In slightly longer: Bryce Harper is not just the best hitter in the world in 2015 — leading the Majors in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging — but also only 22 years old, roughly the average age of hitters in the Class A Florida State League. And he plays his home games in a park that’s not typically great for batters.
Harper’s .338/.467/.670 line in 2015 looks quite a bit like one that might have been posted by Mickey Mantle at his best: The Mick rocked a .341/.469/.661 line from 1953-55, winning two AL MVP awards along the way. And Mantle, nearly 60 years ago now, was the last player anywhere near as young as Harper to be equally productive at the plate.
The stat OPS+ adjusts for a hitter’s park and league, which helps contextualize Harper’s feats in an era in which Major League Baseball is dominated by pitching. Harper’s 204 mark in that metric is not only the highest of any player in a single season since Barry Bonds retired, but it’s second best all-time among players age 22 or younger.
Ted Williams hits a double, as he would. (AP Photo/Peter J. Carroll)
The only player Harper’s age who ever hit better than Harper has in 2015 was some guy named Ted Williams. Williams, you may know, was quite good at hitting.
No player age 25 or younger has managed an OPS+ of 200 or above since Mantle did it in 1957, and all six guys who did it before Harper are inner-inner circle Hall of Famers: Mantle, Williams, Ty Cobb, Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth.
That list comprises arguably six of the ten best hitters to ever play Major League Baseball — including the clear Nos. 1 and 2 in Ruth and Williams — and Bryce Harper. And, again, Harper’s on there with three seasons to spare.
And to think that people were still calling him “overrated” or “a bust” as of, like, March. Whoops! Bryce Harper is fully happening now.
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