Bryce Harper finished the season with the HR crown tied with Arenado; however, Bryce hit his 42 HRs in 95 fewer at-bats then Arenado. Bryce won the OBP crown over Votto by 1 point at .460 and Bryce won the OPS crown at 1.109. We will fill in the final WAR which should be around 10.1 and regardless of where it ends up Bryce Harper won the WAR crown. Bryce unfortunately ended up 2nd in the NL in BA as Dee Gordon went 3-4 to finish the season and Bryce finished at .330 to Gordon’s .333. Bryce also took the Runs Scored crowd.
Bryce Harper also raised his MLB best WAR ranking back above the 10.00 mark to 10.1 which is in legendary levels rarely seen. MLB WAR RANKING There now is 24 position players including Harper who have accomplished the 10.1 WAR or better in MLB history and it has only been accomplished 52 times in MLB history that a position player has ranked at 10.1 or above and Harper’s season isn’t finished.
Runs Scored in the NL:
- Bryce Harper 118
- A.J. Pollock 111
- Paul Goldschmidt 103
NL Rank in HRs:
- Bryce Harper 42 tied with Nolan Arenado 42
NL Rank in RBIs:
- Nolan Arenado 130
- Paul Goldschmidt 110
- Anthony Rizzo 101
- Matt Kemp 100
- Bryce Harper, Kris Bryant, tied with 99
MLB Rank in Walks:
- Joey Votto 143
- Bryce Harper 124
- Paul Goldschmidt 118
NL Rank in Batting Average:
- Dee Gordon .333
- Bryce Harper .330
- Paul Goldschmidt .321
- Buster Posey .318
- AJ Pollock .315
- Yunel Escobar .314
NL Rank in Hard Hit %:
- Matt Kemp 41.4
- Bryce Harper 41.0%
- Paul Goldschmidt 40.9%
MLB Rank in OBP:
- Bryce Harper .460
- Joey Votto .459
- Miguel Cabrera .440
MLB Rank in Slugging:
- Bryce Harper .649
- Mike Trout .590
- Nolan Arenado .575
- Paul Goldschmidt .570
MLB Rank in OPS:
- Bryce Harper 1.109
- Paul Goldschmidt 1.005
- Joey Votto 1.000
- Mike Trout .991
MLB Rank in Weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+):
- Bryce Harper 198
- Joey Votto 172
- Mike Trout 171
- Paul Goldschmidt 162
MLB Rank in WAR:
- Bryce Harper 10.1
- Mike Trout 9.3
- Josh Donaldson 8.9
- Paul Goldschmidt 8.6
NL Rank for Outfield Assists for a primary RF:
- Gregory Polanco 13
- Jay Bruce 11
- Matt Kemp 10
- Bryce Harper, Curtis Granderson 9
Here’s a great primer on what WAR is as explained by FanGraphs FANGRAPHS WAR Explained
Essentially, Bryce Harper already has one of the 25 best hitting seasons ever and is all of 22 years old. What he's doing is truly historic.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) September 21, 2015
We ran Bryce’s final stat line, BA at .330, HRs 42, .460 OBP, 1.109 OPS, 118 Runs, 99 RBIs, 124 walks, and compared him in history to those results at a minimum for each category, the results of those who met or exceeded each of those numbers are Hall of Famers Babe Ruth (age 25), Lou Gehrig (age 33) , and Ted Williams (age 30). The only non-HOFer was Barry Bonds (age 36), and none of them were 22 years old. There were many players who met several of the categories but this is a rare combination of stats. Players like Jimmie Foxx and Mickey Mantle couldn’t meet or exceed all of those stat points in the same season. That’s how elite this season was for Bryce.
