Bryce Harper joins the 10+ WAR Club in MLB history

Posted on September 20, 2015 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Bryce Harper had 3 hits in today’s game.  2 singles and a double and none of them were hit particularly hard.  He raised his league leading Batting Average to .343

This single has to be seen to be believed as it had enough spin on that to make it look like a Willie Mosconi billiards trick shot!

Bryce Harper also raised his MLB best WAR above the 10.00 mark to 10.1 which is in legendary levels rarely seen.    MLB WAR RANKING There now is 24 position players including Harper who have accomplished the 10.1 WAR or better in MLB history and it has only been accomplished 52 times in MLB history that a position player has ranked at 10.1 or above and Harper’s season isn’t finished.  We will revisit this again after the season to see where Bryce ranks in history.

Bryce scored 3 runs today to move back into sole possession of 1st place in Runs Scored in the MLB:

  1. Bryce Harper 116
  2. Josh Donaldson 113
  3. Jose Bautista 102
  4. A.J. Pollock 101

NL Rank in HRs:

  1. Bryce Harper 41
  2. Nolan Arenado 39
  3. Carlos Gonzalez 37

NL Rank in RBIs:

  1. Nolan Arenado 114
  2. Paul Goldschmidt 100
  3. Matt Kemp 98
  4. Bryce Harper, Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Andrew McCutcheon all tied with 95

MLB Rank in Walks:

  1. Joey Votto  135
  2. Bryce Harper 115
  3. Paul Goldschmidt 112
  4. Jose Bautista  100

MLB Rank in Batting Average:

  1. Bryce Harper .343
  2. Miguel Cabrera .338
  3. Dee Gordon .332
  4. Buster Posey .327
  5. Yunel Escobar .324

NL Rank in Hard Hit %:

  1. Bryce Harper 41.9%
  2. Matt Kemp 41.1%
  3. Paul Goldschmidt 40.3%

MLB Rank in OBP:

  1. Bryce Harper .470
  2. Joey Votto .462
  3. Miguel Cabrera .441

MLB Rank in Slugging:

  1. Bryce Harper .674
  2. Nelson Cruz .585
  3. Mike Trout .580

MLB Rank in OPS:

  1. Bryce Harper 1.143
  2. Joey Votto 1.018
  3. Paul Goldschmidt .983
  4. Miguel Cabrera .980

MLB Rank in Weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+):

  1.  Bryce Harper 204
  2. Joey Votto 176
  3. Mike Trout 169

MLB Rank in WAR:

  1. Bryce Harper 10.1
  2. Josh Donaldson 8.2
  3. Mike Trout 8.2
  4. Paul Goldschmidt 7.8

MLB Rank for Outfield Assists for a primary RF:

  1.  Jay Bruce, Matt Kemp, Gregory Polanco  10

4.    Bryce Harper, Curtis Granderson 9

 

Here’s a great primer on what WAR is as explained by FanGraphs FANGRAPHS WAR Explained

This is difficult to believe that even a few days ago that Fox Sports had an on-set debate of Cespedes vs Harper for MVP.  Even Cespedes has said that Harper is the NL MVP.

Bryce Harper doesn’t want to talk about the MVP as he’s told the media numerous times, but we will.  Who was the last Washington, DC MVP?  Answer: Alexander Ovechkin in 2013.  Oh, meant to ask, who was the last Washington, DC MLB MVP? Answer: Roger Thorpe Peckinpaugh of the Washington Senators in 1925

This season for Bryce Harper is legendary, and the season is not complete!  The last player to finish the season in 1st Place of each of the “Slash” BA/OBP/SLG/OPS in the Majors was Barry Bonds (not Mike Trout or Miguel Cabrera) and we can debate whether we can overlook Bonds and go even further back.

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