In 1999 the Pirates drafted a young blue chip prospect that was dubbed the 'next Barry Bonds' by the media, particularly those in and around the Pittsburgh area. His batting practices in the spring of 2000 were legendary, citing repeated comparisons to the likes of Bonds, Bonilla, Stargell, and even the immortal Clemente. The Pirates shelled out a then record sum to draft and sign this young phenom, with the hopes of riding his coattails to a winning season in a fantastic new ballpark, and ultimately out of the doldrums of the NL Central. Chad Hermansen ultimately flopped and the franchise has been paying the price for buying into the hype ever since.
This June the Pirates may have the opportunity to draft another young power hitting high school slugger. Bryce Harper has been dubbed by some as the "LeBron of Baseball". The sweet swinging 17 year old catcher has been tearing apart low division college teams all year. He's hitting over .400 with 17 home runs in a shade under 200 at bats so far. What's even more enticing is the fact that he is doing all of this with a wooden bat. At 17!
Today I listened to, not for the first time, several The Fan personalities lay into the Pirates, and more specifically the owner and management staff. "He's a must draft" they say, "How can the Pirates even consider passing on this kind of talent?".
And to this, I say: Simple. He's 17.
Let's go back for a few moments, to when you were 17. Now pretend for a moment that you're a fantastic athlete, a chiseled 6'-3" 205 pound frame (by some accounts an inch and 10 lbs more than that). The world it at your finger tips. People are calling you the "Next LeBron James", you are by far the consensus number one prospect in this years draft. At 17, you'll be given 10's of millions of dollars (a low estimate for a Scott Boras client) by a team that has been playing losing baseball since before you were born. You are instantly dubbed The Savior or The Franchise, or whatever other name people take to calling you. At 17.
Would you like to know how many star athletes have been successful as adults after being given millions as a teenager? You can count them on one hand. The number of failures, however, is vast and well documented.
All this before you even take into account Bryce Harper's attitude or in scout vernacular: Makeup.
This is a direct excerpt from a column written by Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus:
"This should not be underrated. It's impossible to find any talent evaluator who isn't blown away by Harper's ability on the field, but it's equally difficult to find one who doesn't genuinely dislike the kid. One scout called him among the worst amateur players he's ever seen from a makeup standpoint, with top-of-the-scale arrogance, a disturbingly large sense of entitlement, and on-field behavior that includes taunting opponents. "He's just a bad, bad guy," said one front-office official. "He's basically the anti-Joe Mauer."
(you can read the rest of this excellent Harper piece, here)
So the final question is this: If the Pirates have the opportunity to give an arrogant 17 year old 10's of millions of guaranteed dollars, how will the headlines read? Hopefully they speak of Pirates brass learning from past mistakes and not making the same one over.
