Anonymous MLB players bravely vote Bryce Harper most overrated player

ESPN conducted an anonymous poll among MLB players, asking some pretty interesting questions that would have been even more interesting had they not been anonymous.

Many issues of the day were touched upon - players are most evenly split on issues of marijuana as a pain reliever and whether or not A-Rod should be kicked to the curb by the union. Most would be fine with openly gay players, which is always nice to hear.

Then there's the issue of the most overrated player in baseball, for which Bryce Harper received almost a quarter of the votes.

Sure, Harper may look like a young, fiery, muscley, five-tool phenom, but the truth is, he can even be thrown out when the fielder is throwing the ball between his legs.

Harper promised to stop running into walls at full speed this season, and replaced his pulsating desire to do so with working out even more. In only his third season, Harper feels like he's been in the league for ten years, given the hyped coverage of his development and subsequent journey to the big leagues.

Remember when he first got promoted? Everyone was waiting for this brash, arrogant rookie to say something that would elicit an apology from the team, but he just smiled and nodded and enjoyed himself. It was infuriating.

Anything that happens to or near him is an instant headline - like this post - and his emotional play makes him a constantly .gif-worthy player. Look at him, putting his belt on! That is front page stuff, right there.

The truth is, he is overrated, or maybe just overexposed, but he doesn't make himself that way. He's just a third-year, .272-hitting 3-5 WAR player that anybody would want on their team. But when you look up Harper's numbers, with the attention he gets, you think you're going to see higher numbers than .272/.353/.481. And that does make him overrated.

But this comes with a distrubing addendum: When he breaks out, and makes himself worthy of this attention, he is going to be terrifying.