Anonymous Scout rips Bryce Harper, says Nationals may look to trade him

Baseball Prospectus has a new feature that might be enough to get us to ante up for a subscription. The new feature is called “What Scouts are Saying”, and this morning in the Washington Post we were clued into an interesting tidbit offered by an anonymous scout.

Here’s the dirt:

He’s only 21 years old and there is a lot of talent there, but we are starting to reach the point where there may be cause for concern. He has not had a good year, and his hitting mechanics are all screwed up. It’s as if he is almost jumping at the ball. He comes out of his swing so hard and fast. He plays out of control all the time, in every facet of his game, and it’s clear he has become a distraction to Matt Williams. It would not surprise me if they end up trading Harper for a young arm and hold on to Denard Span.

You had to know something like this would surface. The problem with this is scouts often offer an opinion that frames the ‘right now’ in things rather than the big picture. When Harper was drafted they’re the same people who offered that he was the next Mickey Mantle with Joe Mauer’s hit tool. Hell, this scout that says this could be working as a dump truck dispatcher in a year’s time. It doesn’t really mean anything to be honest, but it’s interesting to note that insiders of the game really do see flaws in Harper’s mechanics and this is the first confirmation that; yes, Harper’s stock has fallen significantly.

A BP author responded in the comments section:

We’re providing these quotes to give the perspective that a lot of people in the industry have extremely different and varying thoughts on players. That’s the goal. This isn’t an article on our opinion or the value of Harper. It’s to show what others in the business think. And for what it’s worth, this particular individual wasn’t the only one who didn’t have a glowing review of Bryce. I caution people too…there’s a lot more information people “in” the game know than the public or even us at BP. I’m pretty sure nobody expected a number of the guys at the deadline to be dealt either (like Cespedes), but they were.

We love scoutspeak. We need more of it. Even if it’s like reading pro wrestling rumors.