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Ahead of the 2019 season, free-agent slugger Bryce Harper and the Philadelphia Phillies agreed on a contract. The two sides settled on a 13-year, $330 million deal with a $20 million signing bonus.
However, in his first season in Philadelphia, Harper struggled at times. He had slumps at the plate, made a few key errors out in the field and had his run-ins with the umpires.
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He was not the same player he was during the 2015 season, when he was named the National League MVP. SB Nations' John Stolnis reported that people were starting to turn on the 2012 NL Rookie of the Year.
"Harper's reputation around baseball is that he's overrated, and truthfully, that may be true. He'll likely never return to the heights of his MVP season of 2015, with an OPS of 1.109, 42 homers and WAR of 9.7" said Stolnis.
People were beginning to think that Harper was not as good as everybody made him out to be. However, he would quickly prove those doubters wrong during the 2021 season.
Bryce Harper put on a show during the 2021 season
It seemed like Bryce Harper heard all the noise and had something to prove during the 2021 season. He started 141 games, hitting .309/.429/.615 with 35 home runs and 84 runs batted in.
Harper led all hitters in doubles, slugging percentage, OPS and OPS+ that year. He even had 13 stolen bases, which ranked him 17th among other sluggers.
At the end of the season, Harper won the NL MVP Award for the second time. He was the first Phillies' MVP since Jimmy Rollins won the award in 2007.
At the time, Harper became just the fifth player in MLB history to win an MVP award with two different teams. Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani became the sixth in 2024.
It is worth noting that Harper was not selected to participate in the 2021 All-Star Game. He was just the 10th player in history to win an MVP but not make the All-Star team. Coincidentally, Rollins was the last person to do so before Harper.
Since then, Harper has continued to play at the highest level. Despite some injury setbacks, he has been one of the game's most consistent and a big reason for Philadelphia's success over the years.
