We’ve all seen what Bryce Harper can do over the last month, and it’s been pretty impressive. The arm, the aggressiveness, the speed, the eye – all these things make us amateurs feel like we are scouts. For most of us, when we can identify a tool that a player has it means its spectacular, not just very good. And that shows just how good Harper is and will be. But his numbers hadn’t quite caught up to the impression he was making. We saw that he was going to be great at the plate, but he wasn’t actually producing at that level – until now.
Over the last 15 games, Harper has been on a tear. He has hit .345/.424/.655 with 4 HRs in 66 PAs. He’s shown patience, and now power. He’s also shown the ability to adapt – he was struck out on a silly slow pitch by Livan Hernandez, only to put one in the seats in his next AB. He has adapted to major league pitching faster than I thought he would. Although a great two weeks is likely a hot streak, and he will cool off at some point, it’s clear now more than ever that he belongs at this level, and he is a valuable contributor now.
It’s amazing how much he’s done in one month of play. On May 12, he was hitting .213/.309/.340, and we were impressed with what he was able to do. Now, he’s up to .286/.372/.514. What do you think about the kid now?