Bryce Harper to be called up

Bryce Harper tends to do things ahead of schedule, so it should surprise no one that he's already heading to the major leagues.
The 19-year-old outfielder, who was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 amateur draft, will be recalled by the Washington Nationals from Triple-A Syracuse on Saturday.
Widely regarded as baseball's top prospect, Harper will meet the Nationals in Los Angeles, where they are playing the Dodgers, and take the roster spot of third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, who is going on the 15-day disabled list with inflammation in his right shoulder.
"Suffice it to say, this isn't the coming-out party for Bryce that we had in mind," Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said Friday on a conference call. "This isn't the optimal situation developmentally."
The Nationals also placed reliever Brad Lidge on the 15-day disabled list with an abdominal wall strain, the second of the team's three potential closers to go on the shelf. Lidge, whose move is retroactive to April 22, had been sharing closer duties with Henry Rodriguez while Drew Storen recovers from elbow surgery.
Washington also recalled right-hander Ryan Perry from Triple-A Syracuse.
Harper skipped his final year of high school, earned his GED, then played one season of junior college baseball at the College of Southern Nevada to become eligible for the draft and get a head-start on his professional career. He signed a five-year, $9.9 million contract, including $6.5 million

Harper might be a future superstar, a potential multiple-MVP award winner during his prime and a good keeper-league prospect. He is still, however, 19 years old today, and his statistical performance this calendar year hasn't been great.


In nine spring training games, for example, Harper batted .286/.333/.357 (BA/OBP/SLG), including 11 strikeouts in 28 at-bats. And in 20 games for Triple-A Syracuse, he has hit .250/.333/.375 with 14 K's in 72 at-bats. Sum his statistics between the spring and Triple-A, and Harper is a .260 hitter with one home run in 100 at-bats. A left-handed hitter, Harper also has struggled against left-handed pitching; he was 4-for-21 (.190) with six K's and zero home runs against them for Syracuse. There is a chance that, for this season at least, he might be no more than a .260-batting, 18-homer hitter, and that assumes at least 150 games played.


The list of historical standouts at the age of 19, too, is short. The record for home runs by a 19-year-old is 24, set by Tony Conigliaro in 1964. Only five players in history have had even a 10-homer season at the age of 19. And if you're looking for perhaps the all-time best season by a 19-year-old, that probably would belong to Mel Ott, who managed .322/.397/.524 triple-slash rates, 18 home runs and 77 RBIs in 124 games … in 1928, or 84 years ago.


What Harper is being asked to do is monumental, and there's not even a guarantee he'll be up with the Nationals permanently. Early struggles could earn him additional seasoning in the minors, Zimmerman's return could do the same and there's that "arbitration clock" timetable to consider, being that most teams concerned about that usually keep prospects in the minors until at least June.

A "steep price" could be considered a No. 1 waiver position or a more productive hitter -- almost anyone actually ranked on Wednesday's Hit Parade top 125 qualifies -- so while Harper absolutely warrants a speculative pickup in any format if you have the room, make sure you have the room.


Bumping Xavier Nady for Harper, as the Nationals appear set to do, makes sense in fantasy. (The Nationals might now use Nady, Rick Ankiel and Roger Bernadina in a three-man rotation in one outfield spot, with Jayson Werth shuffling between right and center field to accommodate them.)


Bumping Werth himself, or even a lesser outfielder such as Logan Morrison, does not make sense.