Bryce Harper says he needs to ‘step up’ this season
Bryce Harper’s potential is unquestioned. He’s flashed it on several occasions. He has a rocket arm and the ability to hit tape measure home runs. Unfortunately, injuries have hampered his time on the field as Harper has played in only 100 and 118 games the last two seasons.
In 2015, the Nationals are among the favorites to represent the National League in the World Series. For that to happen, Harper will likely have to play a substantial role. With spring training underway, the 22-year-old is preparing to shoulder more of the offensive load.
“I’ll help out for sure,” Harper said via MLB.com. “After losing LaRoche, I have to step up a little bit. I have to do what I need to do. Our pitching is going to take us to the top, hopefully, but we still have to have offense. We have to do the things we need to do. I’m ready to go. I’ll be feeling good.”
The Nationals put together one of the better starting pitching rotations in recent memory with Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann, Gio Gonzalez, Doug Fister, and new addition Max Scherzer. With those arms, Washington likely won’t need to score a lot of runs on most days. However, some will be needed and improvement from Harper to go along with continued production from Jayson Werth, Ian Desmond, and Anthony Rendon would go a long way towards seeing the Nationals playing in October.
H/T HardballTalk
