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After the Chicago Cubs walked Bryce Harper 13 times in Washington's four-game visit to Wrigley Field, Nationals' skipper Dusty Baker was asked if the "Anybody but Bryce" approach Cubs' skipper Joe Maddon took was catching on league-wide?
"It might be," Baker said. "But the fans didn't come here to see him walk, you know what I mean? They come here to see him swing the bat. But until we start swinging the bat behind him, that's going to be the norm."
Baker was, of course, referring to the struggles Ryan Zimmerman experienced trying to make the Cubs pay for all the free passes to Harper. Since Harper isn't getting the opportunity to swing much in recent games, he has to be sure to put in hard work behind the scenes to be ready for the pitches he does actually get a chance to demolish.
"You know how good he is," Maddon told reporters when asked about the strategy. "Why tempt fate right there? Now if the other guy gets you, that's fine. You have no problem with that whatsoever."
Will the Nationals make changes today to get someone behind Harper to discourage that approach? Apparently not. Baker said he considered moving someone else behind Harper, but he's sticking with Zimmerman for now. More on that decision shortly with quotes from Baker himself, who just met with reporters. For now, watch the video below.
In a Facebook video post that went up today, Harper let fans see him swing for free since opposing pitchers haven't let the paying customers see him do his thing for the last couple days: