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It is clearly known by baseball fans everywhere that Harper has been struggling as of late with the Washington Nationals. Is he only struggling because he is always being compared to the other rookie outfielder Trout?
That’s not fair to Harper, since he is still having a decent first year. It’s just obviously not as good as Trout’s season, as the Angels rookie has set a nearly impossible rookie standard to match.
In the month of August, Trout is hitting .296 which is pretty good. In 107 games so far this season, Trout is hitting .339, he has 25 home runs, and 41 stolen bases, which if you ask me are MVP numbers. So obviously Trout has enjoyed much of the spotlight, while Harper who originally coming into the season was getting more attention.
So why isn’t Harper in the spotlight right now with the Nationals in first place in the NL East? Well, in the month of August, Bryce Harper is only hitting .223. Over the course of the season though, Harper has been more aggressive at the plate against right-handed pitchers batting .271. In 106 regular season games this season, Harper is hitting only .250, with 14 home runs, and 40 RBIs.
While great numbers for an average teenage rookie, Harper is far from average. Which makes his performance this year simply disappointing to many baseball observers.
On the other side of the fence, you have the phenom Mike Trout, who recently achieved a milestone. In a recent game, efore he hit a game-tying RBI single –Trout hit a long leadoff homer off Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz.
That made Trout at 21 years, 21 days old — the first rookie and youngest player to hit 25 homers and 40 stolen bases in a single season. That gives you some kind of idea of what kind of season Trout has had. The record previously belonged to Cesar Cedeno, who at age 22 hit 25 homers and swiped 56 bases with the Astros in 1973.
For all the attention the 19-year-old Harper has received, he is hitting .293 (12-for-41) with two doubles, a triple and four homers over his last 11 games, 10 of them starts. He helped his cause, and that of the slumping Nationals lineup, by blasting a two-run shot 355 feet to right field in the fourth inning the other night in the Nationals' 8-4 win over the Miami Marlins.
As this report is being prepared, almost as if he knew it was coming, Harper had a monster game against the St. Louis Cardinals. Thursday night, Harper went 2 for 5, with a home run off Jaime Garcia and a total of 3 RBIs.
Perhaps nothing happened to Harper at all and he is simply getting hot going into the stretch run of the season. The Nationals certainly wouldn’t complain about that. I would to like to quote a comment from Nationals manager Davey Johnson made recently that perfectly expresses the way I feel about Bryce’s season so far.
“He’s learning about himself and how he reacts to big league pitching,” Johnson said. “He’s totally committed to 100 percent effort, and sometimes you get a little too aggressive at the plate. And he was much better tonight. The last few days he’s been a lot better. I mean, he crushed that second one. … A lot of good things happened with him
I am not worried Bryce will find himself at the plate eventually, but hat will he do next season? I think next season will be an ever better year for Harper. He just needed to have a season to develop himself and mature, not only as a ballplayer but also as a man.
People seem to forget the fact that the kid is only 19 years old. He will get it together whether it’s this season or next. Remember, Mike Trout got a chance to get his feet wet in the show last season before exploding this year.
The same very well with happen with Bryce Harper. Don’t count out the youngster yet, as there is plenty of time for him to further progress himself. Harper has a ton of potential and the sky is the limit for this future MLB superstar.
This article was originally published on MLB Reports.
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