Bryce

Harper

No surprise here after Ohtani wrapped up his sublime Dodgers debut with a stratospheric 1.036 OPS to go along with 54 homers, 59 steals and 130 RBI over 159 games. The other interesting note here is Jackson Merrill becoming just the 16th rookie ever to take home the honor since 1980. Here are the rest of the National League winners: William Contreras (C), Bryce Harper (1B), Ketel Marte (2B), Manny Machado (3B), Francisco Lindor (SS), Jackson Merrill (OF), Jurickson Profar (OF), Teoscar Hernández (OF), Shohei Ohtani (DH) and Mookie Betts (UTIL).

Harper also drew two walks; including one that set-up the game-winning hit by Nick Castellanos. The two-run homer came in the sixth inning when the Phillies were trailing 3-0. Harper has been excellent over the first two games of the series, and he’s largely responsible for Philadelphia not falling into a 2-0 hole. Game 2 is Tuesday.

It was Harper’s 30th home run of the year to go along with 87 RBI and 84 runs scored. The 31-year-old is on track to finish with single-digit stolen bases for the first time since 2017 (ignoring the COVID-shortened 2020 season) but aside from that he’s been as good as fantasy managers had hoped for this season.

Harper hadn’t homered since August 9. He decided to make up for lost time with the multi-homer game, and he’s up to 150 homers as a member of the Phillies. The 31-year-old still has 28 homers on the year despite that month-long power drought, and his .290/.377/.537 slash has been just fine without the roundtrippers. That being said, fantasy managers sure won’t complain if Harper wants to go on a hot run of dingers to end the season.

It’s nice to Harper with some extra-base hits – this two-bagger was his seventh double since the beginning of September – but he still hasn’t hit a home run since August 9th. That’s an astounding power drought from one of the best hitters in baseball.

Harper had a .981 OPS at the end of June, but since then he’s hitting .268 with six home runs and 21 RBI in 54 games. In between, he went on the injured list with a hamstring strain. It’s difficult to rate the significance of his injury since his stay on the injured list was relatively brief. Whatever the case, Harper hasn’t been right over the last two and a half months. He’s hitting .288 with an .899 OPS and 79 RBI on the year.

Surprisingly, those four hits led to no RBI and no runs scored, but that was in part because Trea Turner was driving in everybody himself. We haven’t quite seen the power that we’re used to seeing out of Harper, with the 31-year-old hitting 26 home runs in 129 games after hitting at least 34 in three straight full seasons from 2018-2021. He also only has five steals on the year after stealing double-digit bags in five straight non-COVID seasons. Whether fantasy managers believe that carries over into next season or not will have a big impact on his 2025 ADP.

The Phillies didn’t get on the board until the ninth inning in a game where they trailed 10-0 at the end of the third. Alas, Harper smashed a 106.6 MPH single to dampen the embarrassment just a tad. While he’s hit for a high average of late, Harper is in a deep power-drought with just one home run in his last 30 games.

Harper looked like he was going to be an MVP candidate at the end of June. He was hitting .303 with a .981 OPS before he went on the injured list with a hamstring strain. Since then, he’s hitting .244 with six home runs and 18 RBI in 48 games. It’s subpar production for nearly a third of the season from a player with a first round ADP. Harper has at least stayed on the field after dealing with a recent elbow injury, but his season has already gone off the rails.

As expected, Harper isn’t going to miss any additional time following an early exit from Wednesday’s game due to a left elbow contusion. The 31-year-old was hit by a pitch on the left elbow, which has been bothering him in recent weeks, but it doesn’t sound like an issue that will keep him sidelined moving forward.