Bryce Harper continues to engender a strong response among his colleagues.
Harper was voted the most overrated MLB player in a new poll released this week. The poll was put together by The Athletic, whose writers asked players to vote on 20 items, including naming the most overrated player in the game. They say about a third of the players in the league participated in the poll.
Harper was named most overrated by a wide margin, receiving 62 percent of the vote. Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Marcus Stroman was second at only 4.1 percent, while Giancarlo Stanton, Jason Heyward, Kevin Kiermaier, Manny Machado, Noah Syndergaard and Gary Sanchez also received multiple votes.
No other topic where players were asked to name something had such an overwhelming favorite.
This is nothing new. Harper received the nod in The Athletic’s poll last year, and he also was named most overrated in an ESPN The Magazine poll in 2014 and 2015. Harper went on to win NL MVP in 2015 and led the league in runs, home runs, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS, so he definitely proved to be anything but overrated that year.
The results of the poll actually may help explain why Harper’s free agency period went as long as it did. There were reportedly teams concerned about his defense and consistency, indicating that the players aren’t the only ones who think he may be overrated. Harper still ended up signing a 13-year, $330 million deal with the Philadelphia Phillies.
The entire Athletic poll article is worth reading (subscription needed).
