforced by an incident which occured only a few days prior to the draft, when Harper was ejected from a critical game and earned a two-game suspension for showing up an umpire in the NJCAA Division I Baseball World Series in Grand Junction, CO. However, the Nationals announced that they would move him to the outfield, once signed, in order to speed up his arrival in the major leagues.Īs an amateur, he had been criticized for his attitude as well as some idiosyncracies like using heavy eye black and a fancy batting ritual before each at-bat. He became the third-youngest player to be taken first following Tim Foli and Ken Griffey Jr., and the 5th catcher, following Steve Chilcott, Mike Ivie, Danny Goodwin, B.J. The Washington Nationals took him first overall in the 2010 amateur draft. Harper once hit a 502-homer at Tropicana Field, something no major leaguer had done before the amateur slugger did so. Harper made the cover of Sports Illustrated in June 2009, the first high schooler to appear on the magazine's cover since basketball's LeBron James in 2002. He was named MVP of the Scenic West Athletic Conference. He was leading all of junior college baseball in both homers and RBI despite being only 17. Going into the Junior College World Series, Harper was hitting. ![]() Harper got his GED after his sophomore year of high school so he could play junior college baseball in 2010, not finding the high school game challenging enough. Not only that, he became the first underclassman to ever win the Baseball America High School Player of the Year Award Joe Mauer had been the only catcher to win the honor previously. He was the only underclassman picked for either the Baseball America first team or second team High School All-America Team, chosen as the top catcher in high school ball in the USA. 626/.723/1.339 with 14 homers, 22 doubles, 9 triples, 36 steals, 76 runs and 55 RBI in 115 games as a high school sophomore. Harper went 16 for 28 with six doubles, four homers and 16 RBI in eight games in the 2008 Youth Pan Am Games to help the USA win the Gold Medal. Bryce Harper was the first overall pick in the 2010 amateur draft and the National League Rookie of the Year in 2012.
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