No player in baseball has come out of the gate hotter than Bryce Harper this season. The Washington Nationals outfielder is hitting .333 with 16 home runs and 41 RBI. He leads the major leagues with 39 runs, 26 extra-base hits, 40 walks and an OPS of 1.198. Could Harper soon overtake Mike Trout as the best player in the league?
The 22-year-old isn’t quite ready to compare himself to Trout.
“Baseball is always, ‘What have you done for me lately?'” Harper recently told Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com. “That’s just how the game works. I still believe Trout is the best player in the game, hands down.
“It’s not about taking a backseat to anybody. I love seeing Stanton hit homers or Kris Bryant do the things he does. I love watching Matt Harvey or Gerrit Cole or Noah Syndergaard come up and throw 100 mph. I cheer for guys. I’ve always been that way.”
If Trout and Harper continue along their current career paths, it won’t matter who the better player is. Trout is 23 and Harper is 22. For the next 10-plus years, Major League baseball will be leaning on both young men.
Before the season, Harper was once again voted the most overrated player in the league in an anonymous player poll. As LB mentioned when that poll came out, there are plenty of reasons people dislike Harper. Some of that has to do with his well-documented temper. But from a baseball standpoint, he has had some terrible luck with injuries.
A healthy Harper for an entire season would almost certainly be worthy of Trout comparisons.
H/T Deadspin
