In sports, sometimes a down-on-their-luck team can get that once in a lifetime chance to draft a franchise player.
The San Antonio Spurs had a horrendous 1996-97 season turn out to be a blessing in disguise as they won the lottery and drafted Tim Duncan.
The Dallas Cowboys are sometimes known as “America’s Team”; but if they didn’t go 1-15 in 1988, they never would have gotten UCLA star quarterback Troy Aikman.
The Cleveland Cavaliers was a league worst 17-65 and valued at $222 million in 2002-03. They got the number one pick the next season, drafted Lebron James and were valued at $467 million by December 2009.
Striking it rich with a franchise player is similar to getting hit by lightening, because it rarely occurs.
For the Washington Nationals, they were hit with it not just once, but twice.
After recording their third straight losing season in 2008, the Nationals were able to use their 2009 number one pick to select power-pitcher Stephen Strasburg. Then after another losing season in 2009, they used the 2010 number one pick to draft 17-year-old phenom Bryce Harper.
Although the Nationals lucked out and got two of the most hyped amateur baseball players in recent years, who would be the best selection if both players were in the SAME draft?
Strasburg as the number one overall can be validated by what he has done since being drafted.
In a little over a year, he’s already up in the big leagues.
Strasburg has a 5-3 record with a 2.91 ERA and an amazing 91 strikeouts to 17 walks in just 68 innings. At the age of 22 and with hardly any time needed in the minors, the former San Diego State pitcher has begun to establish himself as one of the games premier pitcher.
While the public is beginning to see Strasburg live up to the hype, Harper’s ceiling just might be higher.
After his GED following his sophomore year of high school, Harper played baseball at the Junior College levels. Playing for Southern Nevada, Harper had a .447 batting average while blasting 31 homeruns and driving home 98 RBIs in only 66 games.
Staggering totals from a kid who is facing men who are in their early 20s, but is too young to buy cigarettes.
The other concept within this question is which is more valuable: a position player or a pitcher?
Despite only being able to usually go once every five games, pitchers determine the outcome of games and can control another team. Even if a team can put up runs, they still have to be able to pitch as well.
When it comes to pitching well, Strasburg can do that with his repertoire of pitches.
His four-seam fastball can reach triple digits alone and is devastating to hit. He also has a two-seam fastball with the same speed, but opposite movement, of the four-seamer. Add in a wicked curve ball that dips quickly with good speed and a deceptive change-up, and its understandable why Strasburg has 91 Ks in 12 starts.
Pitchers may control a game, but hitters play day in and day out. An everyday hitter will bat anywhere from three to four times a game on average. Aside from hitting, they can pick up their team with miraculous catches or throwing out an opponent on defense.
When it comes to getting a player who can perform everyday, it doesn’t get any better than Harper.
Harper’s stats may be hard to measure because he plays for a junior college, but the fact that he should be in high school and still has those staggering numbers at collegiate level is unimaginable. He will also be entering the majors at 17, allowing him to develop in the minors then join the majors at a young age.
Seeing the finished product that Harper could become can be summed up in one word: scary.
So which one would it be: the hard throwing Strasburg or the all-around hitting sensation Harper?
While Strasburg’s pitching ability is probably more valuable than Harper’s hitting, the choice would have to be the everyday player Harper. Also, Harper is much younger than Strasburg (he is 17, Strasburg is 22) and so the younger hitter will have more time to develop.
Lucky for the Nationals, they don’t have to choose.
They have both.
