We may look back at the 2015 season as the point that Bryce Harper converted his potential into results. There’s no debate anymore: the former first overall pick now ranks among the top two or three players in baseball.
To appreciate what the 22-year-old Washington Nationals outfielder is doing, consider that:
- Harper leads the National League in wins above replacement (3.8), home runs (18), on-base-percentage (.469), slugging percentage (.724), OPS (1.193), weighted on-base average (.491), runs (42) and walks (44).
- No one hit more than 40 home runs last year, but Harper’s on a pace for 58 homers, a threshold last reached by Ryan Howard in 2006.
- While Harper hit 13 home runs in May alone, no one else in the NL has more than 16 homers all season.
- No hitter sees more balls than Harper, whose walk rate has surged, likely in response to his power. He now has nearly as many walks (44) as strikeouts (47).
- There’s no easy way to retire him. While some sluggers struggle against off-speed pitches, Harper leads MLB with a .388 average on breaking stuff.
He’s now approaching another kind of turning point. The most remarkable Harper-related factoid of all may be that he has never faced a pitcher younger than him during his professional career. That could change this week if Roberto Osuna, the Blue Jays’ 20-year-old reliever, faces Harper when Toronto visits Washington.
It wouldn’t be an easy assignment for Harper considering that Osuna has a 1.75 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 25.2 innings, but it would represent a new kind of challenge. Osuna threw 32 pitches in Toronto’s 6-5 loss Sunday, so it’d be a surprise if he pitches Monday. Maybe the streak will last a little longer.
In the meantime, here’s how the series lines up:
R.A. Dickey vs. Jordan Zimmermann
The Blue Jays need Dickey to bounce back from a difficult month of May in which he posted a 6.27 ERA with 15 strikeouts and seven home runs allowed in 33 innings.
Marco Estrada vs. Max Scherzer
The Nationals selected Estrada in the sixth round of the 2005 draft, and he pitched in 15 games for Washington before being claimed by the Milwaukee Brewers. He’s off to a solid start in Toronto, with a 3.89 ERA in 39.1 innings.
Mark Buehrle vs. TBA
This would normally by Stephen Strasburg’s spot in the rotation, but the Blue Jays won’t have to face the hard-throwing right-hander since he’s on the disabled list with neck tightness. Buehrle has pitched at least 7.1 innings in each of his last three outings, much to the Blue Jays’ relief.