[...] By EARL BLOOM wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptCollege of Southern Nevada catcher Bryce Harper received his GED results in the mail yesterday and “passed with flying colors,” according to CSN baseball coach and athletic director Tim Chambers. Passing the GED was required for Harper … [...]

Bill – You never hear the same pessimistic view when talented youngsters leave school early to become musicians, actors or gymnasts. Why take that stance for a baseball player? You know what he has to fall back on? Youth. Baseball skills don’t last forever, but one can always choose to further their education. Harper is very talented and he’s certainly not lacking in the self esteem department, that’s for sure. It’s obviously a unique situation and not something I would recommend for all athletes but, then again, Harper isn’t your typical high school athlete. Plus, with a new CBA around the corner that could include draft slotting, now’s a prime time for him to really cash in.

Hi J.P. –
For those that didn’t see it, what J.P. is referring to is an answer from Jim Callis in one of his ESPN chats.

Jim said, “. . . I don’t think it’s far-fetched to conceive of Bryce Harper falling out of the first round. It’s going to be almost impossible to live up to the hype, and if he falls short and is looking for big money—is Strasburg’s contract a starting point—he may scare off clubs, who know he can re-enter the 2011 and 2012 drafts and still have lots of leverage. It’s also possible that after spending $15.1 million on Strasburg, the Nationals don’t want to spend huge money on another No. 1 overall pick.”

Anything is possible, I suppose. But if I had to bet on it, I’d say, no, Harper won’t get out of the first round. I would guess that would be Jim’s bet too. Harper probably has a little more leverage because of his age, but leverage is a two-way street. There’s a lot of risk involved with turning down large sums of money. Also, keep this in mind, just as a hypothetical situation: Say Harper doesn’t sign, returns for another year of juco ball and then the CBA is renegotiated with draft slotting for 2012. What happens to his leverage then?

I agree with the fact that hopefully he will stay healthy,but I also can understand that sometime you have to catch opportunity when it has been cast your way.Besides if a GED is equal to a high school diploma(which it is)he can return to school and earn a degree.