Washington Nationals manager Matt Williams appeared on talk radio and didn't dismiss the idea of sending struggling outfielder Bryce Harper to the minors, but he quickly turned around when he was asked again on Wednesday afternoon during his press conference, getting angered by the question.
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Williams appeared on 106.7 The Fan Wednesday in Washington, D.C. and was asked if it was a terrible idea to send Harper -- who was hitting .214 since coming off the disabled list entering Wednesday -- down to Syracuse to work some things out.
"I don't know," Williams answered, according to The Washington Post. "I don't think it's stupid. Generally, if you have young players, that's what you do. But this guy is a special young player. We all know that. It's different. I think he works hard every day. He's the first one in the ballpark, generally, to get his day going. He's grinding. We're doing everything we can to get a good feel going in there and help him with his confidence and all that. It's not easy, by any stretch."
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He added: "But I don't know if it's a good idea at this point to do that, because it's completely different pitching. We all know the big difference between Triple-A pitching and big league pitching. It's probably more of an option to have him feel good here, get it back. We've seen him, certainly, good and hitting well. For me, it's not necessarily that he can't hit, of course. It is that he's in some kind of a slump. What we have to do is try to work our way through it and get him out of it as quickly as possible. He grinds every day, you guys. He's doing everything we can to get out of it, and so are we."
The question surfaced again during Williams' press conference in the afternoon prior to the Nationals 7-1 victory over the New York Mets in which Harper went 1-for-3, and Williams was angered by it.
"I would caution everybody in this room: The minute you think you can read my freakin' mind, you're sorely mistaken," Williams said per The Washington Post. "It [ticks] me off to even think about that somebody would take a comment I make on the radio and infer that I'm thinking one way or the other. I've had it. Don't do it anymore. Bryce Harper is one of the guys on our team. He's an important part of our team, just like everybody else is. It's not fair to the kid. It's not fair to the rest of the guys in that clubhouse to even think about sending Bryce Harper to the minor leagues, or to cause a stir. It's unacceptable. It won't happen. Is that good enough for you?"
Harper, 21, exploded on the scene in 2012 and earned NL Rookie of the Year honors as the Nationals won the National League East and hit .270 with 22 homers and 59 RBI. Harper has dealt with a myriad of injuries over the last couple of seasons and has had to adjust his swing, causing a loss in his production and for him to be sauntered down to the sixth position in the lineup.
Harper is hitting .250/.337/.359 with three homers and 14 RBI in 53 games this season.
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