In 2015, Bryce Harper’s attitude finally caught up with his physical prowess
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Version 0 of 1. So much can be praised about Bryce Harper’s historic 2015 season. Only seven other players — including Babe Ruth, Barry Bonds, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams — have equaled or topped the numbers Harper produced as a 22-year-old: a .330 batting average, .460 on-base percentage, .649 slugging percentage and 42 home runs. The star outfielder played in a career-high 153 games, his first fully healthy season since his major league debut in 2012. “It was already bad enough we didn’t make the playoffs,” said reliever Matt Thornton, one of the veterans Harper credits with helping him during the season. “I would’ve hated to see where we would’ve been without Bryce this year.” Harper’s performance at the plate — and his defensive improvement — likely will earn him the National League’s MVP award Thursday night. The award would be a franchise first and the first for a Washington player since Roger Peckinpaugh in 1925. But Harper’s rise from one of the best young players in baseball to the best in the National League didn’t just include growth on the field. “He’s been playing levels above his whole life,” said shortstop Ian Desmond, one of Harper’s mentors and close friends. “It’s like he’s finally catching up to the curve. He’s acted like a man his whole life, but now he’s actually a man.” [Why Bryce Harper’s teammates think he should be MVP] He was the NL rookie of the year in 2012, fulfilling all the hype that surrounded him as a teenage prodigy and 2010 first overall pick. But a knee injury that later needed surgery limited him to 118 games in 2013. A thumb injury that also required surgery held him to 100 games in 2014. He hit 33 home runs and posted an .815 on-base-plus-slugging percentage combined in those two seasons, but the baseball world expected more. Before this season, his peers voted Harper the most overrated player in baseball for the second straight year in an anonymous ESPN poll. “When you know what you’re capable of inside and not doing it and you’ve done it plenty of times in the past, that weighs on you, and it’s hard to grind through that,” Desmond said. “It takes a special type of player. He grinded through it. A lot of people fold. Those are the guys that disappear from the game, and you remember, ‘That guy was supposed to be a stud.’ Think about how many five-tool guys that just fell off.” Harper kept insisting that he would perform when healthy. He wouldn’t feel pain in his knee while he reached for an outside pitch. He wouldn’t compensate for a weak thumb by swinging early at pitches in front of the plate. In 2015, he smashed those outside pitches for homers and struck high-velocity pitches deep in the strike zone without fear. He played with confidence and displayed unprecedented patience at the plate — drawing 124 walks, more than twice his previous career high. “Two years in a row, he ended up having pretty good years that any big leaguer would be happy with when he was hurt,” Nationals hitting coach Rick Schu said. “But now he’s healthy. He’s Bryce Harper. This is what he does. Patience came with being able to trust his hands and being healthy. You’re trusting everything and slowing the game down. He just wasn’t raging.” [Bryce Harper’s swing is a thing of beauty] That calmness carried over from off the field. Former Nationals bench coach Randy Knorr said Harper was more approachable and enjoyed the game more. “In the past, every day it seemed like he was mad at something or angry the first couple years and just trying to go out there and perform,” Knorr said. “He just seemed more relaxed and going out there and having fun.” Desmond said one of his proudest moments as Harper’s teammate was hearing Harper say he wanted to get rid of the old version of himself and improve. For example, Desmond noticed Harper was more often available to the media to talk about mistakes. “He learned from the negative stuff he was doing a couple years ago,” Desmond said. “Beyond what happened at the end of the year, no one talked about Bryce Harper not running the bases hard. He was playing the game the right way. At the end of the year, emotions are high, and that [fight with Jonathan Papelbon] just surfaced from basically nothing. All year long, he played the game the right way and carried himself like a professional.” In the past, bad games weighed heavily on Harper, who faced high expectations on the field and off from the media to family to team commitments. Desmond said Harper used to leave the clubhouse right after games and didn’t often hang out with teammates. But this season, many noticed Harper going to more group dinners and golfing trips. “Last year, he took charge of his superstar,” Desmond said. “He was like, ‘Okay, I’m gonna do this ESPN Body Issue. I’m gonna do all this stuff. But all the other stuff, I wanna do what I wanna do.’ I think the results showed up on the field. He was completely dedicated to his routine. Every single day, he stuck with the same exact routine to a ‘T’ without varying all year long. That’s not easy to do. He was extremely dedicated.” [Boswell: Bryce Harper calls Jonathan Papelbon] Harper may develop further under new Manager Dusty Baker and first base coach Davey Lopes, who could help him steal more bases. “Don’t be surprised if he wins the Triple Crown and the MVP next year and takes the team to the World Series,” Desmond said. In the clubhouse, Harper may soon do more, too. Desmond believes outfielder Jayson Werth — a team leader who Desmond believes has done “an unbelievable job” mentoring Harper — may soon give way to Harper. “I wouldn’t be surprised in the next couple years or next year, Jayson says, ‘Hey, you know what, kid? Take a little more power on this team. This is your team now,’ ” Desmond said. Added Thornton: “You’ll see Bryce step up and be more of a guy who talks to a younger guy about ‘This is how we do things here.’ ” One sign of Harper’s growing leadership, General Manager Mike Rizzo said, was his recent call to Papelbon to clear the air. Harper was held out a game as punishment for his part in their dugout fight in the final week of the season; Papelbon was suspended four games without pay. “I thought [Harper] has always been a good teammate,” Rizzo said. “He really matured into a leader figure in the clubhouse even at a young age. “He’s young chronologically, but he certainly, performance-wise and service time, he’s not a kid anymore. He carries some weight in the clubhouse now. The awards and accolades he’s getting is going to demand even more respect around the league as we’ve seen. “You can see that as he’s grown into a clubhouse leader as we see it now. He’s a wonderful player and better person.” |