On April 25, as the team he assembled prepared to play across the country in San Diego, Washington Nationals General Manager Mike Rizzo milled around a batting cage in Rochester, N.Y. He had flown from Washington the previous day with an intention he shared with few others, one of the organization’s most crucial tasks in 2012.
As the Syracuse Chiefs took batting practice, Bryce Harper spotted Rizzo and shook his hand.
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“You’re here to bring me to the big leagues,” Harper said to Rizzo. “Aren’t you?”
Rizzo made countless decisions that shifted the Nationals’ fortunes in 2012, as big as the controversial call to shut down Stephen Strasburg and as small as how to fill his coaching staff. But perhaps no decision over the past year would have ramifications that affected the team in such a profound way as how and when to bring Harper to the majors.
As the year comes to an end and a rookie of the year trophy rests on his mantel, the notion of Harper struggling to adjust in the majors seems foreign. But back in April, Harper remained a 19-year-old with massive potential, an inexperienced center fielder, still a prospect to handle with care. If Rizzo waited too long, he would squander Harper’s ability to help a playoff push. If Rizzo acted too soon, he could spoil Harper’s development.
Harper had been at the heart of the franchise since June 7, 2010, the day the Nationals drafted him as a 17-year-old, but he had never actually played in Washington. He had been a Scottsdale Scorpion, a Hagerstown Sun, a Harrisburg Senator and a Syracuse Chief. Now, with the Nationals surging into meaningful contention for the first time and injuries eroding their roster, Rizzo had to decide if it was time to make him a Washington National.
“I think the organization’s decision to handle him the way we did was fine,” Manager Davey Johnson said. “It was the perfect way to do it.”
A bit of seasoning
The process began in the middle of winter, when Rizzo and Johnson staked divergent positions.
Johnson wanted Harper to start the season with the Nationals, long a believer that age could not constrain talent. Johnson managed Dwight Gooden when he struck out 276 batters in 218 innings as a 19-year-old rookie in 1984, an experience that shaped Johnson’s opinion on Harper. More urgently, Johnson worried that first baseman Adam LaRoche’s ongoing recovery from shoulder surgery would limit him early in the year. Johnson wanted a left-handed bat, and he believed Harper was the best they had.
Rizzo wanted Harper to return to the minor leagues. He saw Harper as a special case — “I threw out my ordinary kind of development curve for a player of his ability level,” Rizzo said. But he was adamant Harper needed more seasoning. Harper had fewer than 500 plate appearances as a professional. Rizzo wanted him to get about 300 more against Class AAA pitching.
During spring training, Rizzo and Johnson met daily to discuss the roster, usually with other coaches present. Harper’s name often came up, and they quickly reached an agreement: He would start the season in the minors. They wanted him to face left-handed specialists, gain experience in center field and share a clubhouse with veterans who had played in the majors.
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