Opening Day is now less than a month away. With a new season of baseball now rapidly closing in, a lot is expected to change for both the Phillies and the rest of the league.
With every new season comes a long list of fun new storylines, upsets and underdogs, and of course some bold (yet realistic) predictions.
Bryce Harper will be in the MVP Conversation
For the most part, Bryce Harper did exactly what was expected of him as the Phillies new franchise superstar in 2019. He led the team in RBIs, home runs, stolen bases, slugging percentage, OPS, and total bases. He was consistently the best player on a team that really struggled to ever find their groove offensively.
Harper also began to establish himself as a legit presence defensively. He led the National League in outfield assists last year and was even nominated for a Gold Glove.
Things weren’t necessarily easy for Harper last year either, he spent a lot of time moving around the lineup and rarely saw elite production from the players directly behind or in front of him. Rhys Hoskins tanked in the second half of the season while Jean Segura had a noticeable down year (plus Andrew McCutchen went down early to injury).
Entering 2020, Harper is now backed by a manager who appears to fully appreciate Harper’s value as a middle of the lineup hitter. Girardi has gone out of his way to state he won’t invest in running Bryce as a leadoff hitter at all.
With McCutchen returning and Didi Gregorius entering the fray, Harper should be in a perfect position to put up huge numbers. As he continues to get more and more comfortable playing in Philadelphia, his production should only continue to go up.