Newark Bears C/1B/DH, Gerard Haran, has very quietly become #3 in batting average and #3 in slugging percentage on a team that is full of talent. The Bears organization is widely known as an Independent League team that truly matches up better against MLB farm talent than its Atlantic League counterparts. They were the 2007 Atlantic League Champions and look to repeat in 2008, currently sitting in first place in their division with a 2.5 game lead over second-place Somerset. In his limited at bats, Gerard has been lifting his team to the top.
Going into this season with Newark, Gerard was told that he would be sitting on the bench more often than taking swings due to the fact that the team was bringing a lot of established players back from last year. Because of that unique situation, Gerard has only played in thirteen games, which is tied for second lowest for a position player. In fact, the guy that he is tied with in games played and the only guy that he beat in games played are both sitting with a batting average of .238. Gerard even has the same amount of RBIs in 13 games (11) as Bobby Hill, who has seen action in 28 games. So what gives?
Either the Newark Bears need to wake up and smell what the New Jersey native is cooking or an MLB team needs to snatch this kid up before he reaches his prime. Last night, the Newark Bears beat the Lancaster Barnstormers 8-3. Gerard brought his home-field crowd some excitement in the fifth inning, when he blasted a three-run homerun (his second homerun in 41 total at bats on the season).
Haran was once Baseball America’s best prospect for position players and third best player overall for Division III schools. He caught the eyes of Willie Randolph and Omar Minaya when he received the College Baseball Player of the Year award in 2007. The St. Louis Cardinals did not give him enough at bats to prove himself in his short stint with the organization. Which MLB team will step up and allow the slugger to show his skill at the plate and behind the plate?
14 replies on “Scouts: Are You Watching Haran?”
i respect what your doing trying to represent lesser name guys to get in the industry but i think your getting a little excited over nothing. im not trying to insult but he isnt even the best player on the team and if those other players arent getting called up yet he deffinitely wont either. he isnt even a full time player so why are you sitting here talking about MLB clubs giving a bench player a shot at the next level? lets be serious here….
Malik, you want serious………….Your a joke, this is a business for Dynasty. As an agent it’s Darren’s responsibility to promote his clients no matter how big or small. Just the fact that he has clients is impressive in it’s self. Your attitude alone says alot.
naw paul you guys still refuse to be serious! my cousin played in the nfl for three years and i have seen the agent side of buisness from a standpoint you havent. yes you have to promote your clients but only to a certain extent. this guy is the only person who “promotes” his client in such a way NO other agent goes about their buisness this way. and i think hearing what my cousin said says a lot about the posts made in the blog. and im not being a hater im just kepping it real, this gerard guy is on a team with former mlb players like randall simon and gerard isnt even a starter. if an agent starts saying that his afl2 client is the best in the world and deserves to be a starter in the nfl people will look at him the same way they view these posts. i think your attitude in this situation says more
Malik –
This site is truly for ‘entertainment purposes only.’
1. Do you think scouts actually scan this site for anything let alone prospective players to sign to their organization?
2. In recent posts, they have offended all scouts by saying they are not doing there job and insulted the Minnesota Twins organizations by saying they were stupid to let Leatherman go.
Just sit back and enjoy the site for a good laugh every now and then.
Your AFL2 comparison to the NFL was on point and hiliarous.
Wally
Lmao @ Wally’s comment.
And to Paul, calm down bro. I see where Malik has a point. A few weeks ago the agent that I am interning for saw me viewing this site during my lunch break and since then he has become a frequent reader here. He has made many comments about how absurd some of the articles here are, hyping up players who essentially sports vagabonds, and insulting the intelligence of organizations (as Wally pointed out) and established agents alike. Although I may not agree with some of the things he has says, he is an established agent with clients in the NFL & NBA so he knows what he is talking about.
Promoting isn’t talking bad about a team b/c they cut his client or praising a player who can easily be exposed with a search of his stats. Get a clue my fried.
And also, your comment about having clients being impressive. It really isn’t….
But I didn’t mean to post this to start any trouble as I enjoy this site and wish Heitner the best because seeing him build his agency from the ground up is a true show of hard work and determination. He has a lot to learn but if he is in this for the love of being an agent and not for the money, he will go far.
Glad to spark some debate, I may have been a bit too harsh in my first point, for I agree with what some of the things you said in your first post (This is to Malik).
But the main point I was coming from is I dont see why viewers would be bashing Darren for how he works his site. You are just one of many people, but I just don’t see the reasoning behind it.
It’s the beauty of this site. How many agents are posting about their clients on a blog? I welcome the criticism as long as it remains constructive and I especially appreciate the comment from Curtis.
no worries paul, i wasnt trying to offend anyone just stating a point of view. to darren: who are your draft eligible baseball clients for 2008 and will you update us on where they go?
Obviously no clients…it would be against NCAA rules. I will update the site with the players we are advising some time after the draft. Enjoy the show.
Malik –
A couple of years ago and he and Vuc cornered the market on 5th yr seniors recovering from Tommy John surgery. Between that and Division III POY its should be a solid draft for D-Nasty representation. They will always be looking for 40th-50th rounders ready to explode on to the Independent ball scene after their dismal performance in Low A-Ball Short Season.
TBG
hahahahahaha!!! yeah my cousin told me what vuc’s been up to as well. representing 2 independent ball players who were drafted in the past and never made it but cant give the game up. i realize every blue moon there is a crazy success story like “the rookie” but dynasty and vuc havent found any diamonds in the rough. there are thousands of players drafted each year and hundreds more in the independent scene to represent and only a small percentage make it. it seems like with these blogs they basically brag about representing no names. im glad wally and TBG were able to see where im coming from u guys got a good sense of humor too my dudes
I find it funny that I’m brought up in this conversation. If you look back at every big agent/agency you will find that everyone has started at the bottom somewhere. Some agents have been in the game for over 4 years and still have not had a client make it in the bigs. I don’t think that I can think of one guy/agency that started out with a big league client let alone a 1st rounder at a young age. As I’m sure everyone knows, this is a tough business to break into and taking risks is just part of it.
yeah but they started recruiting good young talent who hadnt been drafted yet. im not knocking anyone who represents a 40th round pick cause i agree thats how to get into this business. but you and darren are literally representing players who still play cause they feel they have something to prove. i woulda given you credit if you recruited that merricks guy and he signed with you when right after he was drafted. but that was over 5 years ago and he never panned out in the minors so the fact that you represent a former top 10 round pick means nothing now. i know he sits there and says how he will make it to the bigs but its all just talk, everyone else in the indepdent league including gerard think they will make it. same thing wit that new dude u just signed, its great he was drafted in the 43rd round but that was years ago and you had nothing to do with that, he came to u as his agent once he got washed up and is now stuck in the independent league. TBG maybe can explain this better
No need to everyone understands. I guess we’ll all see whats up down the road.