The Top 40 VORP list continues with the player that accumulated the 22nd highest VORP total as a member of the Minnesota Twins, Brian Harper.

Brian Harper was a catcher with the Minnesota Twins from 1988-93. Harper was an unlikely member of this list. He kicked around with five different teams before he hooked on with the Twins. For the six seasons that he wore a Twins uniform, Harper was a quality major league player and his performance was absolutely stunning. After he left the Twins, Harper was quickly out of the game. But, for those six years, Harper lived the dream. And in 1991, he was a member of the World Champions. He also provided one of the most memorable moments of that great regular season.

6’2 195 LBS. Batted Right and Threw Right. Born 1959 in Los Angeles, CA.
Member of the Twins from 1988-93 Uniform #12
VORP as a Twin: 141.9 Rank: 22nd

Brian Harper was drafted by the California Angels in the fourth round of the 1977 amateur draft. Harper began to hit immediately in the minors. At the rookie league at the age of 17, Harper hit .323/.371/.419/.790. He continued to hit. Over the next two years, Harper hit .304/.358/.489/.847 in one year at A and one at AA. Harper got a cup of coffee as a 19 year old, but then repeated AA as a 20 year old. As a 21 year old in 1981, Harper hit .350/.396/.617/1.103 with 28 home runs in 549 at bats. He was rewarded with 11 at bats with the Angels. Harper was traded to the Pirates before the 1982 season and languished again at AAA. Harper got 243 at bats in Pittsburgh over the course of 1983-84. Over the next three seasons, he was part of the St. Louis, Detroit, and Oakland organizations. He got four at bats in four games and a single hit.

The Twins signed Brian Harper as a free agent on January 4, 1988. He started at AAA Portland and made his Twins debut on May 29, 1989. He played a backup role to All-Star Tim Laudner. Laudner actually had a good season in 1989, but in 1990, he regressed and Harp became the starting catcher. Harper responded with a .325/.353/.449/.802 line, which was good for 28.3 VORP in just 385 at bats. The 1990 Twins were a last place team, but Harper was a much better answer at catcher.

The 1991 Twins started slowly, and after after 11 games, the Twins sat at 2-9. Things looked pretty bleak. The next day, the Twins beat the Angels to improve to 3-9. I happened to see Andy McPhail in the concourse of the Metrodome after the game and I was tempted to give him Hell about his poor off-season. Sometimes your best decisions are to take no action. I kept my mouth shut.

Harper didn’t start poorly, though. He was hitting .296/.333/.519 after eleven games. Through the end of May, Harper was hitting .339/.365/.496/.861. The Twins were scuffling along at 23-25, in fifth place in the West, 5.5 games behind Texas and three time American League Champion Oakland. The Twins would win their next 15 games and 19 of 20 and Harper continued to hit as the Twins vaulted into first place. If you enjoyed the Twins run in 2006, you would have enjoyed the Twins 1991 run. Like in 2006, the 1991 AL West was very strong. As I said before, the A’s were a three time pennant winner. Although they had won just one World Series in that stretch, they were clearly the best team in baseball for that time. Any self-respecting Twins fan hated them.

But, it wasn’t just the A’s. The entire seven team division finished the season at or above .500. This was a loaded division. Make no mistake, though, the team to beat was the A’s. They had Canseco, McGwire, Dave Henderson, Rickey Henderson, and Harold Baines. McGwire had a terrible season (.201/.330/.383). But, the A’s were still formidable. The Twins went to Oakland on August 2, with a four game lead. On Friday night, the A’s won, cutting the Twins lead to three games. On Saturday, August 3rd, I went to work in the morning and was planning to drive to South Dakota that afternoon to visit my brother, Putzer. I left work late in the afternoon and I stopped to fill up with gas. I heard John Gordon say that the Twins trailed 4-0 on four solo home runs. Dave Henderson had homered twice off of starter David West and the game seemed to be out of hand. I started to drive west and south and things got worse. In the bottom of the seventh, Jose Canseco homered to stretch the lead to 5-0. The Twins were about to lose and allow Oakland to pull within two games. In the top of the eighth, things changed. Here’s the play-by-play.

TWINS 8TH:
Larkin flied to left;
Gagne walked;
Mack singled to left [Gagne to second];
Knoblauch doubled to left [Gagne scored, Mack to third];
Puckett singled to shortstop [Mack scored, Knoblauch scored];
KLINK REPLACED SLUSARSKI (PITCHING);
Hrbek walked [Puckett to second];
Davis singled [Puckett scored, Hrbek to second];
CAMPBELL REPLACED KLINK (PITCHING);
Harper homered [Hrbek scored, Davis scored];
Pagliarulo flied to left;
Larkin walked;
GLADDEN RAN FOR LARKIN;
Gagne struck out;
7 R, 5 H, 0 E, 1 LOB. Twins 7, Athletics 5.

When Harper hit that home run, I started honking my horn as I sped along the prairie. It was unbelievable – the Twins had withstood all the A’s could give, five homeruns by the testosterone brothers. They didn’t give up. When Harper hit that home run, the A’s were effectively beaten back. Henderson hit his third home run of the game in the eighth, but it wasn’t enough. The Twins had won the game of the year, and Harper was the hero. Of course, the Twins went on to win the World Series, and Harper hit .381/.435/.476/.910 in the series.

Harper’s 1991 season was emblematic of what he provided for the Twins. He hit .311/.336/.447 and had a career high 28.8 VORP. He walked just 14 times in 441 at bats, but he struck out just 22 times. Harper was the anti-three true outcomes player. As a Twin, Harper hit just 48 home runs, walked 111 times, and struck out just 128 times in 2503 at bats.

He had five seasons as a regular and accumulated between 22 and 29 VORP in each of them. He was an amazingly efficient and productive player. Consider that he had virtually the same VORP as Torii Hunter in 2503 at bats as compared to Hunter’s 3892 at bats. Of course, Harper wasn’t exactly known for his defense. Nevertheless, he WARP3 numbers during his prime were better than Hunter’s.

The Twins let Harper go after the 1993 season and he signed a contract with the Milwaukee Brewers. Harper was hindered by a calf injury after moving to the Brewers in 1994, and in late June was struck by a Ken Ryan pitch, fracturing his wrist and ending his season. In 1995, he played in just 2 games for Oakland and didn’t get a hit. His career was over.

Harper played in 16 different major league seasons. But, consider that in the 10 seasons when he wasn’t wearing a Twins uniform, he averaged fewer than 65 at bats, about 16 hits, and one and a half home runs. He was nothing more than a bit player. But, for six seasons, he was a major contributor on some good teams, including a World Championship team in 1991 and a very good 1992 team. It’s amazing really that an extremely slow, poor defensive player who never walked was so effective. He was, from 1989 to 1993, 3rd, 4th, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th among AL catchers in VORP. He never played in the All-Star game, unlike his predecessor (TK how come not in 1992?). But, Brian Harper has more VORP accumulated than any other catcher in Twins history.

One final note. Harper played more games and had more at bats in the minors than he did in the majors. Appropriately enough, he now toils away as the manager of the Salt Lake Bees, the LAA AAA affiliate.

Brian Harper, who led the Salt lake Bees to an 81-63 record and a Pacific Coast League Pacific North Division title last season, will return for a second season, the parent Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim announced Monday. Also back are hitting coach Jim Eppard, pitching coach Charles Nagy and trainer Armando Rivas.

Harper, before taking over the Bees in 2006, spent five seasons as the manager of the Angels' rookie affiliate, the Mesa Angels, in the Arizona Summer League. During his time with Mesa, Harper led the Angels to a 115-165 record.

Maybe someday Harper’ll get a shot as a major league manager. I have a feeling that he’ll surprise a few people and be an unlikely success.