Bryce Harper may finally be having the kind of monster season many expected from him.
Finally? It is his fourth season in Major League Baseball, yes, but he is only 22 years old. By comparison, Kris Bryant, the Chicago Cubs "kid" with less than two months as a big-leaguer, is 23.
If it seems that the Washington Nationals outfielder has been part of the baseball landscape much longer than three-plus seasons, it’s because he has.
Harper’s baseball life became national buzz when he was 16. Sports Illustrated put him on its cover, comparing him to another sports prodigy, LeBron James. In high school, in 2009, Harper turned a home run derby at Tampa Bay’s Tropicana Field into internet entertainment by hitting one measured at 153 metres – further than any professional had hit a ball in that park. The video was must-see viewing for awe-struck fans.
His selection as the top pick in the 2010 draft was a foregone conclusion. Enthusiasts dutifully tracked his one full minor-league season, in 2011.
When he joined the Nationals in 2012, at 19, he posted respectable numbers (22 home runs, 59 runs batted in) in 139 games, and won Rookie of the Year honours.
Then came the storms: a knee injury in 2013 and a thumb injury in 2014, shrinking his games played to 118, then 100. When he wasn’t on the disabled list, he was stumbling along, just another guy.
It didn’t help that his American League counterpart, 2012 Rookie of the Year Mike Trout, immediately entered all Most Valuable Player conversations.
While Trout was on his way to his first MVP last summer, Harper’s manager, Matt Williams, was bristling at reporters who wondered if a return trip to the minors might straighten out Harper.
Not necessary.
Two months into this season, Harper has leap-frogged the crowd. His 18 homers are tied for the most in MLB. His 44 runs batted in are tied for second. His 1.189 OPS – on base percentage plus slugging percentage – leads everyone.
And his team has climbed to the top of the National League East standings.
Last week, as he was completing his performance as May’s NL Player of the Month, Harper thought he mis-hit a fly ball to left field against the Chicago Cubs and flipped his bat down in disgust – then watched the wind help float the ball over the Wrigley Field wall.
When you’re going good, even your wounded ducks reach the stands.
Mostly, however, Harper looks like, yes, the LeBron James of baseball. Super-confident, at ease with himself and consistently performing at an elite level.
Baseball’s legions of analysts are spinning his emergence every which way, pointing to his fluid mechanics, his maturity, his patience, his throwback wristbands featuring his likeness ... whatever.
But Harper told the Washington Post his simple secret: nothing hurts.
“Everybody talks about how I’m doing this different and I’m doing that different,” Harper said. “There’s nothing different. It’s staying healthy and staying in the line-up. Truly.”
If health really is the only thing that matters, then the rest of the league has some catching up to do – to the 22-year-old kid.
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