Quote:
Originally Posted by sbfinley
No, he's not overrated. The strikeouts are an issue that he'll have to rectify, but I project him as a superstar for the next decade plus. Look at his stat lines from Low A to the majors, that kind of quick movement from class to class with little to no regression or struggle just doesn't happen. As for the strikeouts, he will spend the next 4-5 years in the lineup surrounded by Rizzo, Hayward, Schwarber, and Soler (who I would gamble could be the best of the bunch) which will mean plenty of pitches to hit. The bust talk was all the rage with Harper last off season and he only turned out an MVP season. Give the kid some time.
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Again, Harper isn't even 23 yet. It makes sense to give him time to adjust. Harper's BABIP is still lower than Brant's. (Bryant .378 vs Harper's.369). Bryant's going to have to keep his BABIP very high to compensate for his high SO. Bryant didn't just have a high Strike Out year. He now holds the record for most SO by a rookie. So unless he can manage to put the ball in play more as his BABIP starts to average out as he gets older than he will be just another Ryan Howard.
Think about it this way of the Top 30 BABIP in 2015 he ranks 5th, but his BA of .275 is second lowest to Anthony Gose's .254 and his BABIP was only .352 with a 27.1% SO% (compared to Bryant's 30.6%). With such a high BABIP his average should reflect it, but it doesn't. I really think the most comparable rookie year of the last 15 years would be Mark Reynold's 2007 season.
Mark Reynold's:
Games:111 PA:414 HR:17 R:62 RBI:62 SB:0 BB%:8.9% K%31.2 % BABIP:.378 AVG:.279 OBP:.349 SLG:.495
Kris Bryant:
Games:151 PA:650 HR:26 R:87 RBI:99 SB:13 BB%11.8 % K%30.6 % BABIP:.378 AVG:.275 OBP:.369 SLG:.488
He ranks 23rd of all rookies since 2000 in the highest K%, but 6th with players with more than 100 games in their RY. There is only one with more games and that is Michael Taylor.
The only stat that seems to make him look great is that he Ranks 3rd in WAR for Rookies since 2000.
I just can't fathom putting so many eggs in that basket with just one season under his belt and with so many negatives in his batting.