The picture you simply scrolled previous is {a photograph} {of professional} baseball participant Bryce Harper. You would possibly keep in mind him from dwelling runs like this 2019 walk-off grand slam or his rain-soaked, NLCS-clinching blast. Indeed, Harper has hit 288 regular-season dwelling runs and one other 11 within the playoffs since making his massive league debut. Only 9 gamers have hit extra in that point. His profession .519 slugging share ranks twelfth amongst lively certified batters, and his .239 remoted energy ranks fifteenth. His most exit velocity has been within the prime 10% of the league for seven years straight. Long story brief, this Harper man is without doubt one of the most fearsome energy hitters of his technology.
So why am I speaking a couple of two-time MVP as if there’s any likelihood you aren’t accustomed to his accomplishments? Well, as exhausting as it’s to consider for an old-timer like me, thousands and thousands of individuals around the globe hadn’t even been born the final time Harper hit a house run. Granted, I doubt lots of these infants between zero and 34 days outdated have discovered their technique to FanGraphs simply but, however the level stays: 34 days is a very long time. It’s the longest dwelling run drought of Harper’s profession. The final time he hit a house run, the Reds had the worst document within the National League and Shohei Ohtani ranked twenty first on the mixed WAR leaderboards. Five weeks later, the Reds sit on prime of the NL Central and Ohtani is lapping the competitors in WAR.
Since May 26, Harper is slashing .227/.342/.268 with 4 doubles, zero triples, and nil dwelling runs. His -0.3 WAR ranks 162nd out of 173 certified gamers. By remoted energy, that is simply the worst 26-game stretch of his profession. The famous person informed Todd Zolecki of MLB.com that he isn’t frightened about his lacking energy, however he gave his batting helmet a distinct impression after an 0-for-3 displaying in opposition to the Braves:
The easiest clarification for Harper’s energy outage is his speedy return from Tommy John surgical procedure. He went beneath the knife final November and was again within the majors 160 days later, the quickest Tommy John restoration time in MLB historical past. He accelerated his timeline by forgoing a rehab task, so when he got here to bat in opposition to Julio Urías on May 2, it was his first in-game plate look because the World Series.
No one would have been stunned or upset if Harper struggled to readjust in his first few video games again. But Harper being Harper, he didn’t battle in any respect. In his second recreation of the season, he went 3-for-3 with two walks and a double. Two video games later, he hit his first dwelling run. He would go on to hit three dwelling runs and 6 doubles in his first 20 video games, good for a .547 SLG and .200 ISO. Those aren’t fairly Harper-esque energy numbers, but when that had been the equal of his spring coaching, issues had been trying good.
Harper’s common exit velocity was surprisingly low over these first 20 video games, sitting nearer to the seventieth percentile than its traditional dwelling across the ninetieth. But his barrel price, strong contact price, and Ninety fifth-percentile exit velocity had been no completely different from 2022; hitting the ball exhausting didn’t appear to be an issue. And whereas his common launch angle was shockingly low, and accordingly, his groundball price was unusually excessive, his candy spot share was nearly as good as ever. In different phrases, he might need been sending extra balls straight into the bottom, however these additional grounders weren’t coming on the expense of line drives and well-hit fly balls. Simply put, there wasn’t any main trigger for concern beneath the hood.
What’s extra, all through his dwelling run drought, Harper’s high quality of contact numbers have normalized much more. His common exit velocity is up from 90.8 mph to 91.2, and his common launch angle is up from 1.4 levels to 11.8. His groundball price is down, his fly ball price is up, and each numbers are a lot nearer to his profession averages. His candy spot share and barrel price have fallen, however solely barely, and his strong contact price is up. Meanwhile, his Ninety fifth-percentile exit velocity is actually the identical. On prime of that, Harper’s plate self-discipline has been even higher throughout this stretch. He could also be slumping, however he’s nonetheless reaching base at an above-average clip, due to a 15.4% stroll price. He’s additionally been whiffing much less and chasing at fewer pitches outdoors the zone. These tendencies point out that Harper is rising extra assured on the plate, regardless of his lack of outcomes.
If there may be any development price worrying about, it’s Harper’s efficiency in opposition to left-handed pitching. The pattern measurement is small, however his 23 wRC+ in opposition to southpaws is alarming, and he struggled to hit same-handed pitchers even earlier than he entered his hunch. In specific, he’s had a tough time in opposition to breaking balls from lefties (.113 wOBA, 50.6% whiff price), and as destiny would have it, lefties are throwing him extra breaking balls than ever. Right-handers haven’t modified their method in opposition to Harper, and he has thanked them with a .406 wOBA and .416 xwOBA. Left-handers, nevertheless, have stopped providing him the fastballs he likes to feast on:
Those numbers are excessive, and I’m not satisfied that is really a focused method in opposition to Harper as a substitute of a consequence of the actual lefties he’s confronted up to now. Tommy Henry, Jared Shuster, Austin Gomber, and Kyle Freeland have mixed to throw 30% of the breaking pitches Harper has seen from southpaws. All 4 of these pitchers lean on their breaking stuff in opposition to same-handed opponents — not simply Harper. As he faces a wider array of lefties all through the season, I’d be stunned if Harper continues to see so many breaking balls. I’d even be stunned if he continues to carry out so poorly in opposition to these pitches. Sliders and curveballs from same-handed pitchers are robust, however all through his profession, Harper has been more durable.
Bryce Harper and not using a homer is like The Simpsons with out Bart or the Ancient Greek literary canon with out Euripedes; one thing is lacking. All the identical, that doesn’t imply it’s time to sound the alarm. If anybody has earned the good thing about the doubt throughout a month-long hunch following a record-breaking return from main surgical procedure, it’s Harper. It was all the time a chance that his physique wouldn’t be at full energy immediately, and that he would want time to recalibrate after an atypical offseason. The proven fact that he got here sprinting out of the gate over his first 20 video games doesn’t make that any much less true. His triple-slash seems to be depressing proper now, however his plate self-discipline and batted ball stats recommend he’s really trending in the correct path. Rest assured, the house runs will come again ultimately; the world simply would possibly welcome a number of million extra infants earlier than they do.
Content Source: blogs.fangraphs.com