Poor Baby

Player agent Scott Boras wants other teams to stop picking on his client Bryce Harper because they’re making it hard for Harper to command the contract Boras wants to negotiate for him next year.

Harper is having an odd walk-year with the Nationals, hitting only .214 with 102 strikeouts to go with 23 homeruns, 54 RBIs, 78 walks and a .365 OBP.  Those numbers are closer to a very good Mark Reynolds than an “average” Ted Williams, and Boras will have none of that.

“There’s no question that with the walk rates that Bryce Harper has the’ going to have less hits,” Boras told reporters earlier this month.  “No doubt about that.”  If Harper is more in the Mark Reynolds’ category, then yes.  But if Boras truly believes his client is one of the all-time greats, then no.  Twice in his career, Williams walked 162 times in a season.  In 1947, he coupled that with 181 hits and a .343 batting average; two years later, Williams managed 194 hits while again hitting .343.  Harper has never recorded more than 172 hits in a season.

Along with all those pesky walks Harper keeps getting, Boras thinks his client is being hurt by defensive shifts.  “I’ve certainly come to the conclusion that shifting is grandly discriminatory against power left handed hitters.”  Why, if shifts are allowed to continue, Boras can even see the day when parents will turn their little Bryce Harpers around to hit right-handed only.

Yes, let’s intervene so that left-handed hitters can maintain their advantage against the bulk of major-league pitchers, who happen to be right-handed.  We should always remember that what’s good for Scott Boras is good for baseball and what’s good for baseball had better be good for Scott Boras.  Or else.