This is disgusting. http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/bi...rt-Bryce-Harper-s-decision-to-?urn=mlb,170270
I don't really get it. How is leaving HS to go to Community College going to further his professional baseball asperations? Is waiting 1 more year to be eligible for the MLB draft that important, which is what I assume they are angling for with this move. Since he won't be playing HS baseball what will he be playing? Does the community college have a baseball program? Is the competition good? Seems odd.
I temporarily suspended my boycott of SI at the suggestion of my daughter and son-in-law to read that story. There's no question that the kid is a baseball prodigy, maybe the greatest HS baseball player ever (no sarcasm intended). But what the family does not realize and can't see is how ridiculous they look in trying to manage this kid's life. At least that's my opinion. It will be interesting to see if he turns out to be as great as projected. I can't help but think about the SI story years ago on Damon Bailey when he was in 8th grade. I'm guessing that you guys remember it. He turned out to be a very good - but not great - college basketball player.
Rick Mount was another kid who was the greatest HS Basketball player ever...had an outstanding collegiate career but not much after that.
I thought of the old leftie, but this situation is much different. As I recall - which may not be accurate - what gave TM his 15 minutes of fame was the fact that his dad was a professional trainer and was "building" him into a great football player through diet and training regimen. I don't think he ever was considered a HS prodigy like Harper, Bailey, Mount, etc. Somewhere along the line, Todd made a voluntaty adjustment to his training regimen whe he decided to smoke marijuana. I don't recall the exact timing of his drug issues becoming public knowledge, but I think it was after USC. Didn't he leave school early, like after his sophomore year? I don't recall the reason.
Terry, By draft rules, he is not eligible to be drafted yet.... He is not of legal age.. If he returns to HS, he will only be a junior. By going the JUCO route, he will become 'draft eligible' at the end of next season, If he goes to a 4 year college, he'll have to wait until the end of his 3rd year or his 21st birthday. I don't really care what this kid does. To be honest, I've seen guys who look better at that age but didnt receive this level of hype. He may make it, he may not. Time will tell. Where my beef with this situation comes into play is that this kid is setting the precedent for every dick head dad who think his little boy is the next Babe Ruth to just make a giant joke of the academic programs in their state. What I would love to see here is MLB step in to make a rules change to the draft rules effective next season. That would cut this kid off at the knees and prevent agent/daddies from opening Pandora's Box.
BTW-I read in some of the comments that they question the talent level of the JUCO circuit. I didn't catch where this kid will be playing JUCO ball but there are a few CA JUCO conferences out there that are MUCH better than the bulk of Division 1..
Corey here's a link to the "College of Southern Nevada" where he'll be playing next year. The conference is callled the Scenic West Athletic Conference (SWAC). They only have two sports at CSN, baseball and womens fast pitch softball. CSN Schedule
Yeah it is a baseball talent storage facility... Take a look at their schedule.. That's a pretty stout schedule. The conference is kinda.... ehhh.. ok, but the noncon schedule is tough.