WASHINGTON – Bryce Harper is 22, playing his fourth major league season with the Nationals, and already has 65 home runs including five in his past two games before Saturday. He had two homers and five RBIs in Friday night's series-opening win against the Braves.
He is a man-child coming into his own as a bona fide major league star, and among those who got an up-close look Friday night was Jace Peterson, the Braves’ first-year second baseman (Peterson isn’t technically a rookie, having surpassed the 45-day service-time limit last year with the Padres).
Peterson turned 25 on Saturday. He’s two years and 160 days older than Harper. Peterson had 53 games and 148 plate appearances over two major league seasons before Saturday, and his next home run will be his first in the majors.
Peterson is someone who can fully appreciate how good Harper is and how much the Nationals slugger has done at such a young age, even if they took entirely different routes.
“Yeah, seeing it and being here, he’s a great ballplayer,” Peterson said before Saturday’s game. “Not everybody can be Bryce Harper and Mike Trout; they’re blessed. They play the game the right way, and they’re great ballplayers.”
How they got to the big leagues is an example of the many disparate paths there are in baseball, even if both were high draft picks.
Peterson attended Hamilton Christian Academy in his native Lake Charles, La., and played three years of football and baseball at McNeese State University, also in Lake Charles. He was selected by the Padres in the supplemental round of the 2011 draft, the 58th overall pick, and spent most of four seasons in the minors before being called up in 2014.
Harper was all-baseball, all the time. An extreme example of the one-sport focus that has become common among elite prospects. He skipped his last two years of high school and got his GED so he’d be eligible for the 2010 draft, and was on the cover of Sports Illustrated at 16, labeled “baseball’s chosen one.”
Athletes – and their parents and coaches – will tell you there is no right or wrong way to go about it. Some believe in doing whatever it takes to reach one’s potential in a single sport and pay whatever costs to get exposure. Others opine that it’s better to have a well-rounded background, not only to avoid burnout or single-sport overuse injuries but to allow more “normal” development, such as experiencing college life rather that going directly from home to pro ball.
“It definitely makes it a little bit easier to be able to focus on one sport and play that,” Peterson said. “But you’ve got to do what you want to do. I don’t regret anything…. He enjoyed baseball and that’s what he did. He’s enjoyed a ton of success and he’s up here and one of the best players in the game.
“For me, I enjoyed playing everything. So I don’t regret anything. I’m happy where I’m at now and look forward to keep on moving. Not everybody’s path is the same. That’s what’s unique about different people, they get to where they want to be in different ways. Here I am and I’m happy with the way I got here.”
Harper hit .443 with 31 homers and 98 RBIs in his first junior-college season at the College of Southern Nevada before being selected with the No. 1 pick in the 2010 draft and signing a $9.9 million, five-year contract. To repeat, he was 17 at the time.
He spent about 1 ½ seasons in the minors before debuting with the Nationals at age 19 in late April 2012.
There have been a few missteps, several injuries, a few ill-timed comments that were perhaps a reflection of immaturity more than anything else.
But those who’ve really gotten to know him and have played with him, like former Braves infielder Mark DeRosa, say that Harper is as diligent and hard-working as anyone in the game. And that he has an insatiable desire to maximize his talent.
Right now, there is a sense that baseball is seeing a special player begin to fully realize his abilities. Harper became the youngest player in major league history to hit five home runs in two games, and also the first player in Expos/Nationals history to do it, regardless of age.
He hit .313 with eight homers, 22 RBIs and a .750 slugging percentqage in his past 20 games before Saturday, and had more walks (22) than strikeouts (21) in that span for a .471 OBP. He was batting .284 overall, tied for the National League lead with 10 homers before Saturday, and among the top five in in RBIs (25), OBP (.426) and slugging percentage (.627).
“He’s comfortable now, and he’s definitely showing it,” said Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman, who said of Harper’s two homers and 10 RBIs in two games: “That’s special. That’s a special month for a lot of people, and he’s done it in two days. Hopefully he stops in the next two days so we can get him out.”
