Bryce Harper came off the bench on Sunday afternoon to pinch hit in the ninth inning with the Washington Nationals down a run. Harper was just being given a day off, but he got his chance to contribute anyway, and did he ever. Harper smacked a game-tying home run to center field that brought the game into extra innings, a game the Nationals went on to win in the 16th inning.
Harper is off to a red-hot start to the season as he is hitting .323 with nine home runs and 23 RBI. In fact, Harper has as many home runs as he does strikeouts which, even this early in the season, is insanity. The 23-year-old right fielder is the reigning National League MVP and is clearly one of the best players in baseball, but is he the best?
Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels has held that distinction for the past couple of seasons, but Harper over the last season-plus has really started to close the gap. If you had to pick one hitter in baseball right now who you would least like to face in a big situation that would likely be Harper, but based on their short time in the majors so far, the edge for best player in the MLB right now has to go to Trout.
Trout first came up to the majors in 2011 when he played in 40 games and really struggled. Since that short stint, though, Trout has been nowhere close to struggling at any point. The 24-year-old center fielder has played four full seasons in the majors and has never finished lower than second in AL MVP voting. That is extremely hard to fathom, especially since he was 20 in his first full season, but that's how good he is. He's only won one MVP award, but he lost to Miguel Cabrera twice, once in his Triple Crown year, and Josh Donaldson last year when he went straight bonkers.
Trout is a four-time All-Star, while Harper is a three-time All-Star, admittedly not much difference there. Where you can see the major difference, though, is in Wins Above Replacement (WAR). Harper's WAR last season, when he had one of the best offensive seasons in MLB history, was 9.9 which is extremely good. Other than last year though, his highest WAR was 5.1 as a rookie.
Trout, on the other hand, had his highest WAR in his rookie season when it was a whopping 10.8. Trout has also never had a year below 7.9 WAR, and that year was actually a huge outlier as his other two years he was at 9.3 and 9.4. Harper is a good defensive right fielder, but Trout is far superior on defense in center field than Harper is in right, which helps give Trout the edge.
If we are talking right now, I still would take Trout just because of his track record of consistent excellence, but you really can't go wrong with either of them. Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado and Manny Machado are among other players that also may have a claim at the best player in baseball, but for most people, including me, the debate comes down to Harper and Trout.
Both players are great and extremely young, which leaves the game of baseball in great hands for the next several years, but for now Trout still holds the mantle as the top player in the game. If Harper can continue playing at the level he has over the past year-plus, this debate will continue to get more serious, but until then Trout will continue to be the undisputed best player in baseball in this writer's mind.
