Phillies: Bryce Harper apparently already lost NL MVP

Some media members are already claiming Phillies star Bryce Harper has lost NL MVP

Pack it up, Phillies fans, apparently the regular season is over. Good news, though, they finished a season above .500 for the first time since 2011!

No, wait. The calendar says it’s August 17. There’s more than a month of baseball yet to be played.

So why is Fernando Tatis Jr. being proclaimed the NL MVP this week?

On Monday, Rob Parker wrote for Deadspin that Tatis won the award on Sunday. It’s a hyperbolic piece of clickbait that also says Tatis is better than Shohei Ohtani, a bold claim that is a conversation for another time.

Look, Tatis is amazing, I’m not saying otherwise. Most baseball fans – the rational ones who are able to rise above team rivalries to appreciate incredible talent –  think Tatis is amazing. We are lucky to be alive in this time of young superstars, Tatis being one of them.

And Tatis is currently the NL MVP favorite, with the odds placing him at -400 and Harper second at +400.

But to hand Tatis the NL MVP in mid-August is as ridiculous as saying that Bryce Harper doesn’t deserve it because he got off to a slow start in the first half, which is exactly what another Deadspin writer argued last week.

Tatis’ season has already included multiple dislocations of his left shoulder, a positive COVID test, and a move from shortstop to the outfield this week. He hasn’t let any setback slow him down, including the Padres getting no-hit by a former Phillies prospect over the weekend. He hit two home runs the following game.

Let’s look at Harper and Tatis’ offensive numbers side-by-side. As on Baseball-Reference, bold indicates leading the league, and italicized indicates leading all of MLB:

Tatis (89 games): .299/.377/.673, 1.050 OPS, 82 runs, 97 hits, 22 doubles, 0 triples, 33 HR, 74 RBI, 23 stolen bases, 43 BB, 102 SO

Harper (97 games): .297/.414/.567, .981 OPS, 68 runs, 100 hits, 26 doubles, 1 triple, 21 HR, 49 RBI, 12 stolen bases, 64 BB, 91 SO

Tatis has the edge in multiple categories, but he’s also walked less and struck out more than Harper, and done so in fewer games.

In a couple of months, there will be an NL MVP. Maybe it’ll be Tatis, maybe it’ll be Harper, maybe it’ll be Max Muncy, maybe it’ll be the Phillie Phanatic. Regardless, the Phillies are getting what they paid for from Harper this year, and baseball is brimming with young talent.

Win, win.