The Bryce Harper Compendium (2015)

[Baseball is Life]

Player of the week two weeks in a row. Only the 10th player in history to do that since the award's inception in the '70s.

http://curlyw.mlblogs.com/2015/05/18/nationals-rf-bryce-harper-wins-nl-player-of-the-week-again/

[sph274]

Jesus Christ though, Mike Trout is a true baseball god. he may end up having like a top 5 career.

[houston-nat]

Jesus Christ though, Mike Trout is a true baseball god. he may end up having like a top 5 career.

The most-likely scenario for Mike Trout is Hall of Fame. The best-case scenario is best baseball player ever.

[houston-nat]

Player of the week two weeks in a row. Only the 10th player in history to do that since the award's inception in the '70s.

http://curlyw.mlblogs.com/2015/05/18/nationals-rf-bryce-harper-wins-nl-player-of-the-week-again/

The last guy to do it was Domonic Brown

[welch]

I did a quick...well, tedious and not so quick -- comparison of Harper so far this season against Frank Howard's first 39 games in 1969, Killebrew's first 39 in 1959, and Roy Sievers' first 39 in 1957. We are watching a big-time season.

They are all close, but Harper beats them in each category except home runs. Killer had 15 homers by his 39th game while Hondo and Harper had "only" 14. All of them over 30 RBI's (an accomplishment for Roy, since that team could not hit worth beans). Harper's OPS is about 1.2, while Harmon's was 1.022; Roy was .959 and Hondo's was .931.

Where Harper stands high is his batting average of .338. Next closest was Roy Sievers at .297.

Statistically, Harper's hitting is a little above the most powerful hitters ever to play in Washington.

None of them could field like Harper, although Sievers was very smooth. He had wrecked his shoulder after his Rookie-of-the-Year season, and never threw well. Killebrew played third by subduing ground balls...knocked them down, off his chest, off his forearms. Fans were horrified after having watched Eddie Yost for years. Howard was a fine athlete with a great jump, all six-foo-seven of him. Might have been an all-star power forward in the NBA. Had no range, though.


(Note: can't get dependable stats for Josh Gibson. The Negro League played barn-storm games during mid-week, playing each other on weekends. Stats are shaky).

[aussienatsfan]

i'm in awe, totally consumed by Harpermania at the moment, every AB has to be seen to be believed

[vernon337]

I did a quick...well, tedious and not so quick -- comparison of Harper so far this season against Frank Howard's first 39 games in 1969, Killebrew's first 39 in 1959, and Roy Sievers' first 39 in 1957. We are watching a big-time season.

They are all close, but Harper beats them in each category except home runs. Killer had 15 homers by his 39th game while Hondo and Harper had "only" 14. All of them over 30 RBI's (an accomplishment for Roy, since that team could not hit worth beans). Harper's OPS is about 1.2, while Harmon's was 1.022; Roy was .959 and Hondo's was .931.

Where Harper stands high is his batting average of .338. Next closest was Roy Sievers at .297.

Statistically, Harper's hitting is a little above the most powerful hitters ever to play in Washington.

None of them could field like Harper, although Sievers was very smooth. He had wrecked his shoulder after his Rookie-of-the-Year season, and never threw well. Killebrew played third by subduing ground balls...knocked them down, off his chest, off his forearms. Fans were horrified after having watched Eddie Yost for years. Howard was a fine athlete with a great jump, all six-foo-seven of him. Might have been an all-star power forward in the NBA. Had no range, though.


(Note: can't get dependable stats for Josh Gibson. The Negro League played barn-storm games during mid-week, playing each other on weekends. Stats are shaky).

Great stuff.  Thanks (From one who was there for the Sievers season).

[nfotiu]

Jesus Christ though, Mike Trout is a true baseball god. he may end up having like a top 5 career.

You guys talk like Trout is a ceiling for Harper.  Harper may well blow away anything Trout has done to date offensively this year.  Pitchers pitch to Harper this year, like pitchers pitched to Bonds.  Harper had a lot of things go wrong in his age 20 and 21 seasons.  Birth through 19, he basically was projecting to have the kind of historical year he is having now.  I would bet even money that Bryce finishes this year in the top 50 ops of all time.  1.1388.  If he does that at 22, he is a significantly better baseball player than Trout.

[PC]

At this point in their respective careers, it's completely unknowable which of them, Trout or Harper, will have the better career.

[More of #34]

No bathroom breaks when Harper is up to bat. 

[Slateman]

No bathroom breaks when Harper is up to bat. 

Use an empty beer bottle

[mdnatsfan]

At this point in their respective careers, it's completely unknowable which of them, Trout or Harper, will have the better career.

Let's not compare. Trout is awesome in his own right and if he was here and Harp were there, we'd be equally as happy. If the two young men are "clean", then this is truly the beginning of a remarkable era for MLB. Its like having Gretzky and Lemieux playing at the same time. If we could watch Trout daily, we would.

But I know the homer tendency is to root for your guy, and I do. Harper became my favorite player when he was in Hagerstown. But Trout's success doesn't impact that.

[sph274]

You guys talk like Trout is a ceiling for Harper.  Harper may well blow away anything Trout has done to date offensively this year.  Pitchers pitch to Harper this year, like pitchers pitched to Bonds.  Harper had a lot of things go wrong in his age 20 and 21 seasons.  Birth through 19, he basically was projecting to have the kind of historical year he is having now.  I would bet even money that Bryce finishes this year in the top 50 ops of all time.  1.1388.  If he does that at 22, he is a significantly better baseball player than Trout.

mike trout steals bases and plays great defense in CF. everything people are saying about harper "getting used to MLB pitching" can be said equally about Trout. You saw the list above with players with 2500 PA before the age of 22 and how Mike Trout is leaps and bounds above inner circle HoF guys right? Who says Trout isnt only getting better?  Harper has been incredibly hot recently but i will take the under on the 1.1388 OPS

[Slateman]

mike trout steals bases and plays great defense in CF. everything people are saying about harper "getting used to MLB pitching" can be said equally about Trout. You saw the list above with players with 2500 PA before the age of 22 and how Mike Trout is leaps and bounds above inner circle HoF guys right? Who says Trout isnt only getting better?

I agree with this.

At the plate, Harper may put up bigger numbers. Certainly with the "classic" stats like homers and RBIs, Harper may put up more. But Trout is still leaps and bounds ahead of Harper in terms of career and overall play.

[WashingtonWizards23]

Harper play great defense too, mike trout has no arm strength like bryce harper.

[houston-nat]

Harper play great defense too, mike trout has no arm strength like bryce harper.

According to the scouts (Inside Edge) who have been ranking every D play since 2012, Mike Trout ranks #1 among all players in that time frame for successfully making "Unlikely" plays.

[sph274]

Harper play great defense too, mike trout has no arm strength like bryce harper.

mike Trout is a much better defender than Harper, that cannot be argued. Trout's arm isnt weak or anything.

[WhiteWhale]

girls, girls - you're both pretty

[PC]

mike Trout is a much better defender than Harper, that cannot be argued. Trout's arm isnt weak or anything.

I was watching the Angels-Blue Jays game yesterday and other than the obscenity laden yells Josh Donaldson made at the Angels bench, there was one particular outfield play that Trout made where I immediately thought Trout really has a weak arm.  I was shocked at how weak his arm looked and I actually wondered if he had the day off and someone else was playing CF.

The link you posted doesn't show a strong arm as he threw it from the mid-outfield.  It was accurate but not strong.

[PebbleBall]

According to the scouts (Inside Edge) who have been ranking every D play since 2012, Mike Trout ranks #1 among all players in that time frame for successfully making "Unlikely" plays.

What about 2013-present?

[dracnal]

But I know the homer tendency is to root for your guy, and I do. Harper became my favorite player when he was in Hagerstown. But Trout's success doesn't impact that.

You must be new to these forums.

[PebbleBall]

mike Trout is a much better defender than Harper, that cannot be argued. Trout's arm isnt weak or anything.

So he can throw it 200 ft on the fly?  Not that it isn't a great throw, but you're trying to showcase arm strength and it's ironically the only area Harper clearly has Trout beat.  And it can be argued that Trout isn't much better defensively. 

[Smithian]

Trout right now is much better than Harper defensively, but Harper has started consistently looking really darn good in RF. Once he gets more consistent he'll play as good defense as anyone in the majors. His plate improvement has shown his IQ and soon enough his field play will be the same.

This is asking too much, but I like to imagine in the post-Span era the Nats considering adding a big bat in the corner and putting Harper in center again. He wants to play center and according to an article I read last year the Nats and other metrics said in 2012 he was one of the best CFs in the game defensively. If the Nats were to move him to CF, get plus defense, and Harper stayed a 1.000+ OPS player then he might be the best player in the game.

[wpa2629]

girls, girls - you're both pretty

heh

[mimontero88]

Mike Trout is the best player in baseball right now.  Harper may get there but it's too early to say he is better than Trout.