Mayo:
There’s no question that his bat is the thing that excites scouts the most. He’s got great hands and a good bat path. Early in the season, he did have some trouble when he was having a mechanical issue at the plate. Coach Tim Chambers described it as him sitting down too much, which would force him to lunge a little bit and get out in front with his core.That, in turn, meant he was forced to use his arms and shoulders too much in his swing. When he was doing that, hard inside stuff could cause him some trouble. While he was fighting it at times and had to be reminded not to sit back, he had largely corrected it after the first couple of weeks of the season.
“I really don’t fight myself a lot,” said Harper, who’s hitting .420/.514/.864 over 27 games. “You just want to be the guy, and you want to do it every time. I had a little mechanical issue, I guess, but everything’s going good now, so I’m not going to change it.”
Nor should he, really. Even when he was having the mechanical issue, his ability to use all fields was uncanny.
“Pitches, middle away, he’s about as good as I’ve ever seen. At age 17, to hit the ball to straight away center or to the opposite field like that, with wood, is freaky.” …
