He Can Hit 'Em Out of ANYWHERE!

[DOUGHBOYS]

We've all heard it....
"He can hit 'em out of ANYWHERE!"
This is said with sluggers who cream the ball for long distances.
We are never astonished when big fellas hit homers for long distance.
In fact, we're more bemused when a hitter like Dee Gordon or a pitcher smacks a tater.

I got to hear, "He can hit 'em out of anywhere" from a Giants fan who was rabid about the Bryce Harper rumors.
By the way, I believe that Harper should go on a 30 day, 30 city tour and tell each city that he is thinking about them.
But, I guess the press is doing that for him.
'LET THE FANS DREAM' tour.

We KNOW Harper can hit the ball out of any park.
Duh.
Harper is no Babe Ruth or Barry Bonds.
Ruth and Bonds are the only two players in history, who made ANY park look small.
Ruth was the ultimate power hitter when parks were small and there were no other power hitters like him during his time.
Bonds cheated better thany player in baseball history.
He combined a natural talent with unnatural substances and concocted a baseball Frankenstein.
Harper is neither of these players.
Bryce Harper, really, is not even the Bryce Harper that most expected.
He is not a consistent home run hitter.
In seven years, he has hit 40 homers once and 30 homers once.
Harper has always had age on his side of baseball arguments.
Folks backing him always including, "Yeah, but he's only (fill in blank) years of age!"
Harper will be 27 this year. The prime of his baseball life.
No more. "Yeah but's" for him. He is of age. A baseball 'Man'.

And yes, Harper can hit 'em out of any park.
I think about Giancarlo Stanton now when hearing that comment.
Three or four times last year, I saw Stanton hit line drives that landed in the first or second row of seats.
Not a tape measure shot. One that barely cleared the fence.
Somehow, we ignore these. They count. But, we don't give the park credit for the home run. It just becomes another notch on the power hitters gun.
In San Francisco, Harper will have to hit blasts to get them out of the park.
That park has killed homers since the natural, unnatural departure of Bonds.
Brandon Belt can "Hit 'em out of anywhere"...but AT&T, or Oracle. or Jellystone Park kills him.
You can see his face when he has killed a ball to right center field, knowing that the park will hold that ball.
The same would happen to Harper.
He'll still hit home runs there, no doubt, but I believe the park will only continue his legacy of under achievement.
Yes, a legacy of under achivement.
Harper has had one great year.
The only year where he has lead the league in ANY statistic.
He is a paradox.
Baseball loves a good paradox.
Look at Manny Manchado.
He is disappointed at offers from teams after saying that 'Hustle is not a part of my game'.
IMAGINE THAT!

I could care less where either of these players end up.
There will be a lot of hullabaloo once it happens.
Both players will say that they always wanted to play 'Here'...Wherever here may be.
And the City will embrace them and they will go up in drafts because they found a new home.
BUT, if Harper signs with the Giants and he goes up fantasy draft boards?
It'll only be because of the hype.
He can hit 'em out of Anywhere.
To be sure.
We just know that he won't be hitting as many.

[mbendar16]

Dan,
I can say with pretty good confidence that anybody that has drafted Harper to date is hoping he doesn't sign with SF and his ADP will dip a few spots if he does. I'll put a bag of Doritos on it

Mark

[NorCalAtlFan]

belt? lmao. he is your white whale, that's for sure.

[DOUGHBOYS]

Dan,
I can say with pretty good confidence that anybody that has drafted Harper to date is hoping he doesn't sign with SF and his ADP will dip a few spots if he does. I'll put a bag of Doritos on it

Mark

Agreed

But the knee jerk reaction will be that Harper will stay the same or even move up a few spots after finding a'home'.
Soon after, drafters will realize that it isn't a good thing and he will drop a bit.

[DOUGHBOYS]

belt? lmao. he is your white whale, that's for sure.

Poor Belt.
Wrong time, wrong ball park.
As with most players that will not adjust to the shift, Belt never adjusted to his ball park.
He could have been a contender