Harper was drafted No. 1 overall by the Washington Nationals just over a year ago and billed as baseball's LeBron James. He was on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a high school sophomore and dominated junior college when every other player his age was still in high school. He played catcher in high school, but his swing is so dangerous he was moved to right field, a move that looks wise in the wake of injuries to Buster Posey and Joe Mauer.
Harper indeed appears to be turning into baseball's LeBron, although not in a good way. America loves to build up phenoms, declare them the next big thing, and then gradually beat them down.
Harper is only 18, so it's a little early to apply that sort of label to him. But he sure is making it easy.
He blew a kiss to a pitcher after a home run earlier this season, which for about 48 hours made him the posterchild for arrogant young athletes. In another game, he was picked off and ran into another out due to poor baserunning, although he erased those memories with a walk-off home run. He also implied to a reporter shortly before his call-up to Double-A that he was beginning to lack focus in Single-A.
To cap it off, he went 0-for-4 in the Futures Game on Sunday. The game was many fans' only look at the phenom, and now anyone who wants to categorize Harper as an early bust has ammunition.
It's weak ammunition — anybody who draws conclusions from the equivalent of 1/162 of a full season is somebody whose opinion doesn't matter — but it's still ammunition.
There's already a tinge of sarcasm to the coverage of Harper, as if some people are already rooting against him the way they rooted against LeBron after The Decision. The difference is, LeBron couldn't shake his reputation. Harper might just beat it away with his bat.
