Bryce Harper took home his second National League Most Valuable Player Award:
Harper also joins Robinson as having won the award for two different clubs. Two AL winners also won for two clubs — Jimmie Foxx with the Philadelphia Athletics in 1932 and ‘33 and with the Boston Red Sox in 1938 and Alex Rodriguez with the Texas Rangers in 2003 and with the New York Yankees in 2005 and ‘07.
BBWAA.com
Somewhat surprising to me was how poorly Trea Turner of the Nationals and the Dodgers finished, fifth in the voting. Both FanGraphs and Baseball Reference rated him at or near the top of position player WAR. I’m also a bit surprised that the best pitchers in the league did not finish in the top ten.
Harper led the majors in slugging in both his MVP years. In 2015, he led the NL with 42 home runs. This year, he lead the majors with 42 doubles. He now has a pre-prime MVP and a prime years MVP. Will see if he can land a third one in his post-prime seasons.
Congratulations to Bryce Harper on a fantastic season!
re: Harper
I’ve had the opportunity to watch Harper for a few seasons now that he’s been on the Phillies, and there are a few things i’ve noticed.
1) he hustles and playes the game hard. The last guy I saw play this hard was Pete Rose.
2) He’s not a great fielder, but he has a gun for an arm; he had ten OF assists from RF this past year, and his throws are both powerful and accurate.
3) he’s a bit streaky with the bat. he can have stretches where he strikes out a ton, but then he will have stretches where he just can’t miss a pitch and will hit two or three homers in a game.
4) Harper gets a lot of doubles because he’s very aggressive taking the extra base on outfieldiers even if the ball looks like it’s only a single; if it’s not hit right at the OF, Harper will always go for second and stretch the hit and challenge the guy’s arm.
5) Harper always goes first to third on any single hit, and he always tries to score from second on any single hit.
6) his baserunning is not based on his being fast, but on his having good baserunning instincts; he’s a lot like Chase Utley in being SMART in takikng extra bases.
So, in short, you have a guy with exceptional power, a huge OBA, an ability to hit .300, OBA .400, SA .500 , can run the bases very well, is a clubhouse leader by example, and combines elements of Chase Utley, Pete Rose and Ryan Howard.
What’s not to like?
I’ve really grown to appreciate how very great he is watching him day to day. He’s a big time player.
Art K, Philly