Is Bryce Harper the Best Player in Baseball?
Can anyone knock the phenom off his quest for a second National League MVP?
Every year, Major League Baseball goes through the arduous task of determining who the “MVP” of the season is. The debate usually stems from whether the top priority is the best individual performance or being the best performer on a great team. Some players are stuck on terrible teams and have phenomenal seasons, while others are on excellent squads and have great seasons. It begs the question; should the MVP award be given to the best player who help his team win or the best player statistically regardless of team success? This caveat will be further explored below.
5. Giancarlo (Mike) Stanton
The biggest power house hitter in the MLB today. He’s built like a truck, with muscles in places where most people don’t have places. Stanton has truly effortless power. A flick of the wrist can send liners over the wall.
Mired with a team who lost their heart and soul (Jose Fernandez) last year, the talent around him will likely struggle. Stanton must remain healthy over the course of the entire season, something he’s done in only two of his six MLB years. If he does, he could easily put the team on his back and eclipse 50 homers, blowing the doors off the NL MVP race.
4. Nolan Arenado
Sporting the flashiest glove at third base in the league, Nolan Arenado is capable of winning awards with defense alone. He brings an excellent bat as well, and it’s only boosted by playing in the launch pad known as Coors Field in Colorado. Colorado is where pitchers go to die, everything gets obliterated in the thin air, but Arenado night-after-night makes highlight reel defensive plays effortlessly.
When he steps to the plate, the fourth year slugger is looking to put together his third consecutive 40+ home run season. He absolutely raked last year for the Rockies, hitting a .294 average, 41 home runs, and 133 RBIs. Simply put, Arenado can crush balls and defend with the best of them.
His team will most likely struggle, as they haven’t developed a decent rotation since, well, ever. That said, if the squad can play decent ball and he continues to be tremendous, he will be in the MVP conversation perennially.
3. Clayton Kershaw
If you want to see poetry in motion, watch Clayton Kershaw pitch.
It seems effortless to him. In and out every fifth night, the power lefty dominates batters with relative ease. Since 2011, he’s posted no seasons with a WAR (Wins Above Replacement) lower than 5.9 (8.6 in 2015), no seasons with an ERA higher than 2.53 (2012, and 1.83 ERA in 2013), pitched fewer than 198 innings once (injury shortened 2016 season), and recorded 229 strikeouts in every season but last year, with 2015 recording 301 strikeouts.
Quite simply, he is one of the best pitchers ever, a literal legend in his prime.
His repertoire boasts a 93 mph fastball that can touch triple digits. He also has an 84 mph changeup, an 85 mph slider, and a 73 mph curveball, all of which are virtually unhittable. The 29 year old already has three Cy Young awards, and he will undoubtedly add more.
If the voters begin to show pitchers the respect they deserve, he could easily snag an MVP award.
2. Kris Bryant
Another contender is the 2015 Rookie Of The Year and reigning 2016 MVP. Bryant led the Cubs to a World Series title, hitting .292 with 39 home runs and 102 RBIs, all while playing great defence. Bryant is notorious for his power bat. He destroyed pitchers in college. Now he’s doing it in the majors.
What Bryant did last year that made him truly special was his ability to defend amicably at multiple positions, as he logged significant time at both 3B and LF. He also put in some work at 1st and RF.
Being surrounded by a star-studded lineup, possessing a massive power bat, and being extremely versatile defensively should enable Bryant to possibly repeat as MVP.
1. Bryce Harper
Drafted in 2010 as a 17 year old, Harper spent one year in the minors before entering the big leagues, where he’s dominated ever since. In his stellar 2015 MVP season, he put up a .330 average, 42 homers, 99 RBIs, a 19% walk rate and a 20% strikeout rate. It started conversations amongst casual fans and other troglodytes that he may be better than the living baseball god Mike Trout.
He’s not, but maaaaaan he can ball.
Going into 2016, expectations were extremely high for Harper to repeat. He started the season out strong, but the hot-tempered right fielder faced a four game set against the Cubs that derailed his entire season. He had 19 plated appearances, of which he walked in 13 of them. Four were intentional walks, three in the last game. He swung at zero of the 27 pitches (only two in the strike zone) he saw in the game. In the four game set, he saw 83 pitches, and only 18 (22%) were in the strike zone. This series essentially broke Harper for the season. He began to be walked more by teams, which caused the ultra aggressive Harper to press at the plate.
In the subsequent 116 games after the Cubs series, Harper hit just .238 (135th/148 qualified batters), with a .395 slugging % (127th) and .752 OPS (101st). After hitting 10 home runs leading into that Cubs series in early May, he went the remaining 116 games of the season swatting 14 homers.
Harper decided this off-season to go back to basics. He went home and worked at his old high school stadium with his old coaches. He knocked eight home runs this spring training, and someone as talented and young as him will definitely regroup, and return to MVP form this season.
Honorable mentions
Other mentionable names here include the super sophomore Corey Seager, the masterful Madison Bumgarner, Paul Goldschmidt, and a number of Cubs bats or pitchers including Kyle Schwarber, Anthony Rizzo, Jake Arrieta, Jon Lester or Kyle Hendricks.
The National League MVP race is wide open, and i’m very excited to see who prevails when all the dust is settled in October.
JOSH is a baseball contributor for theocho.ca. By day he teaches in schools or works at gas stations. By night he’s watching hours of sports and brainstorming his next article.
