#Bryce harper contract vs mike trout how to

When you put it all together, it looks like what you’d picture it would look like if someone were to make a leap in approach, in power, in how to attack a pitcher, and in understanding of the strike zone all at once. It’s quite a combination when you put it all together. I’m going to posit that this is because he’s swinging at better pitches for him to hit. But when he does swing, he hits more of the pitches at which he swings, and he’s hitting them harder on average. Harper is walking 21.6% of the time compared to 9.6% last season - and, despite taking more pitches, Harper is striking out less than last season as well. This has led to a huge jump in walks (a point Boswell makes as well). He’s swinging less at pitches in the zone and at pitches out of the zone than in previous seasons. Despite seeing far fewer pitches in the strike zone (40 percent) than the average hitter (48 percent), he’s not necessarily leaping at the strikes he does get. The other part of Harper’s success is his selectivity at the plate.

He’s hitting the outside pitches, but he’s pulling the heck out of them. You’ve probably heard people talking about how hitters should learn to “go the other way” on outside pitches as a means to handle getting pitched that way. There’s a reason pitchers typically stay away from hitters with power: because it’s very difficult to pull a ball on the outside part of the plate. Some have been high, some low, but all have been right around the edge of the plate and almost all of them have ended up over the right-field wall. The strange thing is that, other than how Harper’s slugging percentage over the last two weeks begins with a “2”, most of his homers during this streak have come on outside pitches that he’s pulled. Which, that’s where the ball goes when a left-handed hitter pulls it. More specifically, he is crushing the ball to right field. I spent some time going over his heat maps and you will be further shocked to learn he’s crushing the ball. Here are Harper’s up-to-date spray charts, first, all batted balls.Īnd now you can also see that, shockingly, the vast majority of his hits are going to right field as well. Jeff includes spray charts in his piece, so since this is a What Has Harper Done Since kind of piece, I feel obligated to follow up. One thing we have learned, and Jeff Sullivan touched on this in a piece here at FanGraphs three weeks ago, is that despite coaching and interviews focusing on hitting the ball the other way, Harper has been pulling the heck out of the ball. 959 OPS - or, if you prefer meaningful numbers, a 164 wRC+ - over the past four seasons, so let’s all take what the kids call a chill pill.īut it’s so hard to take a chill pill! Did you see all those homers? We’ve been waiting so long for this! Also I hate pills! So let’s look a bit deeper. It takes true talent to OPS almost 2.000 in a 12 game span.īut all this isn’t nearly enough to make up for three seasons where his chief rival was essentially the MVP (remember the dust thing?). Harper’s slash line is silly now, but if the statistical revolution in baseball has taught us anything, it’s to beware of small sample sizes. The reality is some times players string hits together and put up super-human slash lines. Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post outlines some more of these mini-hot streaks here. From July 19 through August 2 of the same season, he hit. You have to scroll down and scroll down and scroll down all… the… way… to… seventh before you find Trout languishing with just 2.0 WAR.Ĭonsider: from April 17 through April 27 of 2013, Harper hit. Harper’s binge has put him at 3.1 WAR on the season, 0.5 WAR ahead of second place Dee Gordon which is a weird thing to write, but whatever. These are silly things done by a silly man who flaunts the realities of baseball before mashing them like a child playing with insects on a sidewalk. Yes, his slugging percentage starts with a number before the decimal. Yes, his home run-to-strikeout ratio is 2:1. On that Wednesday, Harper went 3-for-5 with three home runs. Or was over, it seemed, until two weeks ago. Sure, he’s only 22 and playing in the majors when most of his peers are at Double-A, but at this point comparing him to the best player in baseball is just silliness. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Harper has trudged along at a good, if not great, level. Three straight MVP-quality seasons have made Trout more than a competitor with Harper, they’ve made him the face of baseball (sorry, Eric Sogard!). Is there anyone Trout hasn’t dusted? Look at yourself! You are covered in dust! For a while there we thought the Bryce Harper vs.

Bryce harper contract vs mike trout