All those sports radio hosts can finally stop asking the question now: Bryce Harper will not open the 2012 season as a member of the Washington Nationals.
The prize prospect was optioned to Triple-A Syracuse on Sunday, just after he went 1-for-5 with four strikeouts in a game against the Detroit Tigers. It wasn't a surprise move by any means as Harper recently missed six exhibition games with a calf strain and even acknowledged himself that making the big league club looked like a longshot.
In truth, baseball's free agency rules meant wearing a Nats uniform on opening day was always a longshot for the 19-year-old right fielder — no matter how well he played. Washington GM Mike Rizzo will get an additional year of Harper at age 25 — when he'll presumably be much more talented — by sacrificing the first few months of his age 19 season.
"It sucks," Harper said. "But I've got to go down there [to Syracuse] and work hard andtry to get up here as quick as I can ... I just want to go down there and ... get on a streak and be called up and hopefully be a game changer for the Nationals."
Nats manager Davey Johnson had been a proponent of Harper making the big league club out of spring training and said on Sunday that he "didn't see anything that told me he couldn't do it." Harper may have talked the talk like a big leaguer, but his results at the plate weren't enough for Rizzo to make an impulse promotion. He went 8-for-28 with no homers, two doubles, two walks and 11 strikeouts in nine spring training appearances.
And so we're at a place where we expected. Harper will become a member of the Syracuse Chiefs for his first at-bats at the Triple-A level and we'll start searching for an answer to the next big question in baseball.
Can Harper do enough to become a major leaguer by the All-Star break?
Spring training has started, so don't miss a beat ...
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