If it feels like Bryce Harper has been in the national eye forever, it’s because he has been. As far back as 2009, a then 16-year-old Harper was on the cover of Sports Illustrated, where he was being dubbed baseball’s version of LeBron James.
That’s heavy pressure to put on a kid at that age, as James is one of the most transcendent athletes ever. Harper would not disappoint, however, as he found his way to the Major Leagues just three years later, when the Washington Nationals called him up to become the everyday right fielder in 2012.
He was just 19 at the time.
During his rookie year, he would go on to put up a .270/.340/.477 slash line to go along with an OPS+ of 118, and to the surprise of no one, he would win Rookie of the Year honors.
He experiences his share of ups and downs over the following few years, despite continuing to put up unheard of numbers for such a young player. Harper’s aggressive style of play would lead to some time on the disabled list as he continued to lurk in Mike Trout’s shadow.
In 2015, Harper finally began to put all the pieces together. He managed an OPS of 1.109 and an OPS+ of 195 en route to winning the National League MVP award. To put Harper’s season into historical context, it was the best season of any hitter since Barry Bonds’ heyday.
Honestly, we could go on and on about Harper and his talent, but what really makes him so engaging is his desire to Make Baseball Fun Again. At a time where players are being criticized for flipping bats and showing too much emotion, Harper has taken it upon himself to be the spokesman for players having fun while playing the game they love.
With baseball featuring so many young, dynamic players, including Harper, Trout, Carlos Correa, and Many Machado, the sport finds itself at a crossroads. The old guard continues to scoff at showing emotion and “showing up” an opponent, and rejects analytics. Meanwhile, the “new school” crop of players embraces analytics to exploit matchups and is not afraid to get a little fired up after delivering in a big spot.
Baseball has always lagged behind some of the other, hipper leagues, such as the NFL and NBA. Consider this: the average age of a baseball fan is 53, compared to 47 for the NFL and 37 for the NBA. Harper is trying his hardest to make baseball exciting and fun. He’s unafraid to say what is on his mind, uses emoji decals on his bats, and genuinely enjoys being a baseball player.
MLB needs more players to be like Harper; the sport has lived in the past for such a long time. Baseball is full of tradition, and that should not be ignored, but it is borderline pre-historic in adapting to the times. For a sport that it is trying desperately to reach the younger generation, having former players like Goose Goosage wax poetically about how much better the old days were is a complete turnoff to most young people. He’s like that annoying uncle you see at Thanksgiving; you respect him, but you basically tune out what he says.
That’s the disconnect baseball faces.
Harper is only 23-years-old, and figures to be a fixture in MLB for at least another decade. If baseball really wants to figure out a way to reach younger audiences, it should really follow Harper’s lead. He is a millennial who is the exact age of the target demographic baseball needs to get through to. It would seem logical to let Bryce be Bryce, and to try to sprinkle some excitement and enthusiasm into the sport.
Bryce Harper isn’t the hero baseball needs, he’s the hero it deserves.
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