.432/.548/.824 for a 1.373 OPS in April after yesterday's 4 for 4. Betteridge's law of headlines at work!
Is Bryce Harper finished?
- Thread starter glasspusher
- Start date
Highest OPS in MLB history for March/April:
Ruth
Williams
Bonds
Harper
Foxx
McGwire
Hornsby
Gehrig
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=31678
(And this was as of Tuesday. He's moved closer to Bonds since then, if he hasn't already passed him.)
EDIT: Just checked and he passed Bonds last night.
Ruth
Williams
Bonds
Harper
Foxx
McGwire
Hornsby
Gehrig
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=31678
(And this was as of Tuesday. He's moved closer to Bonds since then, if he hasn't already passed him.)
EDIT: Just checked and he passed Bonds last night.
Pretty much a perfect copy of 2015 right now in terms of peripheral stats as well. GB/LD/FB is pretty much the same, HR/FB is around the same as well, but going to the opposite field much more often. There's going to be some BABIP regression as his .423 is just not realistic, but a healthy Harper has shown the ability to be in the .330-.350 range pretty consistently there. 18 XBH vs 23 K right now is also pretty impressive.
Nats buy out his last arbitration year, signing him to a $21.6M deal for 2018.
http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/19375559/bryce-harper-agrees-21625-million-deal-washington-nationals-2018-season
http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/19375559/bryce-harper-agrees-21625-million-deal-washington-nationals-2018-season
Even before the first inning home run today, he was on pace for 181 runs scored for the season (which would be the most since 1894). Ruth and Gehrig are the only players since 1900 with more than 160 in a season.
BABIP drops to .405 from the mid .440s the last couple of weeks. Down to a believable level. Didn't know Clemente's 1967 season was .403.
http://www.fangraphs.com/community/the-ten-highest-babips-since-1945/
http://www.fangraphs.com/community/the-ten-highest-babips-since-1945/
Fun stuff. Most runs scored since 1937:
152, Jeff Bagwell, 2000
150, Ted Williams, 1949
146, Craig Biggio, 1997
146, Rickey Henderson, 1985
146, Sammy Sosa, 2001
And while we're at it, Harper has 34 RBI in 34 games. Anyone remember who has the most RBI in a season since 1938?
165, Manny Ramirez, 1999. Of the 14 seasons ahead of him on the all-time list, all but 1 were between 1921 (Ruth) and 1938 (Foxx), and 4 of them were by Gehrig.
This is a bit off topic, but since their legacies are linked it seems appropriate to point out that this season, Mike Trout's hittting has been Harper-esque.
He has what, maybe one more good year in him? Doubt any team lets him hang on for some silly personal goal.
He'll have plenty of chances once he signs with the Yankees after next season.
I'm not as sure about this as I was before Judge started playing like this. I'm not sure if either of them makes sense anywhere besides RF, I think Judge might be better defensively and it seems extraordinarily silly to pay someone $400M or so to DH. I think as of this second, Machado is a more likely target for NY, of course things can change in a flash and there is still a year and a half to go.
If Judge is that much better defensively, why wouldn't he replace Gardner in LF? Anyhow, I think it comes down more to Harper wanting the Yankees, and them being able to make space for him.
And I can't believe you're the one poo-pooing the idea now.
Barring trades, NY should have Frazier and Rutherford for LF, and none of these guys are really cut out to play CF defensively (NY has Fowler for that already also). There are ways to make it work, all I'm saying is that I think Judge's emergence, if it proves to be for real, makes it a harder fit.
Every time this thread is bumped and the reason is not in order to catalogue the latest Bunyanesque feats by Harper, I get a little sad.
I will not mention the fact that you yourself bumped the thread and did not catalog the latest of the Bunyanesque feats by Harper. Instead I will link to a video of the 450 foot home run he hit off an 81 mph changeup.
https://t.co/XAZblmDymI
Maybe, but at the end of the day, no team is going to say "Well crap, I guess we can't sign Harper, because he and Aaron Judge are blocked in LF by kids that haven't been to the majors yet."
He's not finished hitting upper deckers, speaking of Bunyanesque...
http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=19473847
http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=19473847
He just charged the mound and failed at landing some punches, so if he is finished he can become a boxerand maybe get better.
Or in other words, Bryce Harper "slumping" has a higher OPS than Xander and Mookie this year.
I decided to look up their ages just out of curiosity, did you know all three were born within 16 days of each other in Oct 1992?
Are you suggesting the ash from Mt. PInatubo had something to do with this? I like where you're heading.
He might be now. Knee went out running to first and he could not put weight on the leg per MLBN.
