I can't even begin to describe what a fantastic season he had, so I'll let the statistics do the talking. I love statistics, it's one of the things that drew me to baseball. Although, I can't stand the new wave of stats like Sabermetrics, but that's for another day. The SWAC conference, unlike other major college conferences, offered an advantage to Harper in that they used wood bats like the, of course, the MLB does. In 66 games, Harper had a slash line of .443/.526/.987 and hit 31 HRs with 98 RBIs and SHATTERED the previous HR record of 12! Wow, wow, wow! In the district finals he went 6/7, hitting for the cycle and knocking in 5 runs. The next day he went 2/5 with a 3 run double in the front end of a doubleheader and went 6/6 with 4 home runs, a double and a triple in the second game! Holy baseballs!
Those stats are absolutely amazing. Yet, the team was ousted from the tournament when Harper was ejected from a game, his second of the year, and it resulted in a 2 game suspension. This plays toward the cocky attitude a bit. Obviously, there are very few players who could restrain themselves in a playoff type game when the umpire makes a questionable call that costs that player but he ended up hurting the team in the end. Yes, he was only 17 at the time and I am sure he was spoon fed his greatness his whole life but this should have been a lesson to him and other young players that sometimes it helps to swallow your pride and take a seat.
We have seen similar actions to this in his short Major League career but he has seemingly grown up in a short time. This is not really about his cocky or childish actions, it's about his raw talent and how he has progressed so quickly. As a Tigers fan I am looking at this kid with jealousy because, like every fan, I want him on my team. As a Baseball fan I am looking at this kid as one of 2 ultra-talented young players who will be making noise in the league for years to come. I was looking forward to seeing what he could do this year after being named rookie of the year, coming in with .270/.340/.477, 22 HRs, 59 RBIs and 18 SBs.
I didn't have to wait long to see. As of today, he owns a .360/.444/.756 slash line with 9 HRs and 18 RBIs. I was projecting him to be in the NL MVP talks by the end of the year and he is proving me correct so far. I may be one of the few people who said that Harper would be better than Trout this year. I stand by that claim and believe that Harper is the better player. I am not taking anything away from Trout and his phenomenal rookie year but I think we have seen his career year. Harper, on the hand, is heading up and I think he can sustain it.
The batting average is a lot higher than I had thought he would have but there is plenty of time to see it head back down to what we should expect from him. I was thinking he would hit 30 HRs and be able to produce that every year and I think I will stick with that prediction, or even 5-10 more as he gets better. This kid is a special breed of player and I can not wait for the Nationals to come to Detroit to play my Tigers (the last 2 days of July for any Detroiters out there). I want to see Strasburg pitch as well but he doesn't tickle my baseball senses the way Harper does.
If you are a baseball fan and you haven't watched him play, or seen highlights of him, you are truly missing out. I will never concede that there is a hitter out there who is as good as Miggy is but Harper may prove to be over time. Miggy was another good young player that has gotten better and better over time. Harper is already showing the MVP prowess at the tender age of 20 and I think we are seeing a possible legend in the making. Only time will tell if Harper is truly going to be a National(s) Pastime Treasure!
