Well to summarize the story this kid has baseball skills like the scouts have never seen before and his 6 foot 2 inch, 200 pound frame is already the atypical body size of a major league ballplayer.

The article suggests that one of his homeruns has been measured at 570 feet. I kind of find that one hard to believe, even with aluminum bats. Over the years of hearing about how far a kid hits a ball or how fast a pitcher throws, I've learned to realize that usually these numbers are inflated or skewed in some manner.

It will be very interesting to see how this kid progresses over the next few years. Will he remain healthy or get burned out? After all, the story stated he's already playing between 80 and 120 games a year.

I wish this kid luck, because apparently Scott Boras has already got his hands on him as an adviser. Just remember the name Bryce Harper and check out the article from SI and you can determine for yourself if he's the next Arod or just another Sid Finch.

Let's be honest, I would be bored too if I had to stand in the outfield for an hour waiting for a ball to come to me. Imagine what a 10 year old is thinking.

Keep your players active in practice.

I grew up a Phillies fan and continued to be a fan of the team even while I was playing. I even had my agent try to get me in the organization every off-season that I was a minor league free agent. Unfortunately, I never got the chance to play in the Phillies organization.

Like I said, I just realized, this off-season, how big of a fan I really am. I have found myself looking at the free-agent list just to see where players are going. I never would have done that while I was playing. I don't just look at the Phillies, but I am looking at the entire league. Wondering where certain players are going and how that will effect the Phillies for next year. This game is addicting.

Winning seasons or losing seasons, true fans are always paying attention to their team. I have even crossed the line of all lines, I have talked about the Phillies and said, "WE". I know I am not on the team or have anything to do with them winning or losing, but that is the kind of fan I have become. I have entered the "WE" zone and I love it. This is a great game and I hate that it's the off-season. I just can't wait for the middle of February to roll around and hear those awesome words, "Pitchers and catchers report". It can't get here soon enough.

I believe kids should take some time off from the game in the winter to recharge the battery for the next season. I really think it's important to allow time for the body to recover from the 8 months of playing. Especially pitchers. The arm needs to be rested in the winter months. In addition, this time off helps reduce any potential burnout for the sport. The older the ballplayer, the more important this recovery time is.

Don't pick up a baseball or bat until January; play some other sports and stay active. Playing other sports keeps the body flexible and maintains some endurance, agility, and strength.

If the ballplayer needs to get stronger, then definitely spend some time in the weight room, but ALWAYS DO PLENTY OF STRETCHING TO KEEP FLEXIBILITY.

I truly believe that the lack of flexibility as a I lifted more was the main reason why I experienced arm problems in my early 20's. Don't make that same mistake.

Let me tell you something. I am not a Phillies fan, but this team is one of the more complete teams that we seen for many years. They have solid pitching, a potent offense, a nice mix of youth and veterans, plus a team concept; not too many individuals here.

Do you remember the Yankees team of 1996? There was no Giambi, Arod, Abreu, or Damon on that team. Only some guys that were not so well known at the time: Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettite, and Jorge Posada. Mixed in with that group was one of the most intense players of our era, Paul O'neil.

That 1996 Yankees team knew what was meant by the team concept, today's Yankees are a group of individual superstars who aren't hungry anymore.

The 2008 Phillies, on the other hand, were a hungry cohesive team that had a vision shared by everyone from the manager down to the backup who didn't see the field. The vision was to be the last team standing.

I miss that as a Yankees fan.

So if you think you can't win without a lineup of superstars, you're sadly mistaken. It's been proven time and time again in the Major Leagues over the last two decades. Find 15 players on your roster who understand the team concept and you'll be surprised what you can accomplish.

Congrats Phils.. You deserve it!!

At some point as a hitter you need to realize that if you're seeing nothing but sliders and curves each at bat than you need to start looking for off speed pitches and focusing on staying back as long as you can. In Ryan Howard's case, he's seeing most of the breaking balls away therefore, his efforts should be focused on waiting and trying to drive the ball to left field. Instead of going opposite field, he continues to pull the ball into the shift or miss the pitches completely, resulting in over a dozen strikeouts in the postseason.

So much of hitting is having the right approach at the plate; it's not just physical ability. Hitting a baseball is no doubt the hardest thing to do successfully in all of sports, but I would expect a Major League MVP to have more quality at bats in crunch time.

The Dodgers aren't loaded with superstars as were many of the Yankees teams of the last ten years, but they have a leader in Torre who quietly took his team that wasn't supposed to be in the playoffs, to the playoffs in 2008.

How does he do it? By managing with class and getting respect from his players. He has a knack of getting his teams to stay focused all year long and tells them not to get too high or low emotionally; staying even tempered and composed is a trademark of a Joe Torre squad.

Sometimes the most brilliant managers have trouble being successful in baseball. Coaching baseball is not just filling out the lineup card and making the right pitching moves, rather, relating to your players and being able to extract greatness out of them at the most crucial moments is so important. This greatness comes from confidence within the player, which often is supported by the confidence a manager projects towards his team.

The game really is 90% mental and an experienced coach or manager can do wonders with a team to get them in the right frame of mind. Joe Torre is not successful because of the money his players earn. His success comes from being a real person to his players and teaching them how to seize the moment, put the game into perspective and exemplify greatness in the biggest moments.

Some players try to visual positive results from an at bat, others may hit the batting cages harder, while I take a day or two off.

I did plenty of hitting on my non pitching days in college and was quite successful, however, I did have some streaks where I couldn't do anything at the plate. But these bad streaks didn't last too long, because after 3 or 4 bad games I would just ask to take a seat for a game or two.

It's not that I didn't want to play, believe me I did. But I came to realize that as I sat on the bench watching the pitchers and teammates hit against those pitchers, it seemed so simple. Hitting that is. After watching dozens of at bats for a couple days I felt like I could hit anybody and my confidence level was through the roof.

It's the same phenomenon that I experience after I take a month off from playing golf. The layoff makes me actually think I can play golf and I usually score pretty well.

So if you're a player or have players struggling try a game or two on the bench. Don't see it as a punishment, but rather a remedy.