Philadelphia Phillies slugger Bryce Harper hasn't actually been slugging lately. This wild stat puts the magnitude of his recent slump into context.
The Philadelphia Phillies have been resurgent lately behind strong performances up and down the lineup. Trea Turner is starting to look more like Trea Turner and the bats that facilitated last year's World Series appearance are back in business. All except one, that is.
Anyone remotely familiar with baseball knows the immense talent of Bryce Harper. He's a two-time MVP, a seven-time All-Star, and one of his generation's truly special athletes. He is the heart and soul of the Phillies.
Anyone who started watching baseball on May 26, however, may have a slightly different impression of Bryce Harper. The Phils' slugger hasn't hit a home run in 35 days — the longest streak of his MLB career.
This one amazing stat puts his slump into context.
Incredible stat highlights Bryce Harper's slump for Philadelphia Phillies
As Leo Morgenstern of FanGraphs points out, over twelve million babies have been born since Harper last smacked one over the fence. Over twelve million human earthlings are blissfully unaware of what a Bryce Harper home run looks like, feels like, sounds like. There are twelve million poor souls out there who are missing one of life's foundational experiences.
Here's a taste for the uninitiated one-month olds reading this article:
Harper only has three home runs in 47 games this season, far behind his usual pace. One could realistically chalk it up to the time he missed due to injury early on. Harper has always been more dominant after the All-Star break anyway. But, the complete absence of power is at least a mild concern for Phillies fans who still believe their team is capable of another deep run.
We are almost to the halfway point of the regular season. There's still time for Harper to work through his funk — especially if the rest of the Phillies' bats continue to pick up the slack — but the clock is definitely ticking. Harper is 30 years old, smack dab in the middle of his athletic prime. One has to imagine this is a blip on the radar, but the duration of this blip could determine the Phillies' ability to climb into the Wild Card race.
The NL East is highly competitive. The Phillies have won seven of their last 10 to climb five games above .500 and they're still four games back of second-place Miami. Meanwhile, San Francisco and Los Angeles both stand ahead of them in the wild card hunt.
The Phillies have a lot of work left to do. If Harper can return to MVP form, that would certainly increase to odds of Philadelphia making another postseason stand.
