samflamont:

Hey Sam what do you think about Bryce Harper the kid who hit a 570ft home run dropping out of high school and getting his GED. Making him eligible for the draft this summer?

Josh C.

My opinion on this situation is it proves where are standards are these days.  I know you always hear the story of the high school drop out turned multimillionaire and it looks as though Bryce is going to be another one but, if the media covered stories of high school drop outs who struggled their entire lives, I promise you the scale would lean 100% in their direction.

So where do I stand? I think it is disgusting that his parents are OK with this and that they aided his decision.  If he is a first round pick like people are saying, he will sign for a huge bonus and make it to the big leagues because teams cannot look stupid.  Bryce Harper in my mind will be considered a high school draft and it has been proven that projecting players is hard enough but projecting high school players is very tough, and calling a 16 year old the chosen one is a bit much for me.  People also seem to forget he didn’t even win the HR derby in which he hit the monster HR, he placed 3rd.  So why not have all these guys get there GED and start their pro career early…because it is a bad idea.  Jeremy Bonderman looked all set to be the best in the world when he made the decision to get his GED and get drafted after his junior year (of H.S.) and now look, he is just another right handed pitcher who can’t stay healthy or get guys out.  He had injury problems in H.S. and didn’t have great control either, but somehow he ends up a first round pick.  Are you surprised the trend didn’t change after the draft, I’m not.  Yeah he made his money, but I am sure he spent a ton of it as well (speculation).  The point is he may be the first pick but why not have the kid finish high school then get his money.  Let him live the life of a 16 year old kid before we all deem him the next Johnny Bench.  This is something that I hope does not keep up, just look at the basketball player who did this same thing last year to go over seas and then get drafted early, he isn’t even starting for his team.

I will however play the other side of the coin and we will say this is a good idea, I want you kids out there to know this should not be your goal, something like this is very rare, so focus on your grades, if you love baseball then you should dream of getting drafted, but dream of getting drafted after you finish your full high school career and maybe college as well.