Bryce Harper is reaching this Phillies’ legend’s levels of hot

Bryce Harper’s Phillies season is being compared to Ryan Howard in 2008

Bryce Harper is quietly having an MVP summer for the Philadelphia Phillies.

He’s now hitting .306 with a .981 OPS this season, 26 doubles, 18 home runs, 42 RBI, and 12 stolen bases.

He hit his 250th career home run in Thursday’s game, his second in this series. That it came against his former team and the fans that now hate him and boo him every chance they get, probably made it even sweeter. He seems to thrive on the hate.

MLB.com crunched the numbers, and this is how Harper ranks so far this season:

He has the third-best OBP in 2020-21; he has the eighth-best slugging.Harper is one of just four hitters to have a .400 OBP / .500 SLG combo this year, after being one of just eight hitters to do it last year; combine 2020-21, and the only three such studs are Soto, Freddie Freeman … and Harper. Looking at his career numbers, there have been nearly 700 players to take at least 5,000 plate appearances since integration in 1947, and his offensive performance to date is tied for 30th best (understanding, of course, he hasn’t reached his thirties yet.)

During the game, Phillies fans pointed out that Harper’s summer is quickly becoming reminiscent of a former Phillies legend:

Coming into Thursday evening’s game, Harper has been slashing .360/.472/.640 with a 1.112 OPS with 16 doubles, four home runs, and 18 RBI in 29 games. He has at least one hit in every one of his five games so far this month, including two three-hit games. On August 1, all three hits were doubles.

It would be nice if Harper’s 2021 season ends like Howard’s 2008 season did, with multi-homer World Series games and a ring. Of course, this year’s rotation isn’t close to 2008’s, but maybe Harper will get an MVP plaque instead.