Each time Bryce Harper walked to the plate last season and “The Best is Yet to Come” played at Nationals Park, the song’s premise could be believed. Carolyn Leigh wrote the hopeful lyrics and Frank Sinatra popularized them. In 2015, Harper’s bulging statistics made the words an on-point predictor.
Harper was named the National League MVP on Thursday evening. The Washington Nationals’ right fielder was still 22 years old when the season ended, which makes him the fourth-youngest MVP in Major League Baseball history, and youngest in the National League since Johnny Bench won the award in 1970. His widespread and superior numbers made the vote a clear one. Harper received all 30 first-place votes to finish with 420 points and become the seventh unanimous NL award winner, and also the youngest to sweep the vote.
Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt was a distant second. Cincinnati Reds first baseman Joey Votto was third. Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson won the American League award.
“I can’t tell you enough how thankful I am,” Harper said Thursday night. “I was very humbled by getting this award.”
Illustrating how young Harper is when winning the award: He is 285 days younger than this year’s NL rookie of the year, Kris Bryant, who is also from Las Vegas.
The first-place finish in MVP voting was the topper of so many other No. 1 spots Harper held by season’s end. He led the National League in wins above replacement, runs scored, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and on-base-plus-slugging percentage, among others. Harper tied for the NL lead with 42 home runs. He was second in total bases, walks and batting average. Harper was also a Gold Glove finalist for his play in right field.
SEE ALSO: LOVERRO: Bryce Harper now among Washington’s elite with NL MVP selection
“All I wanted to do was stay healthy, and be on the field every single day I could,” Harper said. “I knew if I could do that, I’d be winning this award at the end of the year.”
The 9.9 wins above replacement are significant. It’s the best number in the NL in more than a decade. San Francisco Giants left fielder Barry Bonds delivered a 10.6 WAR in 2004.
Being named MVP pops Harper into the annals of Washington baseball. The last player to win the award in the city was shortstop Roger Peckinpaugh in 1925. Peckinpaugh hit four home runs that season for the Washington Senators.
Historically, Harper’s season matches with majestic Hall of Fame names. The list of players who led their league in triple-slash statistics (batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage) at age 22, which Harper was three batting average points short of doing, has three names: Ted Williams, Ty Cobb, and Stan Musial. Hank Aaron and Willie Mays never had an OPS higher than Harper’s 1.109 in 2015.
Only Williams’ 1941 season, when he was 22 years old, supersedes Harper’s during the same age. Williams hit .406 that season, passing a mark that has not been broken since. More astonishing was that he drew 147 walks and struck out only 27 times.
Much of the construction of Harper’s history-making year occurred out of the public eye and before games. Early in the season, he began taking indoor batting practice before a game, eschewing the traditional on-field swings. Harper worked with Ali Modami, the Nationals’ batting practice pitcher, Sam Palace, the bullpen catcher, and batting coach Rick Schu. Harper said the indoor routine was similar to work he previously did with his father, Ron.
Harper would do tee work. A bean drill. He worked his top and bottom hands with single-arm swings. Also, he faced live left-handed pitching daily from Modami. The practice was done in the batting cage because Harper thinks it promotes contact as opposed to trying to put on a batting practice show.
The rise in health, walks and discipline by Harper this past season were his defining points. He played in a career-high 153 games. His 124 walks were not far from matching his total of 155 in his first three seasons combined. According to Fangraphs, Harper set a career-best in offensive swing percentage, which is the percentage of time he swung at pitches outside of the strike zone. It was a massive reduction, from 35.7 percent in 2014 to 28.2 percent this past season. He also swung at fewer pitches overall, indicating he identified pitches and location better.
“Just staying within myself,” said Harper toward the end of the season. “Staying with what I know how to do. Staying in the lineup, staying healthy, staying with my routine every single day. Looking for pitches I want to hit and not going out of my approach. Just trying to do everything I can to stay within myself.”
The off-field dramatics which seemed to trail Harper in years past were limited to memorable bookends of the season. In spring training, Harper espoused his now infamous, “Where’s my ring?” quote when asked for his reaction to the Nationals signing pitcher Max Scherzer. During the team’s final homestand, he and closer Jonathan Papelbon fought in the dugout. Papelbon attempted to choke Harper and was suspended by the team for doing so. Otherwise, Harper was more open and deadened the cacophony around him.
He credited veteran teammates Ian Desmond and Jayson Werth with helping him. Harper said he learned from Desmond to enjoy the game more and not let fluctuating results dictate his daily outlook.
“I respect Desi more than anybody,” Harper said Thursday. “This guy is somebody I truly look up to as a person, and I can’t thank him enough for everything he did for me this year.
“Jayson Werth, he’s like a brother to me. He’s definitely family.”
Harper is under contract for next season, when he will make a paltry-by-baseball-standards $5 million, then becomes eligible for salary arbitration in 2017. From this winter on, questions about his next contract, which will be gargantuan, will follow Harper.
“Definitely very excited to be part of the Nationals organization,” Harper said. “I think to be able to play in that stadium, play for this city, this town, being around the fans and just being around the city; it’s such a great place to play. It’s a monumental town. Everything happens there, and I think baseball is up and coming.
“I think the things we’ve done the last couple years have been a lot of fun for us. I think as a team, as an organization, we’ve grown into an elite team and I think we’re just going to keep getting better and better. … Definitely excited about the up and coming years and very excited to further my career as a National. But, you know, I have a couple more years in D.C. and then, hopefully, at the end of that, we can do what we can and maybe be a National for life. We’ll see.”
In a year when the team flopped, Harper surged. He had contended in prior seasons that he just needed to be healthy to produce eye-popping play, a stance he also took before last season began. In 2015, he proved that true in such a way that it’s hard to think the best could still be ahead.
• Todd Dybas can be reached at tdybas@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.