With all that the Phillies had going on this past season, quietly, Bryce Harper was doing his thing as he has been collecting some awards this offseason, it’s the first time that Harper has done this as a Phillie. He finished the season with 35 HR and 84 RBI and finished with a .309 BA on the year. This was Harper’s 3rd season with the Phillies. Bryce had an even season of production in the first half of the year, as well as the second:
| Split | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | HBP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home | 71 | 237 | 53 | 78 | 21 | 1 | 19 | 46 | 9 | 1 | 59 | 69 | .329 | .464 | .667 | 1.130 | 3 |
| Away | 70 | 251 | 48 | 73 | 21 | 0 | 16 | 38 | 4 | 2 | 41 | 65 | .291 | .393 | .566 | .959 | 2 |
Bryce Harper‘s 2015 season is still his best, he won many awards that season, including the one he won this year which is the Hank Aaron Award, he won the NL MVP and a Silver Slugger Award (which he also won this past season), and was first in many categories including; On Base Percentage, Slugging Percentage, Wins Above Replacement Player (9.7), and many more. This year he is nominated for NL MVP, and if history repeats itself like it did in 2015, Harper may well win it in 2021 – that award is announced on November 18th, 2021 at 6 PM on MLBNetwork.
Harper was originally drafted in 2010 as a number 1 overall pick from the Washington Nationals in the Amateur Draft. It was October 29, 2018 when Bryce was granted being a Free Agent and the Phillies pounced on him, causing him to leave Washington and head north to Philadelphia, his new home, and really nice contract. At that time, it was the largest contract in baseball history, now during the past two years, Harper still is in the Top 10 in salary across the MLB.
This past season only Zack Wheeler had a higher WAR on the team at 7.7 – Harper was second at 5.9 and believe it or not, Ranger Suarez finished 3rd at 5.8 for the year, Jean Segura was 4th at 3.7.
Embed from Getty ImagesIt’s no doubt that Bryce Harper is headed to the Hall of Fame if he can stay healthy, he’s brought a sense of hustle and dedication to Philadelphia. We’ll see if the pitching staff and other areas of the team can be improved to the point where the Phillies will get into the playoffs and maybe even the World Series. It’s been a long time since the name Phillies and World Series were mentioned in the same breath.
