Pete Rose has some advice for Bryce Harper
Baseball's Hit King has some thoughts on the comparisons between himself and Nationals phenom Bryce Harper.
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Hall of Fame weekend is just behind us, and that means Pete Rose has been talking about himself at marathon length. As part of his annual junket, Rose spoke with C.J. Nitkowski and Mike Ferrin on Sirius, and touched on the topic of Nationals phenom Bryce Harper, who has been compared to Rose in terms of his hustle and max-effort style of play.
Here's what Rose had to say about all of that:
"Here’s Bryce’s problem, okay? Bryce growing up, I was his dad’s favorite player. I mean, that’s a fact. And there’s a difference in playing hard and playing recklessly. And Bryce plays recklessly. And there’s a reason for that. He was a catcher when he was here [in Las Vegas].
"Now all of a sudden they’ve got him in the outfield, and he don’t understand warning tracks, and he don’t understand every [ballpark] the caroms are different, the walls are different. Some are padded, some aren’t. You can’t turn around and run into the wall at Dodger Stadium face first. So what I would tell Davey Johnson – and he knows more about his team than I do – I would play Bryce Harper as deep as he possibly could, where anything over his head goes out of the ballpark. And that way he’s not gonna run into fences until he gets used to the different ballparks."
It's not often I find myself agreeing with Mr. Rose, but I'm with him here. There is indeed a difference between hustle and recklessness, and Harper would do well to learn it, lest he become another Pete Reiser. Hustle is praiseworthy and part of the job description, but running into walls is to be discouraged. Except in the rarest of high-leverage circumstances, making a single out isn't worth an injury.
As for Harper's upbringing as a catcher having something to do with his "demolition-derby" style of outfield play, there may be something to it. With that said, Harper has more 1,700 innings in the outfield as a major-leaguer, and in the minors he played an additional 132 games out there. At this point, I'm guessing Harper's outfield stylings have less to do with a lack of familiarity and more to do with his factory settings.
(Wink of CBS eye: D.C. Sports Bog)
